Costa Mesa football preaches ‘patience and persistence’ after loss to Kennedy in opener
From the opening kickoff, the Costa Mesa High football team found itself chasing the game on Thursday night against Kennedy, paving the way for an early test of the Mustangs’ resolve.
Costa Mesa coach Gary Gonzalez is calling for “patience and persistence” this season.
The visiting Mustangs fell to the Irish 48-7 at Handel Stadium on the campus of Western High, but following a first half that got away from them, they walked off the field with some positives to work with at game’s end.
Brody Leonard scored the only touchdown of the second half, which was played in its entirety with a running clock. The sophomore receiver got behind the defense on a fourth-down play midway through the fourth quarter, reeling in the pass from Marley Boynton for a 42-yard strike.
“What we told our guys in the halftime was, ‘Hey look, focus on the next 24 minutes, play hard, find the small victories,’ and we found some success in the second half ... moved the ball a little bit better, played a little bit better defense,” Gonzalez said.
“We’re starting a lot of sophomores, so when you do that, there’s not a lot of experience,” he continued. “However, they grow up fast. It’s the idea of trial by fire, and I think that first half got away from us rather quickly because we’re pretty inexperienced.”
After Kennedy (1-0) exploded for seven touchdowns in the first half, Costa Mesa (0-1) limited the Irish to two first downs in three drives in the second half.
The first, a red-zone visit following a Mustangs fumble, ended with a missed field goal. Costa Mesa then received back-to-back tackles for lost yardage by Noah Genus and Jesus Villanueva that led to a turnover on downs. Ryan Lowry later added another tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
Gonzalez said sophomore right guard and nose tackle William Wedgwood’s effort stood out in the trenches.
Kennedy jumped ahead 11 seconds into the contest on an 85-yard kick return by John Bivens. The senior said it was his first time returning kicks in a game. His encore performance was perhaps more impressive, as he found the right sideline before traversing traffic to the other side of the field and sneaking inside the left pylon. The 57-yard punt return made the score 27-0 after the first quarter.
“I’ve always wanted to do it,” Bivens said of returning kicks. “I was confident. I know I got my speed, so I just got to play confident and get it.”
Kennedy quarterback Devin Almazan had a pair of touchdown passes, one each to Drew Deese and Izaiah Murphy. The Irish also got a rushing touchdown from Rider Street, Isaac Talamantes and Daniel Torres, respectively.
Costa Mesa will host Whittier Pioneer in its home opener on Friday, Aug. 25. In the teams’ nonleague meeting last season, the Mustangs pulled out a 21-20 road victory.
Nonleague
Kennedy 48, Costa Mesa 7
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Costa Mesa 0 - 0 - 0 - 7 — 7
Kennedy 27 - 21 - 0 - 0 — 48
FIRST QUARTER
K — Bivens 85 return (Martinez kick), 11:49.
K — Deese 20 pass from Dev. Almazan (Martinez kick), 4:26.
K — Murphy 10 pass from Dev. Almazan (Martinez kick), 1:48.
K — Bivens 57 punt return (Martinez kick failed), 0:18.
SECOND QUARTER
K — Ri. Street 10 run (Martinez kick), 7:30.
K — Talamantes 7 run (Martinez kick), 4:31.
K — Torres 2 run (Martinez kick), 3:06.
THIRD QUARTER
None.
FOURTH QUARTER
CM — Leonard 42 pass from Boynton (Rivera kick), 6:40.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
CM — Boynton, 7-14; McDonough, 6-14; Franco, 3-14.
K — Ri. Street, 9-85, 1 TD; Talamantes, 3-38, 1 TD; Torres, 8-36, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
CM — Boynton, 4-10-1, 41, 1 TD.
K — Dev. Almazan, 4-8-0, 40, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
CM — Leonard, 1-42, 1 TD.
K — Deese, 1-20, 1 TD; Murphy, 2-19, 1 TD.
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