Prep football: Lions burn Mesa deep

Barry Faulkner

WESTMINSTER - In the second half of a rare daylight football

doubleheader, it was the home run ball that proved the undoing for Costa

Mesa High Saturday at nonleague host Westminster.

The Lions (1-1), taking advantage of man-to-man perimeter pass

coverage by the Mustangs (1-1) rolled up 287 aerial yards, including

three touchdowns, to earn a surprising 22-16 victory.

Westminster junior quarterback Fidel Gonzalez, who completed 10 of 21

for 73 yards, with two interceptions, in the Lions’ 35-14 opening-week

loss to Pacifica, confounded Costa Mesa Coach Dave Perkins by connecting

with wide-open receivers all day.

“That wasn’t the same guy I saw last week,” Perkins said of Gonzalez,

who made his varsity debut last year against Mesa by completing 6 of 9

for 194 yards and a touchdown.

“(The Mustangs) played a lot of zone coverage and played off (the

receivers) last week against Saddleback (a 39-13 Mesa win), so it took us

a little time to figure out what they were doing today,” Westminster

Coach Ted McMillen said. “They totally stuffed our run, so give them

credit there. But we have some athletes outside and Fidel can throw the

deep ball very well.”

Gonzalez didn’t throw the intermediate ball too badly, either,

including a 16-yard touchdown slant to E.J. Miranda that opened the

scoring two plays into the second quarter.

Jared Jenkins’ conversion kick put the hosts up, 7-0, and they never

trailed again.

Both teams exchanged safeties in the second quarter. First a punt snap

well over the head of Jenkins forced him to kick the ball out of the back

of his end zone to put Mesa on the board with 5:11 left in the half.

Mesa, however, returned the favor when a snap went through the punters

hands and into the end zone, where it was also kicked beyond the end line

to give Westminster a 9-2 edge at intermission.

Mesa, which moved the ball well on the ground much of the day, used 18

plays to drive 80 yards for a touchdown on its first second-half

possession. Junior Keola Asuega capped the drive with a 13-yard run

around the left side. A two-point conversion pass, however, fell

incomplete and Mesa missed its chance to erase the deficit, trailing 9-8,

with 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

That’s when Gonzalez, who had already completed two 26-yard strikes in

the first half, and had another 25-yarder taken away when a receiver who

appeared to be inbounds was ruled out of bounds on a fade route, did most

of his damage.

He lofted a strike to 6-foot-3 senior Akilah Lacey for an 81-yard

scoring play on the second snap of the third quarter.

Then, when the Lions got the ball back on downs at their own 33, they

needed only two plays to score, as Gonzalez found John Le behind a

defender for a 67-yard run and catch that boosted the lead to 22-8.

Mesa, which lost the freshman game earlier in the day, 21-6, closed

the gap with a 98-yard scoring drive, set up when safety Freddy Rodriguez

intercepted a pass deep in Mesa territory.

Nick Cabico’s 2-yard touchdown run capped the 12-play drive and

Perkins threw to Gary Gonzalez on a fake from kick formation for the

two-point conversion with 56 seconds left.

Westminster’s Frank Guereca recovered the ensuing onside kick,

however, and the Lions ran out the clock for their first victory in their

last eight games outside of Golden West League play.

Costa Mesa converted three times on five fourth-down tries, moving the

chains twice on fourth-and-two plays during each of its TD drives.

The Mustangs rolled up 230 rushing yards, despite surrendering six

sacks for 39 yards in losses. But the Mustangs lost two fumbles and were

penalized 11 times for 103 yards.

Westminster produced minus 29 yards on the ground, but overcame that

with a passing game the connected on 12 of 20 attempts.

Perkins said he elected not to back off the man-to-man pass coverage,

maintaining faith that his pass rush, which did produce three sacks,

would limit Gonzalez’s passing effectiveness.

“We kept getting after it because we wanted out guys to get all over

(Gonzalez),” Perkins said. “We put schemes in to make him throw to beat

us and that’s what he did. I put the blame on my shoulders because it’s

my job to get my kids ready to play and we weren’t ready to play.”

Perkins downplayed the 1 p.m. kickoff, as well as the one-day

postponement brought on by the terrorist attacks on the East Coast

Tuesday.

“That’s no excuse, because (the Lions) had the same circumstances,”

Perkins said.

Jesse Cardenas, whose 57-yard rumble set up Mesa’s fourth-quarter TD,

led the visitors with 85 rushing yards.

Cabico sat out most of the first half with a nagging hamstring strain

and Mesa’s leading receiver, Nathan Hunter, appeared to sprain an ankle

in pass coverage in the second quarter and did not return.

Lacey finished with 121 yards on four receptions for the winners.