TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Costa Mesa High has put itself back in contention for an Orange Coast League football title.

The Mustangs upset Calvary Chapel, 26-13, Thursday at Jim Scott Stadium. Costa Mesa handed the Eagles, ranked ninth in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division poll, their first league loss.

Coach Jeremy Osso has Costa Mesa (3-5, 2-1 in league) looking to claim its third league title in the last four years. The Mustangs, Calvary Chapel and Godinez are each 2-1 in league and tied for second place, one game behind Estancia (3-0 in league).

Next for Costa Mesa is a home game against defending league champion Laguna Beach, which is 0-3 in league. The Mustangs close out league play against cross-town rival Estancia on Nov. 12.

The Battle for the Bell might not only decide bragging rights, but also the league championship.

Corona del Mar High’s 35-24 Pacific Coast League victory over Woodbridge Friday at Newport Harbor High, combined with Northwood’s 7-3 loss to Irvine Friday, put the Sea Kings (6-1-1, 2-0-1 in league) in sole possession of first place in PCL. CdM tied Northwood, 29-29, in the league opener.

And while CdM Coach Jason Hitchens was obviously satisfied with his team’s triumph, he wasn’t about to pontificate on the Sea Kings’ inside track to a PCL crown.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Hitchens said with a smile after Friday’s game. “We’ll enjoy this one for about 12 hours, then we get ready for the next one.”

CdM, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, plays host to University (1-7, 0-3) on Friday at Newport Harbor. The Sea Kings then complete the regular season against Beckman (4-4, 1-2) at Tustin High on Nov. 12.

CdM has not won a league title since 1999 and not won an outright league crown since 1988.

It was nearly a month ago that Estancia High was mired in a four-game losing streak. Points were scarce and the Eagles were about to enter Orange Coast League play in a way they hadn’t anticipated.

“We won that first game and then things got tough for us,” Estancia Coach Mike Bargas said. “But we’ve turned things around in league but we still have some unfinished work to do. We’re a young team but the kids have started to believe in themselves and have started to turn things around.”

The Eagles opened the season Sept. 9 with a 55-0 victory over Bolsa Grande but then hit dry spell over the next month, losing consecutive games to Buena Park, University, Northwood and Beckman. During the skid, they were outscored, 96-26. It didn’t help, either, that they were to open league play against defending champion Laguna Beach.

Estancia, however, ended its slide in a big way, handing the Breakers a 36-10 defeat that set the Eagles on their current course. Since that league-opening win, the Eagles have also downed Godinez and, on Friday, Saddleback. In a complete reversal to the end of their nonleague schedule, the Eagles have outscored their three league opponents, 113-30.

Their three-game win streak puts them at 4-4, 3-0 in league.

Robert Murtha recalls another boost the Eagles received. It came last Thursday, the day before Estancia was to face Saddleback, when Costa Mesa knocked off Calvary Chapel.

“When Calvary Chapel lost that game, our team knew that the league race was wide open and that we had a great shot,” said the sophomore running back who rushed for a career-best 312 yards and a touchdown during Friday’s 35-6 Orange Coast League win over Saddleback. “It fired us up. We had made a lot of mistakes earlier in the season but now we are playing better. We had two big-league wins and came into this game [Saddleback] wanting to keep it going. Our guys have really started to come together. We still have to work hard to achieve our goals. We’re not finished.”

Estancia controls its own league destiny but faces perhaps its two toughest challenges yet. Starting Thursday, the Eagles take on Calvary Chapel, a team that is one game behind them in the league standings. On Nov. 12, they close out the regular season with a huge rivalry game against Costa Mesa.

“We can enjoy this [Saddleback] win for a little bit but have to get ready for Calvary Chapel,” Bargas said. “We have a short week to get ready for that game, so the kids really need to really be focused.”

Sage Hill School came so close to beating St. Margaret’s in football for the first time in school history Friday night. After the 10-6 loss, the Lightning reflected on how well they played to hang with the Tartans, who had beaten Sage Hill in all eight previous meetings by at least three touchdowns.

Sage Hill Coach J.R. Tolver called it “ridiculous” how St. Margaret’s has dominated the league over the years. The Tartans have won 19 straight league games since a loss to Capo Valley Christian in 2004.

“It’s time for that to change, man,” Tolver said. “It’s time for that to change. This a great area. There’s a ton of great football players in this area, and hopefully they start thinking about Sage Hill to come play football.”

The Lightning threw a different wrinkle at St. Margaret’s by lining up 6-foot-1, 270-pound lineman T.J. Danner at fullback for part of the game.

Danner blocked for Taylor Ross on Sage’s first possession, laying a bone-crushing hit on a St. Margaret’s defensive end on Sage’s second play from scrimmage. Ross scampered for 21 yards on the play, his longest carry of the night.

Danner also carried the ball three times for five yards.

“Our thought process was that St. Margaret’s is big and physical, and they’re going to fly off the ball,” Tolver said. “We’ll have them fly off the ball into our 270-pound man. T.J. is one of the best athletes on the team. I could put him at quarterback and he’d be successful.

“We tried to use our best players to give us a chance to win. I’m still convinced we had the three best players on the field in T.J., Taylor Petty and Taylor Ross. It’s a matter of ‘How do you get the ball in those guys’ hands?’ ”

Ross carried it 24 times for 103 yards, while Petty had eight receptions for 88 yards.

Ross’ 103 yards represented a season-low for Sage Hill, although he had just one carry for negative yardage against a tough St. Margaret’s defensive line. Ross remains the Orange County leader in rushing, as his school-record season totals are now at 1,405 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Coach Jeff Brinkley said Newport Harbor High must win its final two Sunset League games if it plans to return to the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs.

The Sailors lost a defensive battle to defending league champion Edison, 7-0, Friday at Huntington Beach High. The opposition has shut out Newport Harbor in two straight games, a first under Brinkley since 1991.

A good sign for Newport Harbor (4-4, 1-2 in league) was the return of Buzzy Yokoyama at tailback. The junior missed the previous three games with a dislocated right kneecap. He finished with 54 yards on 15 carries.

Brinkley planned to use Yokoyama during one offensive series each quarter. Yokoyama played more in the second half, when he rushed for 49 yards.

Brinkley said the Sailors are counting on Yokoyama to help them reach the postseason. Newport Harbor, which is in third place, plays host to Marina (3-5, 0-3) on Thursday and then finishes the regular season on the road against Fountain Valley (3-4-1, 1-2) on Nov. 12.

“[We] probably worked him a little more than we planned,” Brinkley said of Yokoyama, who in the first four games of the year averaged 188 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. “[We have to] get him back in game shape and hopefully he can close this thing out the next couple of weeks for us.”

Coaches tend to exhibit their intensity on game night and Friday was no exception for Corona del Mar High Offensive Coordinator Fred Romo. Romo reacted instinctively in the press box to a long Woodbridge touchdown run in the Sea Kings’ 35-24 Pacific Coast League victory. His demonstrative gesture caused his sharpie pen to fly into the crowd below. After the play, a spectator threw the pen back into the press box, whereupon Romo apologized for the inadvertent shrapnel.

Costa Mesa is 8-0 in league games played at Jim Scott Stadium since the state-of-art facility opened in 2008.

The Mustangs play their final two leagues at Jim Scott Stadium.

Costa Mesa quarterback Nathan Alvis continues to hurt defenses with his legs and left arm.

The junior twice rushed for touchdowns and threw for one, accounting for three of the Mustangs’ four touchdowns against Calvary Chapel.

For the season, Alvis has thrown 12 touchdown passes and rushed for 10 touchdowns. Both totals lead Newport-Mesa quarterbacks.

Newport Harbor played Edison tough for the second time in three years.

In those two games, the Sailors lost by seven points each time.

The Sailors ran 20 more offensive plays than the Chargers in the second half, but they were unable to score as they fell to Edison for the sixth consecutive time.

Sage Hill (6-2, 0-1 in league), ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division, has two winnable league games left, at Brethren Christian and at Crean Lutheran. If it wins both, Sage Hill would likely clinch a spot in the CIF playoffs as the league’s No. 2 finisher.

With Woodbridge having scored touchdowns on its three previous possessions, the CdM defense received congratulatory applause for a “stop” after the Warriors kicked a 22-yard field goal that cut the Sea Kings’ lead to 28-24.

Apparently bolstered by the encouragement, the Sea Kings held Woodbridge scoreless on the Warriors’ final four possessions.

Newport Harbor has been unable to complete passes downfield during its two-game skid in league. The longest pass a receiver has caught during the stretch has been for 13 yards.

“We tried,” Brinkley said of having quarterback Austin Rios throw long. “One time a little too long. One time a little too short.”

— From staff reports