Mustangs can’t cash in, 14-0

COSTA MESA — Jeremy Osso has stressed focusing on the positive when it comes to the exploits of his Costa Mesa High football team.

In that case, the cup is one-sixth full in regard to the offense after the Mustangs, 14-0, nonleague loss to Santiago (4-0) at Orange Coast College Thursday.

That’s the fraction of the game Costa Mesa (1-4) spent with the ball on one drive spanning from the third quarter to the middle of the fourth.

It began at the Mustangs’ own nine-yard line with the team down two touchdowns. Senior left guard London Sapolu sat on the sideline, having sustained a concussion on the Mustangs’ defensive stand that forced a three-and-out to set up Costa Mesa with 91 yards between a struggling offense and its first points of the game.

Senior receiver Kirkland Huynh said the team was thinking about how five years ago to the day Costa Mesa football player Matt Colby sustained a head injury in a game that would take his life.

“We wanted to get one back for [Colby], we wanted to get one for London,” Huynh said.

The drive began with the lone consistent offensive force in the Mustangs’ arsenal, senior tailback D.J. Lepper, who finished with 87 yards on 27 carries. Lepper ran the ball five consecutive times, picking up two first downs along the way, punctuated by an 18-yard run in which he ran over two Santiago defenders.

Huynh provided a change of pace, running a reverse for 12 yards and another first down. The Mustangs went back to Lepper for two runs, before Huynh chipped in six more yards on third down.

“I like getting back into the running game,” Huynh said.

The Mustangs converted on third down three times in the drive, more than the team had the entire game combined. Santiago forced another third down, but quarterback Cody Waldron hit a wide-open Huynh on the sideline for 21 yards and a first down at the 17-yard line.

“That was a wheel route. It was a nice play,” said Huynh of the play which called for Asa Hawks to run a pattern clearing an opening for Huynh. “That’s a new play. It works pretty well on man coverage. They were in a zone, but it still worked.”

Costa Mesa went backward from there and was forced into a fourth-and-14 from the 21-yard line. Waldron rolled out of the pocket and hit Huynh for a 13-pass, but the measurement was inches short.

“It was a broken play call,” Huynh said. “It wasn’t supposed to go to me. We were inches from the first down.”

Throughout the game it was the Mustangs defense that kept the team in the game, forcing six turnovers. But the Costa Mesa offense would give the ball back three times, all of which came on drives following a forced turnover by the defense.

“We played hard, but we can’t give the ball back time after time,” Huynh said. “The defense worked hard. The defense stepped up. We have to put the ball in the end zone.”

After allowing 11 first downs to Santiago in the first half, the defense stiffened and only allowed five the rest of the way. Santiago quarterback Ramon Solares completed as many passes to Mustangs as he did Cavaliers, with Huynh, senior Stephan Wright and junior John Salyer doing the honors with interceptions.

Huynh’s interception gave Costa Mesa its best field position, with the ball at the 32-yard line, but the Mustangs would turn the ball over the next play. Wright’s interception put an end to a 10-play drive in the first quarter.

Osso was pleased with the defensive effort against a team which came in having outscored its opponents 113-27.

“This is a team that has been destroying people,” Osso said.

“But we’re not taking advantage of our opportunities to put the ball in the end zone. On the last drive it was a matter of figuring things out. These are 17-year-old kids trying to figure out these blocking schemes. The fact is we’re improving every week. This is a team that is 4-0. These guys are trying to earn some respect.”