Two-minute drill

Estancia High football public-address announcer Bob Hassay was honored at halftime of the Eagles’ 23-12 Orange Coast League home win over Calvary Chapel on Friday night.

Hassay, 77, the voice of Estancia football since its inception, has been calling Estancia home games for 45 years. He was presented with a No. 5 jersey enclosed inside a frame, to signify five decades of service.

It wasn’t a going-away party for Hassay, who said he’ll probably be back but he hasn’t talked about it with the administration.

“I always say I’m 77 going on 22,” said Hassay, a former English teacher at Estancia. “Of course, when I was 39, I’d say I was 39 going on 22.

 Newport Harbor High’s 13-10 Sunset League road win Friday over Esperanza was in question until the final seconds at Valencia High.

Esperanza’s Tyler Drees was called upon for a 47-yard field-goal try with three seconds left that would have tied it. But Sailors’ Coach Jeff Brinkley first made him wait, calling his two allotted timeouts to “ice” the kicker.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done that before in my career,” said Brinkley, in his 32nd season as a prep head coach. “It obviously didn’t hurt.”

After a low snap was placed by the holder Drees’ attempt was high enough and long enough, but wide left.

 One person on the Newport Harbor sideline, senior kicker Dillon Freiberg, empathized with Drees.

“[Waiting through timeouts] is tough on a kicker,” Freiberg said. “It happened to me last year against Fountain Valley and I missed.”

Freiberg rarely misses a chance to contribute to his team, both kicking and punting. He booted field goals of 25 and 35 yards, the latter to break a 10-10 tie with 4:26 left in the game against the Aztecs. He also converted his lone conversion attempt, averaged 50.7 yards on three punts and blasted three of his four kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

“He’s so good at both [punting and kicking], he is really a weapon for us,” Brinkley said.

 For the second straight year, Costa Mesa fell behind 22 points to Laguna Beach in the Orange Coast League championship showdown that ended the regular season.

The Mustangs were unable to come back this time.

Costa Mesa fell at Laguna Beach, 49-34, losing a chance to claim three consecutive league titles for the first time in the program’s history.

The Mustangs (6-4, 3-1 in league) hurt themselves, committing five turnovers. Laguna Beach scored 16 points off the turnovers and ended Costa Mesa’s eight-game league winning streak dating back to 2007.

“No excuses,” Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso said.

The Mustangs look to rebound in the playoffs. Instead of playing host to a first-round CIF Southern Section Southern Division game, Costa Mesa is on the road because it failed to defend its league title.

Costa Mesa plays Santiago (8-2) at Bolsa Grande High on Friday at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers finished second in the Garden Grove League.

Last year, Santiago defeated the Mustangs, 17-14, in the opening round of the playoffs. Costa Mesa has dropped the last three meetings against the Cavaliers.

 It was a tough finish to the 2009 season for Corona del Mar, but Coach Jason Hitchens looked to the future as he stood on the damp turf at Tustin High Friday, moments after his Sea Kings saw a late rally fall short in a 20-14 loss to Beckman in the Pacific Coast League finale.

The outcome ended CdM’s season and sewed up Beckman’s first CIF Southern Section playoff berth.

“It’s disappointing to finish the way we did but this is a young team, and it will be back,” said Hitchens, whose team lost all five league contests. “We played a lot of young kids at several positions this year and the experience will help them next year and beyond.”

Adding to Hitchen’s excitement was the successful seasons turned in by the football program’s lower-level teams as both the freshman and junior varsity squads won Pacific Coast League championships.

“We have a lot of talent at the lower levels, and that will only benefit us down the road,” Hitchens said. “We’re very proud of our freshman and JV teams for winning league championships. Both did an outstanding job this year.”

 Costa Mesa senior Josh Erno recorded his best rushing performance as a Mustang Friday.

The senior ran for 178 yards and one touchdown on nine carries. He broke two long runs, one for 67 yards out of the Wildcat formation that resulted in a touchdown in the first quarter, and a 63-yard gain in the fourth.

In four league games, Erno rushed for 362 yards and five touchdowns on 33 carries.

 Estancia Coach Mike Bargas said he was a platoon guy after his team beat Calvary Chapel, even with a CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoff game on the line. He proved it during the game.

Senior Sean Davis rushed for 109 yards on just six carries in the first quarter. Then, he went to defense as senior Alex Abalos got the touches. Davis didn’t see another carry until late in the third quarter.

Senior quarterback Alek Kirshner was the Eagles’ quarterback for their first three drives, then came out as junior John Diego went under center for the final two drives before the half.

“I wanted to maybe throw a little spark in there and give John Diego a chance,” Bargas said. “[Kirshner] was doing a good job and obviously he finished off the game great. I just thought it’d be a good little change-up right there. John’s a pretty good quarterback too so I wanted to see what he could do under the pressure. It’s nice that we can go to two guys.”

 Bargas said the Eagles are looking forward to their first-round playoff game, even if he knew after beating Calvary Chapel that Estancia would be hitting the road. Estancia will be at No. 3-seeded Laguna Hills, the Pacific Coast League champion, Friday.

“We’ve been playing pretty good football away,” Bargas said.

Estancia is 4-0 this season in road games, including nonleague victories over Bolsa Grande, Buena Park and Magnolia, as well as a 14-6 victory over Godinez on Oct. 31 at Segerstrom High.

 The CdM varsity team figured to contend for the PCL title at the start of the league season in mid-October. The Sea Kings entered league play at 4-1. But in their final nonleague game against Magnolia on Oct .2, J.D. Abbott, a team captain and two-way star, suffered an ankle injury. The injury kept him sidelined during the five-game league season that saw the Sea Kings — without Abbott, a major figure on both sides of the ball — give it their all yet finish 0-5.

 Sage Hill School hired Coach J.R. Tolver to change its football program around after a disappointing 2-8 season last year.

The first-year head coach led the Lightning to 7-3 regular-season record and a berth in the CIF East Valley Division playoffs. Sage will play host to Grace Brethren of Simi Valley (5-5) Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“As my first year, I couldn’t be happier,” Tolver said. “We’ve had tremendous support from our fans, I’ve had tremendous support from the school and the kids have been great. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, no matter how crazy it has been.”

Tolver said one of the things he wanted to do right away was to change the culture of the football program.

“Some people say this is a game,” Tolver said. “But, at the same time, there are so many life lessons you can learn from this game.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction and I am very excited to see where this program ends up in the next few years.”

 Alex Swigert, a senior captain for CdM, rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown and also had several big hits on defense, in his final game for the Sea Kings Friday.

Swigert was an All-CIF linebacker in 2008.

 Senior Gabe Gomez rushed for 95 yards on 14 carries in second-half duty at tailback, filling for Newport Harbor junior Cedric Whitaker, who left with a knee injury.

— From staff reports