Mira Costa’s football team showed its resiliency Friday night recording a much-needed road victory against former Bay League rival West Torrance.
Coming off a heartbreaking loss to El Segundo and learning they had lost their All-CIF quarterback for the season, the Mustangs dismantled the Warriors 35-7 with a strong rushing game and a tenacious defense.
Much like the previous week in its loss at Redondo, West found itself facing a deficit at halftime too large to come back from.
Mira Costa’s Justin Goring scored on the team’s first offensive play from scrimmage, racing 60 yards to paydirt to begin the onslaught, while the Mustang defense held West to a meager 10 yards and two first downs in the first half.
Standing on the sidelines with the aid of crutches, injured senior quarterback David Arredondo cheered on his successor Reed Vabrey, who led the offense to five first-half touchdowns.
The 5-foot-10, 210-pound sophomore connected with Alec Oshita for 52 yards before scoring on a 1-yard run and, after a Harrison Dulgarian interception, scored again on a 9-yard run.
“We have a lot of confidence in Reed at quarterback,” Dulgarian said. “He’s a great player, he loves the game, and he works very hard. He proved that against West.”.
Evanson Franck-Love ran for an 8-yard touchdown and Jonah Tavai powered his way for a 1-yard score to give Mira Costa a 35-0 lead.
Missing its starting quarterback, Drake Peabody, who was nursing a hamstring injury suffered during the Redondo game, West got on the board when quarterback Max Parish found Dutch Silverlake open on a 4-yard touchdown reception.
The Mustang defense did the rest led by Tavai’s two fumble recoveries and a sack.
Goring led Mira Costa’s offense gaining 123 yards on 15 carries. Vabrey was 12 of 22 passing for 160 yards and rushed for 39 yards. Vabrey’s favorite target, Oshita, caught three passes for 71 yards.
Mira Costa (2-2) is ranked No. 8 in CIF-Southern Section Division 6 and returns home for its final non-league game Friday, a 7 p.m. contest against Newport Harbor (2-2), a possible Division 6 playoff opponent.
The Sailors are coming off a 35-23 loss to Los Altos (No. 3, Div. 6) and are led by running back Cole Kinder, who rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in the first half last Friday.
Newport Harbor has outscored its opponents 126-121 while Mira Costa holds an impressive 117-57 edge against its foes.
“Newport Harbor produces great football year in and year out,” Dulgarian said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us, and we’re looking forward to it this Friday.”
Redondo to regroup in bye week
Redondo (2-3) wrapped up its brutal non-league schedule Friday with a 49-12 loss at highly-ranked Mission Viejo. The Sea Hawks will have a bye week to prepare for Bay League competition that begins with a road game at Morningside on Friday. Oct. 7.
Ranked No. 4 in CIF-SS Division 1, Mission Viejo put 42 straight points on the board before Redondo’s Jermar Jefferson scored on a 33-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Jefferson rushed for 73 yards in the game.
Sea Hawk quarterback Jack Alexander finished with 79 yards passing and scored on a 1-yard run late in the game. Julian Woodard stopped Diablo drives with two interceptions in the third quarter.
“It’s safe to say we are all disappointed and frustrated with our performance at Mission Viejo,” Redondo head coach Matt Ballard said. “Once again, credit has to be given to a well-coached and athletic opponent; however, we defeated ourselves way too many times. We hurt ourselves the entire game with errors and not playing with the effort we are capable of. Our expectations from day one have always been to bring our best effort and attitude; two things we can control. We can accept losing, and we can accept being beaten on a given play, but not giving our max effort is unacceptable.”
Senior defensive lineman Noah Martin was selected Redondo Defensive Players of the Game and senior fullback/defensive lineman Milad Goodarzi was named Scout “Eager Beaver” Player of the Week.
Redondo emerged relatively healthy from its five non-league games in which Sea Hawk opponents have a combined 16-7 record. Despite falling to Division 1 powerhouses Vista Murrieta (3-1) and Mission Viejo (5-0) and San Pedro (3-1, No. 6 in LA City Division 1), Redondo enjoyed impressive victories against Rancho Verde (3-1, No. 8 in Division 3) and West Torrance (2-2).
“Hopefully the tough lessons we learned this pre-season will be taken to heart, re-focus us, and illustrate why disciplined preparation is essential to compete and be successful,” Ballard said.
