Prep football: Mesa settles for third

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Costa Mesa High football coach Dave Perkins called

Thursday night’s 37-13 Pacific Coast League loss to visiting University a

blip on the adversity chart the Mustangs have endured all regular season.

Uni junior quarterback Nick Gerakos, however, had a radar-like

performance at Orange Coast College, completing 9 of 13 for 200 yards and four touchdowns to propel the Trojans (7-2, 4-1 in league) into next

week’s CIF Southern Section Division IX playoffs as the league’s

second-place representative.

Gerakos, came in averaging nearly 114 passing yards per game, but had

thrown just eight TD passes all season, before finding receivers in space

in the Mesa secondary.

The loss dropped the Mustangs (7-3, 3-2) into third place, which means

their playoff procession will begin on the road, almost certainly against

one of five first-place teams in Division IX.

The Mustangs, however, should be back at full strength, after playing

without junior rushing leader Keola Asuega Thursday, due to a strained

hamstring suffered in the Nov. 2 victory over Corona del Mar.

“It’s tough to go into an important game like this without one of your

weapons,” said Perkins, who watched senior backup fullback Andrew

Strickland rush for a career-high 103 yards, including a 54-yard

touchdown to open the scoring, on just 10 carries. The touchdown was set

up when end Jesse Cardenas poked the ball loose from a Uni back and

linebacker Jose Valle recovered at his own 46-yard line.

The Mustangs were also without starting outside linebacker Dicky Pulu

(knee tendinitis) and saw his backup, Gary Gonzalez, go down late in the

game with a badly sprained right ankle.

“But with all the adversity we’ve faced this year (including the Sept.

29 death of senior defensive standout Matt Colby), this is just a blip

for us. We’ve still got a good football team and we’ll be all right.”

The Mustangs, who saw University answer Strickland’s sprint to paydirt

with back-to-back touchdown drives, were boosted by kicker Bryce Sheridan

to take some momentum into halftime.

Sheridan, a soccer player who joined the team for the Oct. 11 league

opener, followed a 31-yard second-quarter field goal with with a 53-yard

three-point rocket as the first-half expired.

The latter field goal, believed to be a school record, pulled the

hosts within 17-13 and Mesa forced what appeared to be a three-and-out on

University’s first second-half possession.

But, on the ensuing punt, the Mustangs were called for an illegal fair

catch, which gave the Trojans a first down and second life. They cashed

in the miscue with a nine-play, 70-yard march, capped by Gerakos’ 22-yard

scoring toss to Ryan Ferguson. Chris Sprague’s conversion kick upped the

lead to 24-13 and Mesa never recovered.

“That was huge,” Perkins said of the costly penalty.

Uni then went 84 yards on 13 plays with its next possession, as a

17-yard Gerakos-to-Ryan McMillen TD pass gave the No. 4-ranked team in

Division IX a little insurance.

Uni, which did not punt, scored again on its third second-half

possession, then ran out the clock.

“(Gerakos) has done a great job all season, but we haven’t used him as

much as we could,” Uni Coach Mark Cunningham said. “And Costa Mesa has

shut down some good passing teams.”

Perkins said Gerakos’ performance was surprising.

“We hadn’t seen him throw like that all year,” Perkins said. “He was

making good decisions and hitting the right people. It seemed like he hit

his secondary receiver a few times tonight. I thought we did a pretty

good job shutting down (Scott Pickett), but we didn’t stop the passing

game.”

Pickett, who came in as the league’s leading rusher, did manage to

crack triple figures with 101 ground yards on 19 carries. He also caught

two passes, including a 76-yard touchdown that gave Uni a 14-7 lead with

9:07 left in the first half.

In addition to Gerakos and Pickett, fullback Rikus Pretorius rushed

for 98 yards on 12 carries as Uni rolled up 433 yards total offense, just

6 fewer than unbeaten league champion Northwood dropped on the Mustangs

in a 31-6 league-opening triumph.

Strickland was easily the most effective of six Mesa ball carriers,

while senior quarterback A.J. Perkins completed 7 of 16 for 82 yards. The

Mustangs collected six of their 14 first downs via the pass, after having

completed just 10 passes for 150 yards its first four league games.

Playoff pairings will be announced Sunday.

Asuega, just 60 yards short of 1,000 this fall, said he is 99% certain

he’ll play next week.