Oilers erupt, overcome Costa Mesa

Rick Devereux

The second Tom Baldwin era has gotten off to an inauspicious start

for Costa Mesa High as the Mustangs lost, 42-28, to Huntington Beach

Thursday night in a nonleague football game played at Newport Harbor

High.

The game that included four lead changes was closer than the

two-touchdown final margin.

The Oilers (1-0-1) scored on their first drive of the second half

on quarterback Curtis Crandell’s 26-yard touchdown run to give

Huntington Beach a 28-21 lead it did not relinquish.

The Mustangs (0-3) had a flurry of scoring in the final minutes of

the first half to overcome a two-touchdown defecet.

Mesa put together an 11-play scoring drive that lasted 4:42 and

covered 74 yards. Tyler Legg, who gained 52 rushing yards on 18

carries in the game, scored his second rushing touchdown on a 1-yard

plunge to bring the score to 20-14 with 2:28 left in the half.

“I’m happy the offense was able to put together a couple of long

drives,” Baldwin said. “Our effort was great.”

The Mustang defense recovered a fumble at the Huntington Beach

19-yard line and, on the next play, quarterback Ryan French connected

with tight end Jeff Waldron on a fade route in the end zone to give

Mesa a 21-20 lead at the break.

French to Waldron was a common theme in the second half, with the

two connecting four times for 110 yards. Waldron continually caught

jump balls and twice ripped a would-be interception out of a

defender’s hands and turned it into a Mustang completion. Waldron

caught the final Mustang touchdown, a 75-yard stop and go.

But, for the third game in a row, a few defensive miscues by Costa

Mesa resulted in sustained scoring drives.

“We played a very hard game, but we, once again, gave up too many

big plays,” Baldwin said. “We would hold their offense, but then let

a big play keep things going.”

The Mustang defense allowed rushes of 54, 32, 44, 26, and 59

yards.

The Oiler offense was decidedly run-oriented, with all but three

of their 42 snaps being rushing plays. Crandell scored two rushing

touchdowns and gained 74 yards on seven carries, and running backs

Justin Motes and Mitch Roemer combined for 246 rushing yards on 28

carries with two scores.

Before the game, Huntington Beach Coach Mike Groscost said he

wanted his team to “out-physical” Costa Mesa, something he said the

team did not do in last year’s meeting, a 33-16 Mustang victory.

“I don’t know if we out-physicaled them tonight or not,” Groscot

said after the game. “But I’m pretty happy with our play.”

The Oilers looked like they would be able to move the ball at will

at the outset. After forcing a Mesa three-and-out, Huntington Beach

recovered a blocked punt on the Mustang 33-yard line and marched down

to the 1 before Mesa defensive tackle Duiane Wase stripped the

running back of the ball and raced 53 yards to the Huntington Beach

46-yard line. Eight plays later, Legg gave Costa Mesa a 7-0 lead with

a 1-yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing drive, the Oilers needed three plays to even the

score, highlighted by Montes running 54 yards before being pushed out

of bounds on the 17-yard line. Montes scored ran in for a touchdown

two plays later.

The Oilers put together a 12-play, 69-yard drive on their next

series that lasted 5:17 and was topped off with a Crandell bootleg

that gave Huntington a 14-7 lead.

It looked as if Huntington Beach would put the game away when Eric

Jaso returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown to give the Oilers a

20-7 advantage. The two-point conversion was nullified by an Oiler

penalty.

But that’s when Mesa scored twice to end the half with the lead.

The last time a Costa Mesa team got off to an 0-3 start was 1989,

when a Baldwin-led squad finished 0-10.