Mustangs’ victory sweet as barbecue sauce

Barry Faulkner

After the Costa Mesa High football team consumed crosstown rival

Estancia Friday with a 41-0 verdict in the 36th Battle for the Bell,

the Mustangs players and coaches sat down to consume the now

traditional postgame rib dinner awarded to the winner.

But even before the victory and its postgame treat were digested,

the focus of both players and coaches began to drift toward Friday’s

Golden West League clash with Westminster.

“Our kids work real hard at it, they enjoy the wins and feel real

good about them,” Mesa Coach Dave Perkins said. “But the wins don’t

seem to linger with this group. These kids are almost like our

coaches in that way, because it doesn’t take them long to start

focusing on the next opponent.”

A victory over this week’s foe, a Westminster team that surprised

the Mustangs with a 22-16 nonleague win last season, would all but

clinch a guaranteed spot in the CIF Southern Section Division VII

Playoffs. Only an unlikely string of events that would create a

five-way tie for first with Costa Mesa, Westminster, Orange,

Saddleback and Santa Ana, all at 4-2, could keep Mesa (5-2, 3-0 in

league) from a guaranteed top-three league finish, should it beat

Westminster.

“Even while we were at the (postgame rib dinner), we were talking

about the fact that beating Westminster would put us into the

playoffs,” Perkins said.

Still, the victory over Estancia, the Mustangs’ second straight

over their biggest rival, allowing them to close the Eagles’ series

lead to 20-15-1, was as sweet as the barbecue sauce they licked from

fingers later Friday night.

“It’s nice for the kids to have some extra rewards for their hard

work,” Perkins said of the dinner, retaining the perpetual Bell

trophy and owning intracity bragging rights at least one more year.

“It comes at a good time of year, close to the midseason, and it’s

such a neat thing that the Scott family (the Bell trophy and rib

dinner are sponsored by longtime community sports boosters Jim and

Joan Scott) has established.”

Perkins was also gratified by the sportsmanship both teams

displayed Friday at Newport Harbor High.

“Both teams were classy and I thought their kids played hard,”

Perkins said. “There wasn’t a lot of talking, or other stuff that

might happen, going on on the field.”

Perkins and assistant coaches, six of whom coached at Estancia

before coming over to Mesa two seasons ago, also appeared to take

time after the traditional player handshakes, to track down Estancia

players and pass along praise.

“Our coaches wanted to tell those guys to keep their heads up and

keep working hard,” said Perkins, who felt compelled to personally

pass along admiration for Estancia two-way standout Lewis Bradshaw.

“The one (Estancia player) who stands out in my mind is Bradshaw,”

Perkins said of the Eagles quarterback-receiver-safety. “What a stud

he is. He gets all my admiration. He just kept getting off the ground

and coming at us. You know he’s playing hurt, but it doesn’t seem to

matter. He just kept on throwing the ball, running the ball and

making tackles on defense. He’s just a special kid.”

Perkins had special praise for his defense, which limited Estancia

to minus-47 yards on the ground and a mere 43 yards total offense.

“One of the things we were concerned with was the big bodies

Estancia had on its offensive line,” Perkins said. “But I thought we

were able to dominate. We did a real good job of rushing the passer

(six sacks for 60 yards of losses), which was our Achilles heel last

season.”