Mustangs trample Torrance, next up Palos Verdes
Jackson Fischer celebrates the games first touchdown. Photos
After Friday night’s destruction of West Torrance, the Mira Costa football team is now on a three-game winning streak and hungry for more.
Next up for the galloping Mustangs: Palos Verdes, the traditional Bay League bully.
This time the mercy rule wasn’t invoked — but it was still their second straight blow-out victory. One week after Costa destroyed El Segundo so quickly the rarely-used mercy rule was in effect for the entire second half, the Mustangs turned in another hard-working effort that produced a dominant 41-14 win over West Torrance.
It wasn’t as overwhelming as the 52-7 masterpiece over El Segundo that jump-started their season after a 1-2 start, but the bottom line is that the Mustangs are now 3-2 and headed for the Bay League section of their schedule with the kind of running-down-hill momentum that can make their fans forget those first two on-the-road losses.
“Last week against El Segundo was one of those once in life-time games where it seems like every single play goes your way,” Mira Costa Head Coach Don Morrow said after the game. “This was more of a normal type game where we had to grind it out. But that’s exactly the kind of team we have. I’m proud of the way our players fought and scrapped.”
Kayle Marsh pulls in a 29-yard pass to give the Mustangs a 14-7 lead.
Indeed, the 41-14 final score could have been much closer. West twice ripped off long runs to get close to the goal line, only to have the Mustangs force a turnover and avoid giving up a touchdown that would have tightened the score considerably.
Their third consecutive win came just before a bye this week, giving the Mustangs two weeks to prepare for their trip to take on perennial Bay League power Palos Verdes on Oct. 4.
“If you want to win the Bay League, you have to go through Palos Verdes,” Morrow, the Mustang’s head coach since 1993, said after the game. “That’s the way it’s been almost every year, and it looks like it will be that way this year too.”
Palos Verdes put on an offensive show Friday while losing in double overtime, 55-52, to Culver City.
But Costa has its own high-octane offense, proven by the combined 93 points scored in the last two games. As usual, the Mustang’s offense Friday night was led by Slingin’ Sam Whitney, the junior quarterback who is an emerging Bay League star. This time Whitney threw for four touchdowns and over 300 yards.
“I think he’s getting better and better every game,” Morrow said. “He’s just so accurate with the ball. He’s able to find receivers even before they’re open.”
West kicked off first, and Costa started a drive deep in its own territory. Whitney completed several laser-beam passes to get them all the way to the West 9-yard line. From there the Mustangs fooled the Warriors completely as Whitney called the signals but Jackson Fischer, one of the fastest players on the team, took a direct snap from center and scooted into the end zone for a quick 7-0 lead after the extra point kick by Thomas Southey.
Late in the first quarter West took over on its 32-yard line and silenced the rocking Waller Stadium crowd when Xerxes Reamer, a pint-sized halfback, took a handoff, veered left, turned on the jets and sprinted all the way to the end zone, tying the game at 7-7 going into the second quarter.
‘Slingin’’ Sam Whitney threw for four touchdowns and over 300 yards.
Costa grabbed the momentum right back when Whitney dropped back, calmly surveyed the field, and rifled a 29-yard bullet to Kayle Marsh in the end zone to make it 14-7.
Next came the key play of the game. West’s Reamer again took a handoff, turned the corner, dodged a couple of lunging Mustangs and sprinted 67 yards toward the end zone as the small-but-spirited crowd of West fans screamed encouragement.
But just as it appeared Reamer would score a TD to tie the game, Fischer caught him from behind and tackled him on the 7-yard line. On the very next play Reamer fumbled a handoff, safety Zane Thormodsgaard scooped up the loose ball, and Mustang fans could breathe easy again.
The next drive established Costa’s dominance for good. Whitney kept up his hot hand with a 36-yard bomb to Fischer, followed by a 22-yard pass to Danny Millea and then a 26-yarder to Millea again. Fischer sprinted 21 yards on a reverse to the 9-yard line, and then Whitney finished off the drive with a 5-yard pass to Kian Towfighe for a 21-7 lead.
After the Mustangs held West to a 3-and-out series, Whitney drove them all the way to the 1-yard line, a drive highlighted by a 24-yard completion to Millea. From the one, Costa lined up in a power formation with Jagger Tavai, a 240-pound freshman who normally plays lineman, in the full-back spot. He cleared the way for Ryan Moreno to bulldoze into the end-zone for a 28-7 lead.
“We wanted Jagger to set the edge,” Morrow said. “He did a good job.”
Tavai is the younger brother of Jahlani Tavai, a former Mustang star who played for the University of Hawaii and is now with the Detroit Lions.
The Mustangs shut the door on any Warrior hopes of a comeback with their next drive. Whitney hit Southey for 16 yards, then found Marsh for a 33-yard TD to pump the lead up to 34-7. Most notable about that play was that West mounted a fierce pass rush and Whitney, normally a stay-in-the-pocket passer, was nimble enough to dodge the rush, step forward out of the pocket, stop short of the line of scrimmage, and throw a dart that found Marsh in the corner of the end zone.
After each team managed one more TD, the game ended and the Mustangs turned their thoughts toward the looming showdown with Palos Verdes that could potentially determine the Bay League champion.
Across town Redondo absorbed a 31-6 pounding from Paraclete to drop its record to 2-2. The Sea Hawks will try to recover Friday night when they travel to West Torrance, which fell to 0-4 after losing to Costa.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com Follow: @paulteetor.