Mustangs Field draws a crowd for Costa Mesa High’s first home game

The honking began just past 6 in the evening. Cars passing by Costa Mesa High on Arlington Drive created the kind of noise and traffic locals expect during the Orange County Fair.

The fair ended a couple of weeks ago. The big event in town on Friday night was Costa Mesa’s inaugural football game at its new $11-million stadium on campus.

The school opened its doors in 1958, and 58 years later, Costa Mesa played a home football game under the lights for the first time.

No longer do the Mustangs have to travel to play a home game. This is their field. They call it Mustangs Field.

Playing on their turf for the first time didn’t result in the Mustangs’ first win of the season. Santiago spoiled Costa Mesa’s stadium debut, beating the Mustangs, 21-9, to earn its first win of the season.

A lack of offense hurt Costa Mesa (0-2), which dropped its sixth straight game dating back to last season. The Mustangs have been futile during the skid, scoring only 31 points.

Costa Mesa couldn’t get anything going offensively, as it failed to record a first down in the first half in front of around 1,000 fans on the home side. The struggles came against a program that went into Friday having only won once in its previous 12 contests.

“We played pretty good most of the night defensively. They had one [scoring] drive,” Costa Mesa Coach Glen Fisher said. “It’s the second game with a bunch of young guys. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Despite the offense stalling and recording 49 yards in the first half, Costa Mesa only trailed, 7-0, at halftime. The Santiago score came after the Mustangs fumbled the ball late in the opening quarter.

The play, a 17-yard catch by Christian Villaverde from Ben Swanson, would’ve moved the chains for Costa Mesa, but Villaverde fumbled near the 30-yard line. Santiago linebacker Darwin Lira recovered the ball, and a personal foul penalty on Costa Mesa, one of its six first-half penalties, moved the ball a yard outside of the red zone.

Five plays later, Angel Tajimaroa’s one-yard quarterback sneak put the Cavaliers up 70 seconds into the second quarter. The rest of the first half featured no huge plays.

At the start of the second half, Dominick Smith-Dotson provided the home run play. The senior returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. The Cavaliers took a 14-0 lead, and the deficit seemed to fire up the hosts.

The Mustangs finally got a first down, doing so at the 10:58 mark in the third quarter. Running back Cody Merrifield (20 carries for 72 yards) ended the drought with three consecutive runs, totaling 12 yards.

Costa Mesa wasn’t finished, putting together its first scoring drive of the year. It covered 63 yards in 11 plays, and Merrifield capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, helping cut the deficit in half with 7:30 left in the third quarter. Merrifield will go down as the first Mustang to score a touchdown at Mustangs Field.

Santiago produced the game’s next touchdown, sealing the victory with 3:10 left to play. Linebacker Rudy Rocha intercepted a pass over the middle and returned it 33 yards for a pick-six.

“We threw a pick for a touchdown,” said Fisher, whose left-handed quarterback threw two fourth-quarter interceptions and completed only nine of 22 passes for 85 yards. “We basically gave up seven points tonight.”

With the game wrapped up, the Cavaliers (1-1) focused on the health of running back Dylan Ourng. Santiago Coach Brandon Croft said the junior exited the game early in the fourth quarter after taking a hit, and he was taken to the hospital.

“He was having some chest pain,” Croft said of Ourng, who rushed 19 times for 78 yards and caught one pass for 16 yards.

Ourng provided a much-needed spark for Santiago. A week after the Cavaliers finished with negative eight yards on the ground, they totaled 146 against Costa Mesa.

Neither team was successful through the air, as Santiago only had 85 yards. Only one player, Villaverde, hauled in all of the Mustangs’ nine completions for 75 yards.

“I really feel like we were too excited [to play on our new field],” Fisher said contributed to the Mustangs’ mistakes. “We had some mental stuff going on.

“[The first game] didn’t end the way that I had hoped, but it’s a beautiful place.”

Nonleague

Santiago 21, Costa Mesa 9

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Santiago 0 – 7 – 7 – 7 — 21

Costa Mesa 0 – 0 – 7 – 2 — 9

SECOND QUARTER

S – Tajimaroa 1 run (Lira kick), 10:50.

THIRD QUARTER

S – Smith-Dotson 80 kickoff return (Lira kick), 11:49.

CM – Merrifield 1 run (Olmedo kick), 7:30.

FOURTH QUARTER

S – Rocha 33 INT return (Lira kick), 3:10.

CM – Tajimaroa falls on fumble in the end zone for a safety, 1:15.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

S – Ourng, 19-78.

CM – Merrifield, 20-72, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

S – Tajimaroa, 6-15-0, 85.

CM – Swanson, 9-22-2, 75.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

S – Purnell, 3-47.

CM – Villaverde, 9-75.