Youth Scene: Eagles are runner-up
The Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Midget Eagles wore their “mojo” socks Saturday night at Jim Scott Stadium, as they have in every game since the start of October.
The pink socks have been with the Eagles through some great times, as they came into Saturday’s Orange Empire Conference Division 2 Orange Bowl on a seven-game winning streak.
Costa Mesa was seeded No. 7 in the playoffs, but pulled off upsets of No. 2 Los Alamitos and No. 3 Santa Margarita to get to the title game. And, though Costa Mesa’s group of 10- to 13-year-olds was not tickled pink about a 22-0 loss to top-seeded Hawaiian Gardens in the Division 2 Orange Bowl, the Eagles can surely be proud of the season they had.
Hawaiian Gardens, which returns 12 players from last year’s Pee Wee Division team that advanced to the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Florida, moves on to the Wescon regional semifinals in Arizona on Nov. 16.
It was the second time this season the Junior Midget Warriors had beaten the Eagles. The first time was the last game that Costa Mesa lost before Saturday, 25-14 on Sept. 13.
“They’re a great team,” Costa Mesa Coach Sean Patterson said. “They were in Florida last year. We’re just a rag-tag bunch of little white kids from Costa Mesa, you know. We just started firing on all cylinders [at the end of the year]. It’s a great group of boys. It was a fun ride.”
Patterson said that this group was the first Costa Mesa Pop Warner team to make the Division 2 Super Bowl in 12 years. For Patterson, in his 15th year coaching for Costa Mesa Pop Warner, it was his third Orange Bowl appearance. He guided this team to the Division 4 Orange Bowl title last year.
On Saturday night, he saw his team hang tough early. On the third play from scrimmage. Costa Mesa’s Talal Benahmed recovered a fumble. But the Eagles were unable to capitalize and move the ball.
That was a theme in the first half, which saw Costa Mesa (8-3) amass negative yards from scrimmage against Hawaiian Gardens (11-0), which earned its seventh shutout of the season.
“It was really difficult,” said Costa Mesa quarterback Thomas Keeling. “They were in my face constantly.”
Keeling was able to open up the passing game more in the second half, with Trevor Pacheco as his favorite target. Pacheco made six catches for 106 yards, all in the second half. But by then, the Eagles, the designated visitors, were already behind by two scores.
Hawaiian Gardens took an 8-0 lead on a four-yard touchdown run by La Juan Miller and the ensuing conversion kick with 3:11 left in the first quarter. The Warriors doubled their lead on the final play of the first half, when Josiah Taufi caught a seven-yard touchdown pass over the middle.
The play was controversial, as Taufi appeared to lose the ball as he was going down. But the referees ruled that he maintained control long enough for the touchdown.
“Their kid never touched the ground,” Patterson said. “He came straight down on his back, fumbled the ball and never had possession. It just wasn’t our night. We didn’t get the calls.”
The Eagles had two first-and-goal situations in the game, but failed to turn either into points. On the opening possession of the second half, they got to the eight-yard line on a 24-yard pass to Pacheco. But two straight quarterback sacks, followed by an interception by Hawaiian Gardens’ Tarzan Tauanu’u, killed any momentum.
Costa Mesa got there again late in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard pass to Kaden Headington. But, from there, four straight passes were incomplete.
The Eagles had other chances to score. A potential touchdown pass to Benahmed was ruled just out of bounds near the back left corner of the end zone. And, late in the third quarter, a 39-yard touchdown by Pacheco on a screen pass was called back due to penalty.
“Our offense just wasn’t clicking when we needed it to at the end of the game,” Headington said.
After the game, the Eagles lined up in a single-file line to collect medals for their second-place finish. And their season isn’t over. Patterson said his team will play in a bowl game in December in Laughlin, Nevada.
“It took everyone to get here, not just one person,” Headington said. “It took everything. It was a team thing ... The friendship and the brotherhood was amazing. Thirty years from now, we’re all going to be friends.”
Other defensive playmakers for Costa Mesa included Jacob Sutika, David Tax, Jack Elliott, Patrick Gehl, Chandler Bridgeford and Chad Koste. Other contributors included Norris Bach, Donovan Crook, Matthew Dehdashtian, Jacob Farber, Brandon Gonzalez, Nathan Guyot, Cannon Harmer, Blake Juncker, Benjamin Kwong, Kobe Lopez, Nathan Pacheco, Clayton Rolfes and Dylan Schmitt.
