Eagles hope to run Chavez

COSTA MESA — Two weeks into the season, Estancia High football coach Mike Bargas may have found just the right motivational tool to dangle in front of his team: the fate of offensive line coach Lance Chavez.

The Eagles are 0-2 so far, but if they win tonight at Buena Park, Chavez will have to run laps with the team when practice resumes.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like much of a trinket, but Bargas estimated that Chavez is five-foot-10 and about 300 pounds. Seeing Chavez run would be a prize to the team because of the intense conditioning that Bargas insists upon.

For once, someone on the staff would have to suffer just as much as the players.

“He’s a big boy,” Bargas said, laughing. “If we happen to pull it off, that would be a good picture to take of him running with he kids.”

Even when Bargas mentioned the prospect at the end of Monday’s practice, heads perked up, and smiles appeared on the faces of an offense that was ready to go home.

“That’s been our battle cry this week,” Bargas said Thursday. “If we win, he has to run with the team. I don’t want that to be our only reason for winning, but it adds a little spice to things.”

While the defense has improved since the Eagles’ season opener, Bargas has had to remind himself to be patient as he works with an offense that was just learning former coach Brian Barnes’ new system two seasons ago.

“The hardest part for us is that the offense is more complex than they’re used to,” Bargas said. “It just takes time. This is only Mike [Morely’s] third game under this coaching staff. It’s a work in progress.”

Bargas has worked to minimize the mistakes that characterized Estancia’s 35-6 first loss of the season to Aquinas. Penalties and turnovers made for a bad combination for Estancia, and since then, the defense has been working to improve its tackling. After giving up 35 points to Aquinas in week one, the defense whittled that down to 13 points against Bolsa Grande. The problems, though fixable, came on special teams though, Bargas said.

On one play, Estancia had 10 players on the field. On another, there were 12. There was a bad snap on a punt that resulted in a turnover. The Eagles also got hit with a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct when a Bolsa Grande was hit after he was out of bounds.

Even though Buena Park is about 20 miles away, it won’t matter to Bargas or the team if the first win of the season — and for Bargas, his first win as head coach — comes at an away game.

For the Eagles, who are still waiting for construction to finish on their new stadium, every game this season is an away game.

“I don’t consider Davidson our home field,” Bargas said, referring to Newport Harbor. “I don’t consider Orange Coast our home field. Every game’s a travel game. We don’t have a place to hang our hat yet. It’ll be great when we have our own stadium and we can relax.”