RIVALRY RESUMES

Patrick Laverty

Craig Fertig may be participating in his first Battle for the Bell,

featuring Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools, but he knows all

about rivalry games.

“I’m just going to approach it like a USC-UCLA game,” the

first-year Estancia football coach said. “My group of kids, they

understand what it means because most of the Eagles know the Mustangs

and most of the Mustangs know the Eagles. They date the same girls,

go to the same beaches, go to the same shows.”

Those Eagles (3-4, 1-3 in the Golden West League) will be looking

to end a three-game losing streak and earn their first victory over

Costa Mesa since 2000, when Mustangs Coach Dave Perkins led Estancia,

in the 36th meeting between the schools tonight at Orange Coast

College at 7.

The game is a must-win for both schools if they hope to maintain

hope of a CIF Southern Section Division VII playoff berth.

But when these two teams meet, it often means much more than a

simple notch in the standings.

“We have to win three football games,” Perkins said. “We can’t put

all our eggs in one basket and say if we beat Estancia it makes our

season, because it doesn’t. It’s just one win.”

Since taking over at Costa Mesa three years ago, the Mustangs have

beaten Estancia by a combined score of 62-6. Perkins has actually won

the last four meetings between the schools, guiding Estancia to

victories in 1999 and 2000.

Mesa has the edge in talent once again this season, but Perkins

has been impressed with Estancia’s ability to rally in games.

“The one thing that bothers me is that they were down by a bunch

to Ocean View and they came back and won it,” Perkins said. “They

were down by a bunch to Santa Ana and they came back and took the

lead. There was no give-up. That was one of the things when I was

there. The kids never gave up. No lead is safe against this team.”

The Eagles rallied last week behind three rushing touchdowns and

127 yards from fullback Bubba Kapko. The senior leads the Eagles with

527 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. Senior Mike Cahill has added

355 yards and two touchdowns.

But the focus for Estancia is going to be quarterback Brad Young.

He has completed 58 of 128 passing this season for 838 yards. He’s

thrown five touchdowns, but nine interceptions.

“We have to get a game out of our quarterback,” Fertig said. “Brad

Young is going to be the key to this game because they’re going to

stack it up against our two backs. Even Ray Charles can figure that

out.”

He also wouldn’t have much trouble trying to figure out that the

Eagles need to stop Mustangs tailback Omar Ruiz, who is averaging 6.3

yards per carry (176 carries for 1,108 yards) and has scored 10

touchdowns. But Estancia has had trouble with backs similar in

stature to Ruiz (5-foot-6, 175 pounds). Against Westminster, the

Eagles allowed Carlos Brooks (5-9, 160) to run for 222 yards and

three touchdowns.

Mesa also has shown balance this season with junior Bruce

Wilkinson at quarterback (50 of 93 passing for 703 yards) and

receivers Jeff Waldron and Jorge Quiroz.

“Throw out the emotion, they’re a darned good football team,”

Fertig said.

Perkins will be looking for more consistency from his offense,

attempting to avoid the minor glitches that have killed drives in

recently, particularly in last week’s loss to Orange.

Fertig will be looking for something much more impressive, if not

impossible.

“We’ve got to play a perfect ball game, if there is such a thing,”

Fertig said.