Prep football: Mustangs romp

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College football turf was unusually

shoddy for this time of year and the Costa Mesa High offense sure didn’t

do it any good Friday night.

The Mustangs churned out 429 yards of total offense, including 346 on

the ground, parading up and down the field to claim a 39-13 nonleague

triumph to christen the Dave Perkins coaching era at the school.

If, as coaches believe, teams improve the most between their first and

second games, the Mustangs offensive attack, a cross between the wing T

and the fly, could become downright scary.

“We played pretty well on offense, but we knew we could move the

football,” Perkins said. “We even made some mistakes and shot ourselves

in the foot, but we have a lot of weapons. I don’t think (the

Roadrunners) stopped us. We stopped ourselves.

There was no stopping the Mustangs (1-0) most of the night, including

the opening drive of the game, which senior wingback Nick Cabico capped

with an 8-yard sweep for a touchdown.

After Saddleback (0-1) took a lead with a 31-yard quarterback keeper

by George Marquez and a conversion kick by Luis Olmos, Mesa played it

cool for one more series.

But, the hosts drove 78 yards and 48 yards for touchdowns on their

final two possessions of the half and scored the first two times they had

the ball after intermission to establish firm command.

Junior Keola Asuega ran 8 yards to put Mesa ahead, 12-7 (a second

conversion run attempt failed), then linebacker Jose Valle made a leaping

interception to give the Mustangs the ball at the Saddleback 49.

Nine plays later, senior quarterback A.J. Perkins threw a strike to

Cabico for a 9-yard scoring pass with 21 seconds left in the half to

provide an 18-7 advantage.

A.J. Perkins, who connected on 9 of 17 for 92 yards, picked up his

second TD toss on a 7-yard flip to senior fullback Jesse Cardenas, then,

after Saddleback’s second TD, he hit Cabico over his shoulder on a

well-placed fade for an 18-yard score with 3:31 left in the third.

Asuega finalized the easy victory with a 1-yard sweep and Nathan

Hunter added his second conversion kick with 2:54 left in the game.

Perkins passing statistics weren’t as impressive as they might have

been in his first varsity start, but it was hardly his fault. Five of his

incompletions went off his receivers’ hands, including two that would

have produced touchdowns.

Perkins’ aerial precision was set up by a dominant ground game, keyed

by pulling guards Robert McQueen and Andrew Carich, though a host of

linemen also sparkled.

Asuega finished with 129 yards on 15 carries, while Cabico collected

117 on 13 attempts. Cardenas added 64 yards on his dozen carries, as the

Mustangs amassed 23 of their 27 first downs on the ground.

Tackles Paul Martin and Zenri Kato, as well as center Brett Via and

tight end John Garcia, rounded out the starting blocking wall. Alan

Rayner, Bobby Arroyo and Jesse Franco also chipped in, knocking

Roadrunners every which way and carving up the soft stadium turf.

Defensively, the Mustangs yielded 293 yards, but twice stopped the

visitors on fourth down, including once at the Mustangs’ 3-yard line.

Senior safety Freddy Rodriguez added a second interception for the

winners, who also retained possession when Omar Ruiz drilled a Saddleback

punt returner, creating a fumble Hunter recovered to set up the Mustangs’

final score.

“We’re going to give up yards, because we take a lot of chances,”

Perkins said. “But it’s a bend but don’t break defense.”

Hunter also caught six passes for 58 yards to add to the attack, which

included 194 all-purpose yards from Cabico, who devastated the

Roadrunners for 304 all-purpose (rushing, receiving and returns) last

fall in the Mustangs’ 48-23 triumph.

Saddleback’s no-huddle offense actually helped Mesa wear the

Roadrunners down, as the Mustangs totaled 73 offensive plays, an amount

usually hard to obtain with the 12-minute high school quarters.

Mesa stunted one drive by allowing one of two Saddleback sacks, and

another was hampered by a holding call and a fumbled snap. But the

Mustangs had no turnovers and punted just four times.

Can they improve next week against Westminster?

“I think so,” A.J. Perkins said. “This is really exciting, but whose

to say.”