Barry Faulkner For the second straight week,...

Barry Faulkner

For the second straight week, the Costa Mesa High football team

was much better after halftime, prompting Coach Dave Perkins to

believe the Mustangs just may be a second-half team.

For the first time, however, intermission improvements led to a

victory as the Mustangs claimed a 27-24 nonleague triumph over host

Chaminade Friday night in West Hills.

It is, after all, much easier to make halftime adjustments pay off

when the opponent is not ahead by three touchdowns, as was the case

in Costa Mesa’s opener against Corona del Mar.

“I think we continued what we had started last week against CdM by

playing better the second half,” Perkins said. “(Chaminade) did some

things we weren’t ready for on offense, so we needed to make some

adjustments on defense. And on offense, we made some blocking

adjustments.”

The Eagles were tough to prepare for, Perkins said, because of a

lack of scouting information. The traditional exchange of game

videotape between the two schools did not take place and Perkins was

limited to a second-hand account of Chaminade’s personnel and schemes

from the coach of the Paraclete team that defeated the Eagles, 24-20,

in the opener.

“It was very basic information,” Perkins said.

The Mustangs went back to basics after halftime, which both teams

entered in a 3-3 deadlock. Those basics included a dominant ground

game, keyed by senior Keola Asuega, who amassed 263 of his 279

rushing yards in the final 24 minutes.

After both teams swapped touchdowns in the third quarter,

Chaminade took a 16-10 lead with 8:58 left in the game.

Perkins and his players, however, never lost confidence.

“I think what was good about it was nobody ever really felt like

we were going to lose the game,” Perkins said. “There was never a

sense of panic.”

That calm was personified, Perkins said, by senior Nate Hunter,

who stood out at outside linebacker, hauled in the Mustangs’ only

completion for a 15-yard gain to convert a key third down and also

spearheaded what Perkins termed some fine special teams play.

Hunter, who converted a 31-yard field goal to open the scoring

midway through the first quarter, nailed a game-winning 37-yarder

with 1:59 left.

“We were thinking field goal on our last drive,” Perkins said. “We

thought we could hold them on defense, even though we scored with

plenty of time left.”

In addition to his field goals, Hunter punted well and his six

kickoffs also helped the coverage team keep the Eagles inside their

30, Perkins said.

“I think we’re really playing well on special teams,” said

Perkins, who also had praise for Junior Epenesa and Cole Edwards,

both of whom played well after sitting out the opener.

“Epenesa was huge for us at middle linebacker,” Perkins said. “He

was all over the field making tackles. He was a little tired in the

fourth quarter, but he made a lot of plays for us.

“And I thought Edwards played well at inside linebacker.”

Perkins said he has settled on senior Tim Iller at quarterback,

after Iller battled junior Brian Knox for the job.

“Tim’s going to be the guy, unless he plays his way out of it,”

Perkins said. Iller took every snap against Chaminade and has

completed three passes this season for 58 yards.

“We’d like to complete a few more passes, but, hey, that’s not our

thing right now,” Perkins said.

With the return of Epenesa and Edwards, Perkins said the team is

close to full strength as it prepares for its final preleague tuneup

Thursday against former Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Beach

(2-0).

“We just want to keep improving to get ready for league,” he said.