LAGUNA BEACH — Maybe an extra week to prepare for outright Orange Coast League championship games isn’t a good thing for the Costa Mesa High football team.
Giving a team a 22-point advantage isn’t always going to bode well. The Mustangs did it again in the big game, spotting the same lead to the same team as last year.
For the second straight year, the Mustangs looked rusty at the start against Laguna Beach and found themselves in a huge hole after coming off their bye week Friday night.
On the road, Costa Mesa stood no chance to come back again against the Breakers in a regular-season finale.
Costa Mesa literally threw away a chance to make history.
Laguna Beach returned two interceptions for touchdowns and another to set up a field goal in the second quarter and went on to win, 49-34, ruining Costa Mesa’s three-peat attempt in league.
This time when the Breakers jumped ahead of Costa Mesa early, they sealed the deal. Laguna Beach (5-5, 4-0 in league) earned its first league title since 2006.
Much like last year’s contest between these two programs, the game turned into a shootout. Costa Mesa stormed back for a 38-30 home victory last year. This one ended with Costa Mesa (6-4, 3-1), ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division poll, unable to catch up.
The Mustangs’ eight-game league winning streak dating back to the 2007 season is gone.
“It hurts because we wanted [to three-peat] so bad,” Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso said. “Anytime you want something bad, and you don’t get it, it’s going to hurt.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a bunch of times. You can’t point to one thing because there [were] so many [mistakes].”
In all, Costa Mesa committed five turnovers (four interceptions and one fumble). Penalties plagued the Mustangs as well.
Laguna Beach capitalized on Costa Mesa’s miscues and prevailed behind its misdirection running game out of shotgun. Senior Alec Jaffe finished with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries and sophomore Norton Penney scored twice on the ground.
The Breakers’ capped their latest championship season the same way they last did in 2006: undefeated in league play. After seeing Costa Mesa win league the previous two years, Laguna Beach once again became champion of the Orange Coast League, which is in its fourth season.
