The big rivalry game turned into the big blowout game.
Quickly.
Indeed, it was all over by halftime — except for the sustained cheering coming from the Costa side of the field and the silent Redondo crowd that sat in shock on the other side of Sea Hawk Stadium.
The Mira Costa High School football team routed Redondo 31-0 Friday night and proved that the previous week’s results were no fluke – for both teams.
The Mustangs were coming off a decisive beatdown of St. Francis 45-19, while Redondo got destroyed by El Dorado 31-6, prompting Redondo Coach Keith Ellison’s vow to fix whatever went wrong in the season opener.
But this loss was even more decisive, as Redondo fell to 0-2 on the young season. They have now been outscored on the season by a collective count of 62-6.
For a team that had high hopes based on its tough defense and a high-flying offense, led by star quarterback Cole Leinart, it’s hard to imagine a worse start to the season.
The only good news for the Sea Hawks is that they recently moved out of the Bay League to the Pioneer League and thus are still 0-0 in their league. The same holds true for Costa, which now has to be considered the favorite in the Bay League after two no-doubt non-league wins in two weeks. They will travel to La Habra next Friday night for another non-league game. Redondo, meanwhile, will try to right the ship when they travel to Huntington Beach.
Equally important as the non-league records are, it was also the Mustangs eighth straight win in the rivalry series. That’s one of the longest streaks in the history of the Battle of the Beach, which stretches back more than 70 years.
The history books will note that this game was won primarily by the Meeker brothers – quarterback Liam and wide receiver Luke – after the Mustang’s lethal weapon, star junior running back A.J. McBean, had to leave the game with a first quarter injury.
Liam Meeker threw for three touchdowns and Kingston Davies added another while Mira Costa’s defense held Redondo to 111 yards and suffocated Leinart, the son of former USC star and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.
McBean saw action on the Mustangs’ opening drive, picking up 32 yards before Costa settled for a 21-yard Nico Talbott field goal with 5:13 to play in the opening quarter that gave the Mustangs a quick 3-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Liam Meeker connected with Luke Meeker for a 27-yard touchdown to put Mira Costa ahead 10-0 with 6:39 to play.
“Since we were young, we’ve had that connection,” Liam Meeker said. “Everything we’ve done is pretty much together, so we kind of know where each other is at.”
Meanwhile, on the Redondo side of the ball, Leinart was shaken up on the game’s third play and Redondo’s offense struggled to find a rhythm against an opportunistic Mustang defense.
“Leinart is a great player and our defense had to contain him,” Mira Costa’s Hunter Taylor said. “He’s a scrambler. Our pressure collapsed on him and got to him a lot.”
That pressure was effective late in the second quarter. On the first drive after his return to the game, Leinart fumbled the ball, and Mira Costa’s Joaquin Wagner-Bagues recovered it. Taylor finished with two sacks, while Parker Spiegel, Jackson Reach and Wagner-Bagues had one apiece.
After that fumble, the Mustangs offense proved it was still high-powered even without its star runner, McBean. After a 15-yard connection from Liam to Luke Meeker got the football to the Redondo 20-yard-line, the Mustangs coaching staff called Kingston Davies’ number on a receiver toss. Davies finished the play with a 12-yard touchdown run to put Mira Costa ahead 17-0 with 1:15 to play in the first half.
Mira Costa Coach Don Morrow said his team has a lot of offensive weapons this year.
“Davies makes big plays, Liam Meeker makes big plays, and Luke Meeker and Luke Leonard do too on the go routes,” Morrow said. “Those kinds of things were key.”
Liam Meeker finished with 259 yards on 12-of-19 passing attempts, with one interception. Luke Meeker finished with 79 yards, but it was touchdown connections with Davies (128 total yards) and Leonard (45 receiving yards) that showed how versatile the Mustangs offense really is.
On the third play of the second half, Liam Meeker found Davies open down the sideline for a 59-yard touchdown to put Mira Costa up 24-0. Davies also added an interception on defense.
Later in the third quarter, Meeker hit Leonard on a go-route for a 40-yard touchdown and a 31-0 Mustangs lead with 2:26 to play in the third.
“It’s huge. I love my guys. They’re great athletes,” Meeker said. “Knowing I can trust them to get open against whoever on whatever play, it’s a really fulfilling feeling.”
Redondo coach Ellison said his young defensive secondary got chewed up by the Mustangs relentless attack.
“Our secondary has sophomores and guys who are brand new to varsity football, and they went after our biggest weakness on defense with balls up top,” Ellison said.
Leinart and backup QB Brady Grow combined for only 110 yards of offense, while Redondo’s run game was limited to a hard-to-believe 14 total yards.
The two consecutive blowouts left the Sea Hawks and their coach dazed and confused.
“We’ve gone two weeks in a row where we haven’t scored on offense and given up 30 points on defense,” Ellison said. “I have to do a better job figuring out how to get this moving into a positive direction. This isn’t what our program is. I have to be better.”
Meanwhile, Morrow said he is hopeful McBean will play next week against La Habra.
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