Costa Mesa to forget past

Before Costa Mesa High’s football game tonight, the Mustangs will feature the city’s Pop Warner program.

Captains from the divisions of Costa Mesa Pop Warner will walk out with the Mustangs’ leaders for the coin toss. During halftime, the youth football players will have a scrimmage.

The Mustangs will want to set an example for the younger players when they take on Beckman at Estancia tonight at 7.

Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso knows one way the Mustangs can be an example. He wants his players to forget about last week, when they lost to Corona del Mar, 34-6. With regard to the present, that was Week Zero, literally and figuratively.

“You can’t dwell on the losses too long,” Osso said. “You can’t look at the past. We put the game behind us and we look forward to the future.”

Osso found positives from last week, as the Mustangs held the Sea Kings to three points in the second half. But the Mustangs’ coach didn’t want to remind his players so much about that second half, only telling them to forget.

He most likely won’t remind them about last year, when the Mustangs lost their first five games of the season, the second to Beckman, 35-0. But Costa Mesa rebounded to win five straight and capture the Orange Coast League title.

“They don’t give teems plaques that go 5-0 in nonleague,” Osso said. “You need to win league and that’s the goal.

“I think our guys can bounce back. We feel confident with where we were going.”

As for Beckman, Osso pointed to its offensive line as the source of the team’s strength.