Mustangs in must-win situation

Rick Devereux

It is no surprise what the Costa Mesa High football team tries to

accomplish while on offense: Get the ball to Jeff Waldron.

“Naturally, we can’t wait until third down to get the ball to

Jeff,” Coach Tom Baldwin said. “We need to try to get him the ball on

first and second down any way we can. And we have to spread it around

to other receivers. If we can complete some passes to someone other

than Jeff, it will stop defenses from double- and sometimes

triple-teaming him.”

Costa Mesa (2-6, 2-2 in the Golden West League) has been working

on getting Waldron the ball in some capacity in the running game.

Waldron and the rest of the Mustang offense will battle a tough

Orange defense Friday at Orange Coast College at 7 p.m. The Panthers

(7-2, 4-1) are ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division VII and

have solidified second-place in the league.

Orange opponents have averaged 18.4 points. The Panthers use four

linemen and four linebackers, but sometimes it becomes a five man

front.

“Sometimes they change it up and put in a nose guard,” Baldwin

said. “They haven’t blitzed a lot, but other teams have had success

blitzing us, so we are going to prepare for some blitzes.”

Waldron, who is one of the top receivers in CIF Southern Section

with 35 catches for 626 yards and six touchdowns, is also a starting

outside linebacker. He and the rest of the Mustang defense are in a

bit of a pickle as to what to prepare for from the Orange offense.

“[Orange] used to run the double wing, but lately they have run

the wing-T,” Baldwin said. “That’s two different offenses we have to

look at and study, so it makes it a little bit difficult.”

No matter what the formation for Orange, the ball seems to end up

in hands of freshman Matthew Contreras. Contreras has rushed for 15

touchdowns and close to 1,140 yards.

The run-oriented offense will allow Costa Mesa to take advantage

of its strong linebacking unit. Waldron is joined by Jasbir Seewat on

the outside and Randy Fea, Cameron Wynglarz and Duaine Wase on the

inside. But the difference could be the battle between the linemen.

“The real matchup will be in the front four,” Baldwin said. “If

our D-linemen can take on their O-line, it will allow our linebackers

to step into the rushing lanes and shut them down.”

Costa Mesa is in a must-win scenario the remaining two games in

order to secure a third-place finish in the league and an automatic

CIF southern Section Division VII playoff berth.

“We have to eliminate our mistakes and penalties,” Baldwin said.

“We can beat anyone if we play well.”