Eagles blank CdM

CORONA DEL MAR — In a two-minute stretch in the second half, Coach Gannon Burks shook his head for two different reasons.

The first time in disbelief because he found it hard to believe two Estancia High boys’ soccer players fought each other for the ball near the sideline.

The second time because one of those two players shared the ball near the sideline and it helped the Eagles put the match away at Corona del Mar.

Burks yelled out, “Great passing!” on a give-and-go from Jose Reyes to Antonio Gonzalez. A quick cross by Gonzalez to Antonio Garcia set up a dynamic goal.

Garcia controlled the ball with his right foot before spinning around to blast the ball with his left foot, giving the Eagles a 2-0 victory Wednesday.

The day before, Garcia, a senior striker, worked on the play.

It worked to perfection in the 65th minute against CdM (0-2), as Estancia (1-0-1) remained unbeaten in nonleague play.

“It was kind of easy because Antonio Gonzalez gave me a pretty good pass,” said Garcia, who scored his first goal of the season.

“We want to beat everyone in our [Newport-Mesa Unified School] district and show them we’re the best.”

Estancia easily took down one team in district. There are two more to go.

The Eagles, ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section Division IV preseason coaches’ poll, enter the season as the area’s top club.

With 17 seniors and only one starter lost from last season’s Orange Coast League championship team, Burks has a lot of talent to work with.

Burks used almost his entire 27-man roster to shut down the Sea Kings.

On the other side, Coach Pat Callaghan wasn’t so fortunate.

Two key players missed the match for CdM. Callaghan said junior striker Reed Williams and sophomore defender Brian Ford will miss the first five matches of the season due to club commitments.

Williams’ scoring ability might have made a difference in making it a match. Callaghan said Williams has the potential to be CdM’s leading goal scorer.

Estancia has a handful of players capable of producing tons of goals. One of those is junior Jose Rodriguez.

Rodriguez put the Eagles up, 1-0, in the 26th minute. Jose Garcia fed him the ball and Rodriguez took care of the rest.

With goalkeeper Zak Maurer-Erickson leaning toward the left post, Rodriguez struck the ball toward the other one for the goal.

Estancia is so deep that Rodriguez sat out the second half. There’s a reason for it.

“I use the [nonleague schedule] to try to solidify our starting 11,” Burks said.

The lineup might continue to change until the Eagles begin their league title defense, but there’s one thing that has stayed the same in Burks’ six years at Estancia.

“If the other team can’t score, they can’t win,” Burks told his team prior to the match.

So far the Eagles have allowed one goal, coming in a 1-1 season-opening tie against Tustin.

Estancia goalkeeper Edgar Vega has impressed Burks early on. Vega is one of three sophomores and he made two impressive saves in the second half to record the shutout against CdM.

Vega finished with a dozen saves. Some weren’t hit so hard and Vega came far out of his net to glove them. Defenders Rony Argueta and Noe Marin slowed down the Sea Kings’ attack.

“We’re just shorthanded,” said Callaghan, adding it was fun to play a team from the district because “it gets guys fired up.”

Burks agreed.

“The coach was nice enough to put us back on the schedule,” said Burks, whose Eagles lost to CdM in the playoffs two years ago. “There [are] four good teams [in the district]. We should be playing each other.

“Why aren’t the local schools playing [each other] more?”

This gave Burks another reason to shake his head.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.