Baldwin era II begins tonight

Rick Devereux

Preparing for the first game of the football season is tough. It’s

not only hard determining what your opponent will do, but also how

your team will stack up, as well.

Such is the case for Costa Mesa High Coach Tom Baldwin, who will

open up the 2004 campaign for Orange County tonight at 7 at Newport

Harbor against Brea Olinda from the Century League.

“We have a number of films on them from their last games last

season,” Baldwin said, “but I still don’t know what to expect.”

The Mustang coaching staff has talked to other coaches in the

Century League to get any insider information on the Wildcat

tendencies. Robb Perrance guided Brea Olinda to a 4-7 record after

taking over the reins as head coach for a second time from Jon

Looney. Looney stepped down for the 2000 season but came back to lead

the Wildcats to the CIF Southern Section Division VI championship the

next year.

Perrance changed offensive philosophies midway through last year,

giving Baldwin and his coaching staff multiple things to prepare for.

“They were running a wing-T and then in the middle of the season

started going with a power running formation,” Baldwin said. “We’re

prepared for as many things as possible.”

Daniel Smalls is the top returning rusher for the Wildcats. He

scored five touchdowns on 93 carries for 447 yards, a clip of 4.8

yards per carry.

“He’s pretty quick and not very big,” Baldwin said. “He’s the only

back that did very much of anything last year that is back.”

The quarterback and most of the wide receivers graduated, but

Baldwin was impressed with the size of the offensive line.

The Mustangs will counter with an attacking four-four defense that

will try to send blitzers from different spots to apply pressure.

The Brea Olinda defense is similar to its offense: unpredictable.

“They normally run a four-four, but last year they did a lot of

switching around,” Baldwin said. “There were games when they had an

odd-man front.”

The Mustangs will run basically the same wing-T offense as last

year.

Baldwin sees the key in the game coming from the special teams.

“We don’t want to make a lot of mistakes,” he said. “The first

ball game of the year will have mistakes in the kicking game and

there will be turnovers. If we hold the mistakes to a minimum, we can

be effective.”

Baldwin said he was concerned with the level of experience his

team had and with the team’s depth, but he will be counting on

veteran receivers to lead the team.

“Of course you want to win, but you can’t put too much in winning

the first game,” he said. “You have to emphasize that you have to be

mistake-free.”

Winning the first game does not ensure a winning season, but of

Costa Mesa’s 13 winning campaigns, 10 opened with a win.

The fact that it will be the first time the Mustangs will be hit,

tackling and blocking someone other than a teammate with pads, has

the Mesa coaches curious as to how the team will respond.

“We won’t know our identity until we get out there,” he said.

Costa Mesa is 2-1 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 16-13

victory over Brea High in 1967. Brea Olinda beat the Mustangs, 14-0,

the last time the teams meet in 1991.

Baldwin was 5-3 in opening games as Mesa coach from 1984-91.