Savanna’s speed is too much for Costa Mesa in 42-7 win

Reporting from Anaheim —  Any hope Costa Mesa High’s football team had of starting 4-1 for the second time in three years ended in a hurry on Saturday night.

The Mustangs could not seem to move the ball, or catch anyone from Savanna who had the ball.

The Rebels burned Costa Mesa with a 105-yard interception return for a touchdown, on touchdown passes of 87 and 31 yards, and on a 21-yard touchdown run. They are that fast.

Host Savanna ran away with a 42-7 win in a nonleague game at Glover Stadium.

By halftime, the Rebels led 35-0. Quarterback Ryley Smith had two touchdown runs and two touchdown passes. Two of his three completions were short ones to Carlos Hernandez, and the junior did the rest, racing past the defense and into the end zone.

Hernandez’s last catch, coming on a screen pass with one second left in the first half, resulted in an 87-yard score and it put away the Mustangs (3-2). Hernandez almost opened the second half by returning the kickoff for a touchdown, only to go down near midfield.

Hernandez was all over the field, finishing with two receptions for 118 yards, one return for 37 yards and one carry for six yards, and he ran in a two-point conversion.

“We played a football team that is pretty good,” Costa Mesa coach Glen Fisher said.

Savanna (3-1) mostly pounded the ball against Costa Mesa, and Sam Delgadillo recorded the most yards. He rushed 15 times for 152 yards and one touchdown, while Smith had 11 carries for 49 yards.

Costa Mesa struggled offensively, compiling only 38 yards in the first half. There was a running clock at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs avoided getting shutout for the first time since last year, when they went 1-9. It almost seemed like they would not score, especially after the offense got inside Savanna’s 10-yard line in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Blevins picked off Ben Swanson in the end zone and returned it 105 yards for the score.

Swanson’s two-yard touchdown run ended the shutout bid with less than two minutes left. He and the Mustangs have a bye next week before opening Orange Coast League play at home with Calvary Chapel on Oct. 6.

“Every game is going to be a challenge for us,” said Fisher, whose team shared last place in league at 1-4 a year ago. “The first thing we got to try and figure out how to do is get healthy. We were minus seven guys tonight.”

The Mustangs also hurt themselves when it came to field position in the opening quarter.

The Rebels started on their 44, on Costa Mesa’s 40 and on their 48 on their first three possessions. Each drive resulted in a touchdown.

Smith produced the first two scores, both on three-yard runs. The first went up the middle and the next came on a naked bootleg to the left.

With about 4½ minutes left in the first quarter, Savanna led 14-0. The Rebels added a third score almost three minutes later, and this one came through the air.

Savanna’s gamble paid off. The offense went for it on fourth-and-seven near midfield, and the pitch to the right to Delgadillo went for 18 yards. The following play saw Smith throw a bubble pass to Hernandez on the left, and he turned it up field for a 31-yard touchdown.

The first quarter ended with Costa Mesa moving the chains for the first time since the third play from scrimmage got a first down. Nothing worked offensively for the Mustangs, whether it was on the ground or via the air.

Swanson only completed two of 10 passes for 18 yards in the first half, and the left-hander threw an interception. Alex Silvestre dove for the ball, picking it off on the Rebels’ 45-yard line midway through the second quarter.

The turnover led to a Savanna touchdown. Delgadillo broke a couple of tackles near the line of scrimmage, and went for a 21-yard touchdown run. The Rebels converted their second two-point attempt, coming on a Smith run to take a 28-0 lead.

The Mustangs managed to cross midfield for the first time, doing so with 2½ minutes to go in the first half. They punted after reaching the 46, and with 45 seconds left before halftime, the Mustangs let Savanna score again.

Smith spiked the ball, leaving one second on the clock. Faced with a third-and-nine on Savanna’s 13, Smith targeted Hernandez on the left, and the rest was history. Hernandez was gone, and so were the Mustangs’ chances of winning.

“We had a deal and I told the kids, ‘We’re not going to struggle to win games. They’re going to struggle to stop us,’” said Savanna coach Tom Ricci, who in his first season in charge has the Rebels averaging 35 points per game this year.

Nonleague

Savanna 42, Costa Mesa 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Costa Mesa 0 – 0 – 0 – 7 — 7

Savanna 20 – 15 – 0 – 7 — 42

FIRST QUARTER

S – Smith 3 run (C. Hernandez run), 6:34.

S – Smith 3 run (kick failed), 4:27.

S – C. Hernandez 31 pass from Smith (pass failed), 1:22.

SECOND QUARTER

S – Delgadillo 21 run (Smith run), 4:57.

S – C. Hernandez 87 pass from Smith (Guillermo kick), :00.

FOURTH QUARTER

S – Blevins 105 INT return (Guillermo kick), 7:31.

CM – Swanson 2 run (Olmedo kick), 1:41.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CM – B. Hernandez, 13-77.

S – Delgadillo, 15-152, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CM – Swanson, 7-17-2, 91.

S – Smith, 3-14-1, 125, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CM – Perez, 3-58.

S – C. Hernandez, 2-118, 2 TDs.

david.carrillo@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByDCP