Repeating perfection

Patrick Laverty

Costa Mesa High’s football team will begin its second go-round in the

Golden West League Friday against Saddleback at Orange Coast College

at 7 p.m.

But instead of the unknown quantity that it was last year after

moving over from the Pacific Coast League, Costa Mesa (2-1) will be

the hunted as the defending league champion.

“We talked at length about that Saturday,” Mustangs Coach Dave

Perkins said. “Because we’re the league champs, everyone is going to

play that much harder against us in each and every game.”

Saddleback (1-2) could provide a stern reminder of that in spite

of its record. The Roadrunners lost their first two games to Tesoro

(3-0), a budding power, and Canyon Country Canyon (3-0), an existing

powerhouse. Last week, they defeated previously unbeaten Santa Ana

Valley, 21-18.

The Roadrunners also possess a top-notch talent in running back

Ramiro Chavez. The 5-foot-9, 195-pound senior rushed for 1,055 yards

last year and 268 yards on 64 carries this season. He has 2,438

rushing yards in his varsity career.

“He’s a guy we have to stop,” Perkins said. “He’s more of a power

back. He seems to be a little quicker than last year. They’ll try to

get him the ball on the option or an isolation play. They’ll even

throw him the ball a little bit.”

Judging by the Mustangs’ previous success against ground attacks

this season though, Chavez could be in for a long night.

Costa Mesa, ranked third in this week’s CIF Southern Section

Division VII poll, has allowed only 99 yards rushing in three games

and opponents are averaging just 1.3 yards per carry.

The Mustangs are led up front by Marc Daniels, Qualic Vargas and

Eric Reyes, while Junior Epenesa anchors an extremely solid

linebacking group.

Saddleback hasn’t proved it has an effective passing game that

could prevent the Mustangs from concentrating their efforts on

stopping Chavez. The Roadrunners have completed just 11 passes for

139 yards in three games.

“Their quarterback is throwing the ball O.K.,” Perkins said. “He’s

been hurt by some drops by his receivers.”

The Mustangs have shown the balance that Saddleback lacks in

defeating Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach after a season-opening

loss to Corona del Mar.

Junior quarterback Bruce Wilkinson has fit in nicely, using

receivers Jorge Quiroz and Evan Hunter and H-back Jeff Waldron as his

most reliable targets.

Last week against Laguna Beach, the Mustangs also got their

running game going as tailback Omar Ruiz rushed for more than 100

yards for the first time this season.

Overall, Perkins believes his team is well ahead of last year’s

edition, which finished with a perfect 6-0 record in league play.

“Our running game is pretty close, probably better than it was

last year,” Perkins said. “We’ve cut down on our turnovers big time

from last year. With Rodrigo [Gutierrez] back at tackle and moving

[Brett] Via to tight end, it makes us really strong up front. And our

passing game, we’re averaging 100 yards a game. I think it took us 10

games last year to get 100 yards passing. We’ve shown that we can

pass the ball deep and throw it underneath. Last year, people put

eight or nine men in the box to try to stop us. If they do that this

year, we’ll beat them with the pass.”