Football: Moby runs past Mesa

Los Amigos High senior tailback Moby Contreras never faced the Costa Mesa High football team in 2013, when his Lobos squad earned a nonleague win.

Contreras missed about three-fourths of last season with a collarbone injury. Early in the 2014 campaign, he seems to be making up for lost time.

On Thursday night at Jim Scott Stadium, Contreras unleashed his best performance yet.

He rushed for a career-high 304 yards and four touchdowns. Los Amigos pulled away late to beat Costa Mesa for the second straight year, 36-16.

“I’ve got a lot of demons to release this season,” Contreras said of the time missed last year. “I think I’m off to a good start. Just trying to get better.”

So are the Mustangs (0-4), still looking for their first win of the season. They have been banged up early in the season. Junior tailback/linebacker Mason Mataafa (concussion) and senior receiver/cornerback Darmonta Davis (separated shoulder) did not play Thursday, after suffering injuries last week against Katella.

Add them to two more two-way starters, linemen Roberto Olivares (ankle) and Jose Granados (hip), who are currently out. The defending Orange Coast League champion Mustangs are just trying to get healthy by league play, which begins against Laguna Beach on Oct. 10.

“Defensively, we just ran out of bodies,” said Mustangs Coach Wally Grant, whose team has a much-needed bye after playing against Savanna next week. “We need to get through next week and we need to get healthy.”

The Mustangs produced a season-high in points despite attempting just two passes against Los Amigos (2-1), ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division poll. With Mataafa out, they used a triple-prong rushing attack featuring juniors Cameron Curet, Michael Dias and Josh Snipes.

All three tallied at least 80 yards rushing, and all three contributed on Mesa’s first drive of the game. It produced a touchdown when Curet scored on a 16-yard counter run to the left.

The only other time the Mustangs scored a touchdown, they got lucky midway through the third quarter. On third-and-goal from the Los Amigos four-yard line, the running back appeared to be stopped well behind the line of scrimmage. But the ball was fumbled forward into the end zone, and quarterback Sammy Swanson alertly fell on it for a touchdown.

That narrowed Los Amigos’ lead to 19-13. But Contreras, who totaled his 304 yards on just 21 carries, wasn’t really relying on luck. He scored on long touchdown runs of 45, 24, 67 and 50 yards.

The last touchdown run, up the middle from midfield, helped put the game away for the visitors. It gave the Lobos a 29-16 lead with 7:18 left in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs, then backed up into a fourth-and-16 with three minutes left, essentially conceded the game by punting. Two plays later, Los Amigos’ Jose Olvera ripped off a 52-yard touchdown run of his own, the last big play that the Lobos needed on this night.

“[Contreras] ran hard,” Grant said. “He broke some tackles and turned those five-yard plays into 80-yard plays. We turned our five-yard plays into five-yard plays. We had our opportunities to break some long runs, and we didn’t make the last guy miss. They wanted it more than we did. We both ran the same two plays at each other, and they ran them better than we did.”

Contreras wouldn’t argue. Now healthy, he’s eventually trying to lead his team past the playoff quarterfinals this year. Los Amigos has lost at that point to CdM the last two years, but the Sea Kings are no longer in the Southern Division.

“Costa Mesa, they played hard,” he said. “We just played a little bit harder.”

—

Los Amigos 36, Costa Mesa 16

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Los Amigos 6 – 6 – 7 – 17 — 36

Costa Mesa 7 – 0 – 6 – 3 — 16

FIRST QUARTER

CM – Curet 16 run (Curet kick), 4:46.

LA – Contreras 45 run (kick failed), 3:12.

SECOND QUARTER

LA – Contreras 24 run (pass failed), 2:55.

THIRD QUARTER

LA – Contreras 67 run (Ayala kick), 11:35.

CM – Swanson fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed), 4:36.

FOURTH QUARTER

LA – Ayala 48 FG, 11:02.

CM – Curet 26 FG, 8:02.

LA – Contreras 50 run (Ayala kick), 7:18.

LA – Olvera 52 run (Ayala kick), 2:00.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LA – Contreras, 21-304, 4 TDs.

CM – Dias, 17-118; Snipes, 16-101; Curet, 20-84, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LA – Wallace, 4-8-0, 46.

CM – Swanson, 0-1-0, 0.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LA – Lara, 1-14.

CM – None.