Loss stings Mustangs

COSTA MESA — There were no small victories here. There couldn’t be, not with a sting of a loss hurting so much.

A shutout and a garbage-time touchdown via a pass can leave a bad taste in the mouth.

But maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s where the Costa Mesa High football team can find growth, from losing, 35-0, to Beckman Friday night at Estancia High.

The Mustangs fell to 0-2. Last year they started out 0-5 before reeling off five straight wins and capturing the Orange Coast League title. The wounds suffered now aren’t for licking. They’re almost for pride. They might be called growing pains.

For now, it’s a loss, a painful one. How so?

Well, there were no points to show for Costa Mesa, and also there was that late score that brewed mild controversy. Osso appeared visibly upset. The Patriots (2-0) scored with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left when Justin Dawdy caught a short pass and took it the distance for a 71-yard touchdown.

“No comment,” Osso said when asked what he thought of the play. “I thought our guys played real well tonight. I don’t want to take away from that. [Quarterback] Todd Davis did a great job of buying himself some time when he didn’t have it at times. He made some great passes. We have to finish drives. We can’t get down there and stall drives because of stupid penalties.

“We have some work, but we’re all right. We’re going in the right direction.”

Beckman Coach Fred Shambaugh said the passing call wasn’t meant to be a big play. Shambaugh said he wanted quarterback Cameron Biedgoly to throw to possibly offset Costa Mesa’s run blitzing.

It was the Patriots’ running game that effectively wilted the Mustangs. They scored four rushing touchdowns, the first three come from Keith Lawson, each of them on third down. Scoring runs of 23, 44 and 67 in each of the first three quarters put Costa Mesa out of reach. Lawson ran for 183 yards on 13 carries.

“Our personality came out,” Shambaugh said. “That’s who we’re going to have to be. We’re going to have to be a ground-and-pound team. We’re going to throw on occasion. But we have an A-plus line and we’re just going to run behind them.”

Costa Mesa, which has gone six straight quarters without scoring, tried to use its passing game to at least avoid a shutout. After Beckman went up, 28-0, with 11 minutes left, Davis drove the Mustangs to the Patriots’ five, a nice mix of passes and runs that covered 49 yards. But on fourth down, after a delay-of-game penalty that pushed the Mustangs to the 10, Davis never got to use his strong arm for a pass attempt and he was sacked.

The Mustangs also missed a 42-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter.

Davis threw for 81 yards, on eight-of-21 passing.

Osso was disappointed about the mistakes. In addition to the offense stalling at times, the Mustangs had seven penalties for 45 yards.

“The hardest part of the schedule is out of the way,” said Osso, whose team plays its third straight home game Thursday against Saddleback.

Beckman 35, Costa Mesa 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Beckman 6-8-7-14--35

Costa Mesa 0-0-0-0--0

FIRST QUARTER

Beck. – Lawson 23 run (kick failed, 6:42.

SECOND QUARTER

Beck. – Lawson 44 run (Rasmussen pass from Biegoly), 3:13.

THIRD QUARTER

Beck. – Lawson 67 run (Traut kick), 8:55.

FOURTH QUARTER

Beck. – Swan 59 run (Traut kick), 11:02.

Beck. – Dawdy 71 pass from Biedgoly (Traut kick), 2:46.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Beck. – Lawson, 13-183, 3 TDs; Swan 13-59, 1 TD; Chaz, 1-32; Smith, 1-1, Biedgoly, 2-minus-2.

CM – Erno, 14-73; Gomez, 10-50; Alvis, 1-3; Waldron, 1-1; Luong, 1-5; Sheffner, 3-12; Grayson, 3-12; Davis, 5-minus-17.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Beck. – Hazard, 4-7-0, 43; 4-5-0, 89, 1 TD.

CM – Davis, 8-22-0, 81.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Beck. – Flores, 4-44; Dawdy, 1-71, 1 TD; Smith 1-11, Al Masri, 1-4; Dement, 1-2.

CM – Gomez, 3-46; Luong, 3-16; Waldron, 2-19.