Estancia denied playoffs

COSTA MESA — Sometimes the lessons of youth come with excruciating regret that can last much longer than a bus ride across town.

The Estancia High football team absorbed such a painful lesson Thursday night, falling, 12-10, to host Calvary Chapel in the battle for the Orange Coast League’s third-place CIF Southern Section playoff spot at Orange Coast College.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Estancia Coach Mike Bargas, who saw his team battle repeatedly for its chance at victory, only to see a string of costly mistakes render its myriad rallies eventually submerged by an emotional wave of Calvary defenders after a sack on fourth-and-19 at the hosts’ 38-yard line with 28 seconds left.

“Mistakes killed us. It was kind of the story of our year.”

Both teams made crucial miscues, but Calvary Chapel (4-6, 2-2 in league), which advances to the postseason for the first time since 2001, will be able to accompany the recollection of them with a smile.

Estancia, especially the seniors who played their last high school game, may be haunted by the same memories.

Estancia senior Jose Padilla fell on a Calvary fumble to give the Eagles one last chance with 1:51 left, after it appeared the hosts had taken the life out of the visitors with the last of their 17 rushing first downs, trudging 14 yards on third-and-seven to do so.

A five-yard completion from junior quarterback Alec Kirshner to sophomore Matt Carlyle was followed by Kirshner’s serpentine scramble for 25 more to midfield with 1:28 left.

Estancia edged closer to Eli Diego’s field-goal range when Calvary was flagged for pass interference, but, on the next snap, the visitors committed a dead-ball, unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a four-yard completion. On the following snap, an illegal block moved Estancia to its own 38 and it couldn’t recover.

Estancia (3-7, 1-3) had just three first-half possessions, scoring on two, including a well-managed drive late in the first half to salvage a 29-yard Diego field goal with two seconds left, after Calvary regained its lead with a touchdown with 36 ticks before intermission.

Estancia had a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in second quarter, capped by junior Alex Abalos darting 12 yards to tie the score. Diego’s conversion kick then put Estancia on top.

But Calvary, which ran 35 offensive plays before halftime, more than double Estancia’s 17, added a 14-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to its 11-play, 63-yard procession with the opening kickoff, to ensure a halftime lead.

Both teams wasted long drives in the third quarter. Estancia’s 10-play march to the Calvary seven-yard line ended with a first-down interception inside the five by Calvary’s Brandon Perez.

Perez, however, nullified his defensive heroics by fumbling into Estancia safety Radames Gutierrez’s grasp at the Estancia nine-yard line on the 15th play of a drive that extended nearly two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Estancia, which relied more on Kirshner’s passing (11 for 16 for 143 yards) than its typically reliable running game (116 yards on 27 attempts), used a 22-yard fade-stop pass to Carlyle, plus a subsequent personal-foul penalty, to eventually move into range for a potential go-ahead field goal.

But 278-pound Calvary senior end Edward Siders bulled up the middle to block the 40-yard attempt with 6:01 left.

“It’s unfortunate,” Bargas said. “I give [Estancia] guys credit, they played to the end. And we had a chance, too. Hopefully, it’s a good learning lesson for our young guys and our old guys go off feeling good about playing hard. We’ll start getting ready for the 2009 season after this weekend.”

Estancia senior Carlos Mendez had 56 rushing yards on 12 attempts to finish with 1,109 for the season.

Calvary gained 281 of its 293 yards on the ground.

CALVARY CHAPEL 12, ESTANCIA 10

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Estancia 0-10-0-0--10

Calvary 6-6-0-0--12

FIRST QUARTER

CC – Matsuda 7 run (kick failed), 6:25.

SECOND QUARTER

Est – Abalos 12 run (Diego kick), 7:48.

CC – Matsuda 4 run (pass failed), 0:36.

Est – Diego 29 FG, 0:02.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Est – Mendez, 12-56; Abalos, 8-34, 1 TD; Kirshner, 5-24; De La Torre, 2-2.

CC – Matsuda 32-185, 2 TDs; Perez, 11-58; Martin, 6-22; Mahlow, 5-8; Tanaka, 2-7; team, 2-minus 2.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Est – Kirsher, 11-16-1, 143.

CC – Mahlow, 2-2-0, 12.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Est – Moreno, 3-38; Diego, 4-29; Carlyle, 2-27; R. Gutierrez, 1-31; Abalos, 1-18 .

CC – Martin, 2-12.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.