Wearing the target

Patrick Laverty

Costa Mesa High enters the 2003 football season like it has only one

other time in the 44-year history of the varsity football program.

The Mustangs have a target on their backs.

After only their second outright league title in school history,

Costa Mesa will be the hunted this season.

“Everybody’s out to get you,” Perkins said. “Beating the league

champ can make someone’s season.”

They swept through the Golden West League undefeated in their

first year in the circuit and now it’s up to the other six schools in

the league to get revenge.

But it won’t be easy.

The Mustangs return 34 players from last year’s team, including

seven starters on offense and eight on defense. They’ve also added

two transfers, one who will start at quarterback and another at

tailback and defensive end. It’s unlikely that any of those players

want to let Costa Mesa become a one-year wonder.

Not that many believe that will happen. The Mustangs, who lost in

the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs for

the sixth time in nine years last season, enter 2003 ranked No. 5 in

the preseason CIF Division VII poll.

“I think we earned the right to be there,” Perkins said.

“Obviously, we have to do a lot of good things to stay there. But I

think this team could do a lot of good things. I think if we play

well, we’re going to be in the hunt, once again, for a league

championship and the playoffs. Once you get into the playoffs, it’s

just how it goes. It’s luck of the draw and, if you play well, things

will go well.”

One of the Mustangs’ main goals is to get past the first round of

the playoffs this season, but first they must make the playoffs and

do so with the expectation that they will get there.

Coming off last season’s 8-3 finish, Costa Mesa’s best record

since 1999, the Mustangs have the talent to improve that mark. Nine

returning starters were named first- or second-team all-league last

season. Seniors Junior Epenesa and Luke Sapolu are receiving interest

from colleges, as are juniors Jeff Waldron and Rodrigo Gutierrez.

Junior Bruce Wilkerson, who started half the season at Loara last

year, has transferred to Costa Mesa and will start at quarterback.

Senior Qualic Vargas moved to Costa Mesa from Kansas and should prove

to be an immediate impact player.

“You’ve got to like our team,” Perkins said. “We feel real good.

The kids really understand what we’re trying to do on offense and

defense, that’s a big plus.”

On offense, Perkins is hoping for a more balanced attack than the

unit that completed just 42 passes in 11 games last season. Wilkerson

will be counted on to provide that balance, throwing primarily to a

receiving corps that is the most inexperienced unit on the team.

“Our passing game is based on a lot of reads, pre-snap and then

when the ball is snapped,” Perkins said. “[Wilkerson] struggled a bit

early, then it kind of clicked for him in the summer. Now, he’s doing

a pretty good job.”

If the Mustangs succeed in establishing a viable passing game, it

should only help what is an already strong running unit, which will

feature Vargas and senior Omar Ruiz behind a big and experienced

offensive line. The line should also benefit from the coaching of

former San Francisco 49er Jesse Sapolu, who knows a thing or two

about defending a championship having won four Super Bowls in his NFL

career.

“Experience plus Jesse Sapolu, that isn’t a bad combination,”

Perkins said about his offensive line.

Defensively, the combination isn’t bad either. The Mustangs have

an all-league returner at defensive end, inside linebacker and both

cornerback positions, further solidifying the Mustangs as the team to

beat in the Golden West League.

The only other team from the league ranked in the preseason poll

is Orange, the second-place finisher last season, which was ranked

No. 10. But Perkins sees the competition as strong throughout the

league. Westminster always plays the Mustangs tough, he said. He

expects Saddleback to improve with running back Ramiro Chavez

returning. Quarterback Alex Hickerson, a second-team all-league

selection, returns for Ocean View. And crosstown rival Estancia has a

new coaching staff, which Perkins expects to round that team into

shape.

But as good as any of those teams might be, things seem to be

falling in Costa Mesa’s favor right now. The confidence level of the

team coming off a league championship season is sky-high and Perkins

is happy with how the team has prepared for this year.

“I think we’re a real solid football team,” Perkins said. “The

staff has been together for a long time. We’re all on the same page.

We have a good rapport with the kids. The kids like what we’re doing.

It’s real good chemistry right now.”

If there has been one inhibitor over the years it has been the

first round of the playoffs. The Mustangs lost to Gabrielino, 15-14,

in the first round last season.

“Our big thorn in our side has been getting past the first round,”

Perkins said. “We’ve been in the playoffs [eight] of the last 10

years. In 93, they went to the finals. Since then, it has been one

and out, [with the exception of a first-round victory in 1997]. That

has been a thorn in our side. If we’re lucky enough to get to the

playoffs, that’s definitely going to be a goal. A goal of getting to

the playoffs and then getting to the second round.”