After scoring 62 points the previous week, Mira Costa’s veer offense was virtually ground to a halt by a stingy Palos Verdes defense leading to a 48-13 throttling of the Mustangs on the Sea King’s home turf.
Mira Costa’s running attack was held to 112 yards on 42 attempts and was unable to mount a comeback after falling behind 38-6 by halftime.
Raphael Lawson-Gayle was limited to 50 yards rushing on 13 carries but he did manage to catch a 47-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.
During the first drive for the Sea Kings, they went on a 5-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 36-yard pass from quarterback Bryan Scott to wide receiver Dean Alessi.
After Mira Costa went three and out, Sea King running back Matt Lopes scored on a 50-yard run. Although it appeared his knee was down, he continued to run after no whistles had sounded and Palos Verdes never looked back.
Mira Costa quarterback Khalil McClain went 9 for 17 for 145 yards in a game where the Mustang’s offense failed to find any rhythm. McClain scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter to open the scoring for Mira Costa.
“They say it’s a team loss, but when you’re the quarterback and you take a loss that shouldn’t be like this, you kinda feel responsible for it,” McClain said.
With the victory, the Sea Kings improved to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in Bay League play, leaving Palos Verdes and Redondo in a tie for first place.
Mira Costa’s record fell to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in league.
“There’s no time to feel sorry for yourself,” Mustangs head coach Don Morrow said, “They didn’t trick us, they didn’t fake us out, they beat us.”
Morrow also felt his team can’t dwell on this loss and needs to move forward which means defeating visiting Peninsula on Friday. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
Peninsula (2-5, 1-1) routed Leuzinger (1-6, 0-2) 58-20 in its homecoming game last Friday.
Panther running back James Nelson had 77 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. He also scored on a 95-yard kickoff return.
Quarterback Ian Escutia made the most out of his four passing attempts, connecting on all four for 102 yards and two touchdowns. He opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run.
