Freshman Battle for the Bell: Mustangs hammer Eagles

The question, similar to the Estancia High defense, stopped Costa Mesa High freshman running back Tre Villalpando only briefly in the aftermath of the Mustangs’ 54-6 trashing of their intra-city football rival in the Baby Battle for the Bell on Thursday at Jim Scott Stadium.

Villalpando was asked whether his performance, which included five rushing touchdowns, an interception return for a touchdown, three two-point conversion runs and 338 all-purpose yards was his best of the season.

“It was probably one of my better games, yeah,” Villalpando said after pausing briefly, perhaps trying to process all the ground he had covered in leading the lopsided victory, the third straight Mesa win on this level against the Eagles.

The amazing individual windfall might be difficult for any player immersed in competition to fathom, but Costa Mesa Coach Clark Alano also appeared somewhat nonchalant about Villalpando’s prolific individual numbers that included 235 yards on 16 rushing attempts.

“Tre is very consistent,” Alano said. “He always does that every game.”

Well, perhaps not to this degree, but Villalpando and the Mustangs (6-1, 2-0 in the Orange Coast League) are averaging 43 points per game, including a 61-46 triumph over Katella and a 56-15 romp against Savanna.

The 5-foot-6, 115-pound Villalpando scored on runs of 70, 40, 35, 20 and 20 yards, breaking the 70-yarder on the second play of the game. His interception return was 39 yards to paydirt and he also returned punts for 30 and 34 yards.

But Alano was quick to point out that the offensive line of tackles Aaron Murillo and Aruna Bijanjan, guards Aron Gonzalez and Marcos Aguilela, as well as center Jacob Abundis, was equally worthy of praise, as was wingback Edwin Mejia, who collected 137 yards and two touchdowns on five rushing attempts.

“The line has [blocking] rules and they follow them consistently, regardless of what defense we play,” Alano said. “They apply those rules, which is why we are scoring all these touchdowns. And Edwin Mejia is a home run when [opponents] focus on Tre and we give [Mejia] the ball on the counter.”

Big plays and quick drives were the theme for the Mesa offense against the Eagles (1-5, 0-1). The visitors scored on their first six possessions and failed to punt. The only two times the offense failed to score came when time ran out in each half.

The Mustangs had scoring “drives” of two, three, three, five, three, one and two plays, relegating the Estancia defense to what amounted to cameo appearances.

Estancia drove 55 yards on nine plays on its first possession to pull even, 6-6, midway through the first quarter. But from that point on, the Eagles netted just one yard against the Mustangs’ defense, which had seven tackles for losses. The Mustangs had sacks by Murillo and Alex Solis, as well as stops behind the line by tackle Gonzalez and linebackers Brandon Gonzales and Javier Barrera.

Costa Mesa’s roster was comprised exclusively of freshmen, while Estancia had 15 sophomores in uniform. Alano was vocal about his disappointment that Estancia did not also play with freshmen only, though other Orange Coast League schools also use sophomores and term it a frosh-soph game.

“We have been a 100% true-freshman team all season,” Alano said. “When our program decided not to have a JV team, our varsity coach [Glen Fisher] said he wanted to let some sophomores play with our team. But I said no, we are going to be 100% freshmen and we are going to compete regardless.”

Estancia tailback Gabriel Marquina Rios, a sophomore, gained 30 yards on 10 rushing attempts, while freshman fullback Chris Martinez had a 19-yard run to produce the Eagles’ biggest play. Martinez scored his team’s only touchdown on a two-yard run.

The Estancia offense produced just two plays of more than nine yards.

Estancia sophomore quarterback Vincent Duarte completed three passes and was sacked three times.

Sophomore Bennett Goodman had two catches for 15 yards to lead Estancia receivers.

Estancia’s defense made two sacks — by sophomore Francisco Zamora and outside linebacker Marquina Rios — as well as additional stops at or behind the line of scrimmage by freshman outside ‘backer Hayden Pearce, sophomore tackle Brian Hernandez, Marquina Rios and freshman end Jacob Parsons.

The Eagles, who stopped five two-point conversion attempts, have surrendered an average of 41.6 points per game in their five losses this season.

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Costa Mesa 54, Estancia 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Costa Mesa 28 14 6 6 – 54

Estancia 6 0 0 0 – 6

FIRST QUARTER

CM – Villalpando 70 run (pass failed), 11:16.

Est – Martinez 2 run (pass failed), 7:00.

CM – Villalpando 20 run (Villalpando run), 5:51.

CM – Mejia 17 run (Villalpando run), 5:02.

CM – Villalpando 40 run (run failed), 0:10

SECOND QUARTER

CM – Villalpando 39 interception return (Villalpando run), 10:31.

CM – Mejia 41 run (run failed), 4:30.

THIRD QUARTER

CM – Villalpando 35 run (run failed), 6:05.

FOURTH QUARTER

CM – Villalpando 20 run (run failed), 11:50.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CM – Villalpando, 16-235, 5 TDs; Mejia, 5-137, 2 TDs.

Est – Marquina Rios, 10-30.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CM – Barton, 1-1-0, 22.

Est – Duarte, 3-10-1, 20.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CM – Gorkhill, 1-22.

Est – Goodman, 2-14.