Football: Mesa opens league with bang

The offensive line is rarely the center of attention, even for a successful high school football team.

Costa Mesa, though, was definitely glad to get its center back for Friday night’s Orange Coast League opener against visiting Laguna Beach.

Senior Roberto Olivares is a load at 6-foot tall and 255 pounds. He made his season debut Friday, after missing time coming back from a right ankle injury suffered in the Mustangs’ scrimmage against Tustin.

Costa Mesa Coach Wally Grant said Friday night is the first time he’s had his whole offensive line healthy this year. Coming off a bye week, it definitely showed. The Mustangs ran the ball and ran the ball and ran it some more, all the way to a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Costa Mesa picked up its first win of the season by blanking Laguna Beach, 48-0, at Jim Scott Stadium in the league opener for both teams and the Mustangs’ homecoming game.

The offensive line, consisting of left tackle Frankie Hernandez, left guard Hadley Figueroa-Bravo, Olivares, right guard Austin Sheffner and right tackle Neru Fesili, was dominant. Throw in tight end Adam JeyaRajah and fullback Roman Ayala and the Mustangs constantly pushed the Breakers back.

Costa Mesa (1-5) rushed for 185 yards in the first quarter alone. It ended with the defending league champion Mustangs already up three scores.

“It felt great,” Olivares said. “I don’t really know what to say. It felt great. I think we’ve got these next four games [in league] … We had really good practices this week, and our scout defense gave us hard work to get where we are.”

Juniors Cameron Curet and Mason Mataafa carried the load in the Mesa backfield. Curet had 10 carries for 174 yards and a touchdown, while Mataafa tallied 11 carries for 87 yards and two scores. Overall, the winners totaled 350 yards rushing.

“It’s nice getting a healthy team for the first time in seven weeks,” Grant said. “We don’t look anything like we’ve looked since the Tustin scrimmage. We’re healthy, and it showed … Our kids and our coaches are working their tails off, week in and week out. Since the bye week, since we got all our kids back, we’ve been chomping at the bit for this game.”

The Mustangs dominated from the opening kickoff. The first play from scrimmage, a 14-yard run by Curet, was called back due to holding. Curet was undeterred. He bettered the result, running left and not stopping until he had an 85-yard touchdown.

Mesa then got an interception by Darmonta Davis, who had been out before the bye with a shoulder injury, on Laguna’s fourth offensive player of the game. That gave the Mustangs the ball at the Breakers’ 43-yard line. Four plays later, Mataafa barreled into the end zone from three yards out. After Mataafa’s conversion run, the Mustangs had a 14-0 lead with 9:07 remaining in the first quarter.

The Mustangs continued pulling away from the Breakers (1-5), adding four more scores on their next four possessions. It started with a one-yard keeper from quarterback Sammy Swanson, then a two-yard run by Mataafa, then a one-yard run by Michael Dias.

When Mataafa sacked Laguna Beach quarterback Jack Simon late in the first half, Ayala recovered at the Breakers 26-yard line. Four plays later, Swanson threw his first touchdown pass of the season, a 13-yard toss to Curet, who made an athletic leaping catch near the goal line.

The Mustangs had a 41-0 halftime lead, scoring their last touchdown when Dias returned a fumble for 52 yards early in the third quarter. They could begin thinking about the Battle for the Bell game next Friday against cross-town rival Estancia.

The Eagles (4-2, 1-0 in league) came into this week ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, the only Orange Coast League team in the top 10.

“I think we’re exactly where Estancia was last year, in terms of our youth and inexperience, and they’re exactly where we were last year with our experience and age on our side,” Grant said. “We’re going to have to play a perfect game, and we’re going to have to hope that Estancia turns the ball over a couple of times and does some bad things to help us out. They’re a better team than we are.”

With offensive line play like it got Friday night, Costa Mesa has a chance.

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Costa Mesa 48, Laguna Beach 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Laguna Beach 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 0

Costa Mesa 21 – 20 – 7 – 0 — 48

FIRST QUARTER

CM – Curet 85 run (kick failed), 11:16.

CM – Mataafa 3 run (Mataafa run), 9:07.

CM – Swanson 1 run (Curet kick), 3:08.

SECOND QUARTER

CM – Mataafa 2 run (Curet kick), 10:05.

CM – Dias 1 run (kick failed), 1:45.

CM – Curet 13 pass from Swanson (Curet kick), 0:12.

THIRD QUARTER

CM – Dias 52 fumble return (Curet kick), 10:26.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LB – Krantz, 16-52.

CM – Curet, 10-174, 1 TD; Mataafa, 11-87, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LB – Simon, 5-11-1, 72.

CM – Swanson, 2-3-0, 29, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LB – Tracy, 2-56.

CM – Kisino, 1-16.