Mira Costa senior Harrison Morrow has been the team‘s go-to receiver this season, but it was his play on the other end of a touchdown pass that helped seal the Mustang’s 35-0 victory over Redondo Union in the Battle at the Beach.
Holding a commanding 21-0 lead in the third quarter, Morrow took a lateral from quarterback Greg Briskin and found P.J. Onusconich wide open along the right sideline. The 53-yard touchdown pass secured a second-place finish for Mira Costa giving the Mustangs a good chance at hosting a first-round CIF Northern Division playoff game on Friday.
The play was one Morrow had practiced and had waited all season to execute in a game. His father, Mustang head coach Don Morrow, knew when the time was right. Don Morrow was a standout quarterback at Aviation High School, El Camino College and Cal State Northridge.
“Both of my brothers were quarterbacks at some point in their life and growing up in a quarterback’s family, I just wanted to get the ball to P.J.,” Harrison said. “I didn’t throw a very good ball but it was all about getting it to him. I learned everything I know from my father.”
As a receiver, Harrison finished the game with six catches for 65 yards including a 7-yard touchdown pass from Briskin. The third and final son to play for his dad, he is happy with the way the season has evolved for him.
“I was pretty disappointed after last year,” Morrow said. “I thought I was going to come in and be one of our premier receivers and it didn’t go that way. I was athletically outmatched by a lot of guys. During the off season I worked my butt off doing everything I could to improve my speed and get stronger in the weight room.”
Morrow, who plays linebacker on defense, said he was surprised at the lopsided victory.
“This was a huge game for us with a lot of uncertainties,” Morrow said. “As long as I’ve been at Mira Costa, we’ve always been a shoe-in for the playoffs with a 1 or 2 seed, so when I heard this morning that we could have finished fourth, I was shocked and didn’t realize this was going to be a game of such magnitude.”
The outcome not only held playoff implications, but also determined the first team to claim the Battle at the Beach perpetual award – a surfboard donated by Spyder Surfboards in Hermosa Beach.
“Redondo fought hard. Harrison Faecher at quarterback and (running back) Jamaal Perkins are tough. Jamaal is a beast and I have to give a lot of credit to him. The way he was running at the beginning was scary — that we wouldn’t be able to stop him — but we settled in and our defensive line and linebackers were making every tackle. It shows how talented we are and that we can stop a good running back.”
Redondo began the game by pinning Mira Costa deep inside its own territory. The Sea Hawk’s opening drive found head coach Matt Ballard’s team with a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line but failed to get on the scoreboard when a field goal attempt went wide to the right.
It was all Mira Costa after that. Running back Sebastian Franck-Love completed an 80-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and linebacker Brandon Mills returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to give the Mustangs a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Franck-Love added a 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, giving the senior 17 touchdowns on the season. He finished with 161 yards rushing, the seventh game he has amassed more than 100 yards this season.
Mira Costa’s defense held Redondo to 158 yards of total offense and kept the Sea Hawks on their own side of the field for the entire second half. Perkins led Redondo with 77 rushing yards on 16 carries.
“This was one of the all time team efforts,” Don Morrow said. “They played loose and free and had a certain joy about them. We’ve won three in a row after kind of a debacle against PV but have picked it up since then. It was a big game. You don’t want to be fourth (in league) because you know you’re going to be on the road and have to go to Hart or one of those places.”
Mira Costa (8-2, 4-1) entered the game ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Northern Division. Defending CIF and Bay League champion Palos Verdes (8-2, 5-0) holds the No. 1 spot while Bay runner-up West Torrance (8-2, 3-2) was ranked No. 10.
Redondo (6-4, 2-3) will have an at-large berth and play on the road in the first round of the playoffs on Friday.
“As head coach, I have to take responsibility when we do not perform to our potential, and clearly we did not,” Ballard stated. “We are capable of so much better. Fortunately, we have another chance to play and perform. Playoffs are said to be a “new season”, which breads new life. Our hope is to move past the rough trials we’ve had thus far, while remembering the valuable lessons they’ve taught us.”
Redondo coaches selected sophomore wide receiver Marcel Myers as Offensive Player of the Game. senior defensive tackle Harry Whitson as Defensive Player of the Game and junior punter Colin Castillo as Special Teams Player of the Game. The Sea Hawk’s Cout/Practice Players of the Game were sophomore lineman Pablo Gonzales and senior running back/linebacker Adam Basaca.
