Costa Mesa comeback bid falls short versus Santiago
Costa Mesa barely saw the ball before halftime, did little with it when it did, and, not so quickly, fell into a 16-point hole in its introduction Friday night to the new Tango League.
The Mustangs nearly made it all up after halftime. Touchdowns on their final three drives took them to the verge of overtime with 36 seconds to go, but visiting Santiago expertly read the two-point conversion try, took down star sophomore running back Gavin Garza at the 7-yard line, and was soon celebrating a 24-22 victory.
That first half, in which Costa Mesa (4-2) ran just 11 offensive plays in 3 minutes 19 seconds of possession and struggled to slow down the Cavaliers’ methodical, run-heavy attack, created a bind it just could not break.
“Tough way to enter the league,” Costa Mesa coach Gary Gonzalez said. “They controlled the ball in the first half, which was very important, and [three minutes of offense], we can’t win the game like that.”
Santiago (3-3) relied on Mario Carbajal (121 yards), Ozzy Granados (71 yards) and quarterback James Gonzalez (52 yards, including a 13-yard sack) — plus receiver Larry Bravo (five catches for 78 of its 79 passing yards) for a spell — and a smothering defense that forced two fumbles and limited Costa Mesa to 78 total yards late into the third quarter.
The Cavaliers, among the Tango League‘s four Garden Grove League imports, marched 80 yards on 13 plays over eight-plus minutes from the opening kickoff, going ahead on Gonzalez’s 15-yard pass to Bravo and the quarterback’s two-point run.
They were back at it after Matthew Ramirez stripped the ball from Darwin Palma, with Arturo Villegas recovering, to halt an efficient first Costa Mesa drive, using up more than 10 minutes on a 19-play, 73-yard possession — with first downs in five fourth-down situations, twice on offsides penalties — to make it 16-0 on Gonzalez’s 4-yard and two-point runs.
“It was so annoying,” said Mustangs quarterback Andrew Waiss, who totaled 166 yards with a touchdown but had 19 passing and seven rushing yards in the first half. “We only got two drives. I wanted to be out there so bad.”
Halftime defensive adjustments — lower positioning for the defensive line, more blitzes — slowed Santiago down, and Waiss and the offense finally found their footing in the last three minutes of the third quarter. The junior converted on third down with a push up the middle, then ran for 18 and 13 yards, to the Cavaliers 11, when he couldn’t find an open receiver. He found Caden Oliver at the goal line on the next play, and Garza added the two-point conversion.
“We knew our offensive game was there,” Gary Gonzalez said. “We just needed to put it together, we needed to get a little bit of rhythm, and we did, and we started scoring points.”
Santiago restored the lead to 16 points to start the fourth, Bravo leaping in from the 1-yard line three plays after Carbajal got free on the left sideline and went 63 yards to the Mustangs 5. It was down to eight points barely two minutes later.
Costa Mesa started in Cavaliers territory after Garza’s 29-yard kickoff return, and Waiss sprinted 20 yards to the 25 on the first play. A third-down pass-interference call put the ball at the 13, and two Garza runs, the last for 4 yards — and a two-point Waiss-to-Oliver pass — and it was 24-16.
The Mustangs then forced Santiago to punt for the first time, took the ball on their 26 with 5:08 to play, and started on a long, at times laborious march. Waiss’ 12-yard keeper almost to midfield on fourth-and-10 kept it alive, and three double-digit gains — the last a 29-yard completion to Govern Nguyen at the 4 — set the scene for Palma’s push-aided 1-yard score. Another two-point conversion, and overtime would beckon.
Costa Mesa ran a sweep to the left, with Garza confronted almost immediately after taking the pitch from Waiss, with Carbajal and Isaac Garcia pulling him to the turf.
Granados easily grabbed Jorge Puga’s onside kickoff, Gonzalez took a knee, and it was over.
Gary Gonzalez called it “a learning experience for these kids.”
“[We were] a day late and a buck short,” he said. “There’s only four quarters in football. If we have the fifth quarter, we’re going to win that game. ... We believe that they thought we were going to run in the middle [on the conversion], and we decided to sweep on the outside, and you know what? You live and die by your play. We should not have put ourselves in a position to depend on one play.”
Tango League
Santiago 24, Costa Mesa 22
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Santiago 8 - 8 - 0 - 8 — 24
Costa Mesa 0 - 0 - 8 - 14 — 22
FIRST QUARTER
S — Bravo 15 pass from Gonzalez (Gonzalez run), 3:42.
SECOND QUARTER
S — Gonzalez 4 run (Gonzalez run), 2:37.
THIRD QUARTER
CM — Oliver 11 pass from Waiss (Garza run), 0:12.4.
FOURTH QUARTER
S — Bravo 1 run (Gonzalez run), 10:13.
CM — Garza 5 run (Oliver pass from Waiss), 7:15.
CM — Palma 1 run (run failed), 0:36.6.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
S — Carbajal, 15-121.
CM — Waiss, 10-74; Garza, 14-74, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
S — Gonzalez, 6-11-0, 79, 1 TD.
CM — Waiss, 8-16-0, 94, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
S — Bravo, 5-78, 1 TD.
CM — Oliver, 3-36, 1 TD.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
