Football: Mustangs trample Aztecs

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH - Some games are played where the action on the field

was much closer than the lopsided score would indicate.

This was not the case Thursday night.

Costa Mesa High, led by C.J. Zuniga’s 160 yards rushing and three

rushing touchdowns, cruised to a 63-0 blowout win over hapless and

winless La Quinta at Newport Harbor High.

Mesa (6-2), ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division IX, jumped

out to a 56-0 lead at halftime, shattering the all-time school record for

points in a half. The 63-point win was the largest margin of victory in

school history as well.

“I liked our effort tonight,” Mustangs’ coach Jerry Howell said. “All

of our guys, from top to bottom played hard all the way to the end.

That’s all you can ask.”

The Mustangs’ junior tailback ran at will over the worst defense in

Orange County, amassing 197 all-purpose yards in the first half, before

giving way to substitutions.

“Of course it would have been nice to see C.J. get the yardage, but

you have to be respectful in a game like this,” Howell said.

With the Mustangs’ offensive line outweighing the Aztecs’ defensive

line by nearly 40 pounds per player, Mesa’s running attack found more

holes than Tiger Woods finds in a weekend golf tournament.

Zuniga got on the scoreboard first with a 37-yard touchdown run on the

game’s opening drive. The two-point conversion made it, 8-0.

It took only two plays before the Aztecs made their first mistake as

Danny Mardikian recovered a La Quinta fumble near midfield.

The Mustangs drove 47 yards, all by Zuniga to score again, this time

on a 1-yard run up the middle.

Costa Mesa’s defense was relentless, attacking the undermanned Aztecs’

offense at will.

With the entire defensive line swarming around the La Quinta

quarterback, cornerback Josh Strickland picked off the Aztecs’ pass and

returned it 40 yards for another Mesa touchdown.

Despite the Mustangs’ assault on the ground, quarterback Dave Weir

managed to get into the fun, hooking up with Shaun Ferryman, who turned a

little hitch pass into a 58-yard touchdown, giving Mesa a 29-0 lead after

the first quarter.

“We didn’t get to work on a whole bunch of things offensively,” Howell

said. “But we did some successful things when we did have the ball and we

progressed defensively as well.”

La Quinta coughed up the ball again, this time on a fumble, where

cornerback Jake Cleveland recovered the gift and scampered 36 yards into

the end zone, making it, 36-0.

Two minutes later, after an Aztecs’ punt, Zuniga went nearly untouched

59 yards for another touchdown.

Zuniga scored a fourth TD before being taken out, this time on a

37-yard punt return.

Greg Stewart capped off the Mustangs’ first-half scoring with a

20-yard dash down the sidelines, making it, 56-0.

Despite the ugliness of the score, Howell was pleased with the week’s

effort from his ball club.

“You have to respect your opponent, so we practiced hard all week and

we played hard to the end,” he said. “If we would have played sloppily, I

would be nervous heading back into league play, but we managed to execute

well tonight.”

With an exception of a 16-yard touchdown run from Alvin Nguyen at the

end of the third quarter, both teams saw little offensive action, as the

Aztecs’ coach, Guy Gardner requested (and was granted) a running clock

for the second half.

La Quinta (0-8), which dressed only 21 players for the game, has now

been outscored 392-7 for the season.

Next up for the Mustangs, they return to action next Friday night

against Laguna Beach in an important Pacific Coast League matchup.

“We’ll be all right after this one,” Howell said. “We know how

important each league game is, so we’ll practice hard and we’ll be ready

to go.”