TWO-MINUTE DRILL

For the first time in Estancia High football history, the Eagles have claimed back-to-back undefeated league titles.

The Eagles got past cross-town rival Costa Mesa, 28-14, Friday at Jim Scott Stadium to wrap up a second straight perfect Orange Coast League season.

Estancia and Costa Mesa each went into the Battle for the Bell with 4-0 league records. The schools had never met in a regular-season finale for the league championship until last week.

Estancia, which leads the series against Costa Mesa, 26-18-1, earned a No. 4 seed in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs. The Eagles (8-2) play host to Magnolia (4-6) in the first round Friday at 7 p.m.

Two fumbles cost Costa Mesa a shot at an undefeated Orange Coast League championship.

The Mustangs’ turnovers led to 14 Estancia points and that was the difference in Costa Mesa’s 28-14 loss.

The first turnover happened early in the second quarter and the second one came with 8:45 left in the fourth quarter.

Costa Mesa, which saw its eight-game winning streak end, finished second in league.

The Mustangs (8-2) play Los Amigos (8-2) at Garden Grove High in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. Los Amigos placed second in the Garden Grove League.

Corona del Mar High lost both the Pacific Coast League title and the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs in Friday night’s 42-37 loss to Beckman at Newport Harbor High.

CdM still got the No. 2 seed after nearly rallying from a 42-10 deficit against the Patriots, who claimed the first league title in program history. The Sea Kings, who open the playoffs with a home game Friday against Westminster, can blame an inefficient offense.

Corona del Mar passed for a season-low 123 yards and Beckman intercepted four times, returning two for touchdowns.

Newport Harbor missed an opportunity to share the Sunset League title Thursday.

The Sailors needed to beat visiting Edison in the regular-season finale, but the Chargers clinched the outright league crown with a 35-7 victory.

Newport Harbor (5-5, 3-2 in league) finished third in league for the second straight year. The Sailors earned the league’s final berth into the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs, in which they play third-seeded Long Beach Poly (9-1) in the first round at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach on Friday at 7 p.m.

The postseason berth is Brinkley’s 20th in 26 years at Newport Harbor.

In a rivalry game featuring two of the area’s best tailbacks, Estancia’s Robert Murtha stole the show.

The junior amassed a season-high 276 yards last week on 24 carries and scored on an 84-yard touchdown run.

Murtha is 41 yards shy of breaking his own school single-season rushing mark of 1,639 yards that he set last year.

Costa Mesa tailback Mario Smith went into the Battle for the Bell with his left shoulder bothering him.

The previous week, Smith rushed 30 times for 359 yards and a school-record seven touchdowns. He was closing in on Costa Mesa’s single-season rushing touchdown mark of 29.

Smith fell short of last week’s totals and the record against Estancia.

The senior started and left the game a couple of times before he was done in the fourth quarter because the shoulder worsened. Smith was held to a season-low 71 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries.

Coach Wally Grant said he expects Smith to play in the Mustangs’ playoff opener.

Smith has rushed for 28 touchdowns this year. He can tie Charles Chatman’s Costa Mesa school record set in 1994 with one touchdown.

Smith is also 87 yards away from 2,000 on the ground.

CdM was largely ineffective on third down, as it was unable to convert their first nine opportunities. The streak ended on Erik Fisher’s seven-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal, narrowing the Patriots’ lead to 42-17 with 8:50 left in the fourth quarter.

CdM finished the game with a third-down conversion rate of two for 13.

Newport Harbor is hurting heading into its playoff opener against the Jackrabbits, the Moore League champions.

Brinkley said the Sailors would be without senior linebacker Ethan Cochran (concussion) and junior Derek Kula (knee), a cornerback and receiver.

Two senior starters, Grant Frazier, a linebacker and fullback, and Kory Cablay (ankle), a receiver and cornerback, might not be available against Long Beach Poly.

Brinkley said Landon Gyulay, a junior receiver and cornerback, had issues with his knee late against Edison and left the game.

Sage Hill School took a few minutes before its 48-7 loss to Brethren Christian to honor seven players on Senior Night. They included running back-cornerback Eric Cheng, quarterback-receiver-safety Taylor Petty, receiver-cornerback Conner Ascher, receiver-linebacker David Fenner, tight end-linebacker-defensive end Ford Hanour, receiver-defensive back Jack Markman and running back-linebacker Michael Schidlovsky. Petty, who had the best individual game with 77 receiving yards on six catches, signed his national letter of intent to play football at Princeton.

Fenner, who sat out the game while recovering from a concussion, set the school record for tackles.

Cheng, a captain finished as the team’s leading rusher and scorer.

Ascher, another captain, was a first-team All Academy League selection. He had two catches for 44 yards.

Hanour, Schidlovsky and Ascher all had numerous tackles on defense.

Coach Mike Bargas has led Estancia to three league titles in five years, the most league titles won by any Eagles football coach.

Bargas is also the second Estancia coach to lead the program to back-to-back league crowns. The other is Ed Blanton, who guided the Eagles to Sea View League titles in 1979 and ’80.

The rivalry between CdM and Beckman continues to grow.

Beckman senior linebacker Bryan Dewey, a team captain who had two interceptions Friday, said the rivalry was a good thing. He said it had been building since his freshman year in 2008.

In that year he said it was the Patriots’ league champion freshman team that completed a stunning comeback.

“We were down by 21 points with three minutes left and we came back and tied it,” Dewey said. “[CdM] had a loss earlier [in league], so we won freshman year … I love it. It’s good to have a rival, and they’re a great team. I know as a team, we love it too. It just gets us pumped up.”

Estancia has won a school-record 11 straight league games dating back to 2009.

Newport Harbor is 0-7 against Edison since it beat the Chargers in 1979.

— From staff reports