Plenty at stake for Mesa

There hasn’t been a lot of time lately for the Costa Mesa High football team.

Not a lot of time last week. Only three days to get ready for cross-town rival Estancia after the Mustangs won at Laguna Beach in their Orange Coast League opener.

And no time to mope after Costa Mesa lost to Estancia, 41-13, on Friday in the Battle for the Bell.

Tonight at 7:30 at Orange Coast College, against Calvary Chapel, the Mustangs play for their first CIF Southern Section playoff berth since 2002. Either team would clinch second place in league and the automatic berth into the Southern Division playoffs with a win.

A loss, and you go home for a long winter, something the Mustangs (2-7, 1-1 in league) don’t want to do yet again. The current senior class was in seventh grade the last time Costa Mesa made the playoffs.

“Big game,” Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso said. “The seniors have had a rough four years. They want to go out in a different way than they came in. For the seniors, it’s a way to end it on a high note, and it helps the young guys know what they need to do to get back there. [Making playoffs] would just give the program a nice little boost.”

To do it, the Mustangs will have to beat a Calvary Chapel (1-8, 1-1) team that picked up its first win of the season by topping Laguna Beach, 23-12, on Friday. The Eagles will also have what Osso called probably the most electrifying player on the field, in senior running back Brandon Snook.

Snook rushed for 180 yards two weeks ago in Calvary’s 10-7 loss to Estancia, and added 182 more yards in last week’s win over Laguna Beach.

“Snook is real good, and [Calvary Chapel Coach Lyle] Lansdell is definitely one of the more inventive offensive coaches around,” Osso said. “Calvary Chapel did a good job of controlling the clock against Estancia, and that’s what we have to do against Calvary Chapel. We have to control the clock to keep Snook off the field.”

But Osso said one of the Mustangs’ electrifying players, junior running back Antwon Byrd, will not be available. Byrd, who caught two touchdowns passes from sophomore quarterback Brian Waldron against Estancia, suffered a left elbow contusion during that game.

Osso plans to start senior Cody De La Mater, normally the starting fullback, at tailback.

“The thing about Cody is that he makes a lot of yards out of a little,” Osso said. “Against Estancia, he ran some kid over and rumbled for 10 more yards. He’s got that kind of motor where when he gets going, he’s hard to bring down.”

Mesa will also operate a two tight-end formation for the first time this season, with Tamas Gyorfi and Rafael Hernandez getting the call in an attempt to balance out Calvary’s 3-3 stack defense.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.