Second season kicks off

RICK DEVEREUX

There are always tell-tale signs that autumn has arrived.

Halloween candy and decorations start springing up in grocery

stores.

Major League Baseball teams start to get a little testy as

postseason jostling becomes more and more serious.

And Golden West League football teams start to play each other.

The seven-team league starts its “second-season” two weeks before

Newport Harbor High and Corona del Mar start Sea View and Pacific

Coast League games and four weeks before Sage Hill kicks off against

Academy League opponents.

The schedule could not be much crueler for a struggling Costa Mesa

squad. The Mustangs (0-4) open against last year’s league runner-up,

Westminster (2-2), followed by Santa Ana and Saddleback.

“When you’re winning, good things happen and when you’re losing,

bad things happen,” Costa Mesa Coach Tom Baldwin said. “It’s called

momentum. We’re playing the best team in the league. Those type of

things happen when you’re losing.”

Westminster and Orange (3-1), No. 4 in CIF Southern Section

Division VII and last year’s league champion, are the top league

title contenders this fall.

Orange’s lone loss this year, a 24-13 defeat at the hands of El

Modena, came in a game that was called with 2:05 remaining because

the lights went out at El Modena’s stadium.

The Panthers, coached by former Orange Coast College defensive

lineman Greg Gibson, can score in a hurry, as evidenced by their 26

second-half points in the season opener against Muir. Freshman

running back Mathew Contreras has scored eight touchdowns and has

rushed for close to 500 yards in Orange’s four games.

Westminster rushed for more than 200 yards in its 42-7 blowout of

San Gabriel, last season’s CIF Souther Section Division VII

runner-up. The Lions edged Rancho Alamitos, 14-6, last week and

played tough against Fountain Valley in the, 13-7, season-opening

loss.

Running back Carlos Brooks is Westminster’s most potent weapon,

posing a threat as a runner and receiver out of the backfield.

The league championship may very well be decided Oct. 8 when

Westminster plays Orange at El Modena.

Also figuring into the pursuit of the league’s three guaranteed

playoff berths are Santa Ana (2-1) and Saddleback (2-1).

Saddleback finished third last season to make the playoffs, with

its only league losses at the hands of Orange and Westminster. The

Roadrunners are in a transition year, with Jeoff Meek replacing Jerry

Witte, who stepped down after 30 seasons at the helm.

Santa Ana lost to undefeated Sonora to start this season, then

ripped off consecutive blowouts against Anaheim and Bolsa Grande, so

it is hard to judge exactly how good the team really is.

Saddleback and Santa Ana play Friday, with the winner earning the

early inside track on a top-three finish.

Estancia (2-1) could threaten Saddleback and Santa Ana for that

playoff spot, but the Eagles must survive a tough schedule. Coach

Craig Fertig’s team plays Orange Friday, followed by undefeated

Garden Grove Oct. 7 in a nonleague game.

“[Orange] is probably the class of our league,” Fertig said. “When

you are playing the class of the league, you have to step up your

play.”

The Eagles are coming off a bye week, which means the team can be

rested, healthy and fired up to play. The layoff, however, could also

leave a team rusty and lacking both focus and motivation.

It Estancia plays Orange and Garden Grove tough, the Eagles can

build momentum with a win over Golden West cellar-dweller Ocean View

(1-2) before taking on Westminster.

If the Eagles come away with two victories in those four games,

they may have the confidence to finish out the year with strong

performances against Saddleback, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa has not looked sharp, but expect Baldwin to fire up the

Mustangs for this week’s Westminster game.

“We still have a chance to play well in league,” Baldwin said.

“But we’re playing the best team in the league. Losing creates

problems and winning solves them.”

Ocean View beat Century, 10-9, last week, but lost, 48-13, to

Laguna Beach the week before.

Granted, Costa Mesa lost to the Breakers last week, but the

Mustangs were able to hold Laguna to 10 points. The best chance Ocean

View has to win a Golden West League game this season is its Oct. 22

home date against Costa Mesa.