Eagles pay back Mustangs

COSTA MESA — In the second half, Estancia High boys’ soccer coach Gannon Burks played a lineup consisting of all seniors.

Even with a somewhat tenuous two-goal lead against cross-town rival Costa Mesa, he knew he could count on the seniors, many of whom are reserves for the Eagles.

After all, it’s the senior class that is leaving with a Orange Coast League championship banner, which was earned even before the Eagles’ 2-0 win Wednesday over the Mustangs in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Estancia (11-5-5) finishes with a 7-2 league record, easily winning its first boys’ soccer league title since 1999 in the Golden West League. The Eagles now wait for Monday’s announcement of the CIF Southern Section Division III playoff brackets.

“I’m happy for the boys, first and foremost,” Burks said. “I have 12 seniors, and they get to leave as champions. I said, ‘You want to be remembered in history. Now you have a banner that will hang and say Orange Coast League champions.’”

And Estancia, which is now 8-0-1 at home, wouldn’t let last week’s upset loss at Costa Mesa reoccur. This time, it was a junior, Eric Duarte, who was there to make sure of that.

Duarte scored on a free kick just outside the box in the sixth minute, curving the ball past the Mustangs’ wall of defenders and into the left corner.

Estancia scored in the opening minutes of all three league games against Costa Mesa, which was eliminated from the playoffs after Monday’s loss to Calvary Chapel.

“We just motivate each other,” said Eagles sophomore George Olivas. “Half of the team are seniors, and they just want to play their [best]. It’s the last game of the season.”

The Eagles added another goal in the 18th minute. Jose Rodriguez’s long free kick into the box went to senior forward Edgar Rodriguez, who knocked it in.

Estancia almost scored again in the 26th minute, but Costa Mesa goalie German Briseño, who finished with 11 saves, just got to a header from Denny Perdomo.

But the Eagles did take its 2-0 lead into halftime, dominating the midfield area. Costa Mesa (3-12-3, 2-6-1) managed just one first-half shot, a problem that Mustangs Coach Eugene Day said largely came from passing.

“All season long, they do not want to do it,” Day said. “That’s what we’ve done for training. Outside, inside, zig-zag, give-and-go. But the players have got to do it. And if you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you to give up the ball, then what else [is there]?”

Day saw his team come out stronger in the second half. Franco Duarte’s 46th-minute goal was negated due to offsides, and the Mustangs had another great chance in the 62nd minute.

Franco Duarte’s free kick was tipped in the air by Estancia goalie Daniel Calderon, and momentarily stolen by Costa Mesa defender Francisco Estrada. But Estrada, in traffic, couldn’t get a shot off.

Calderon finished with 11 saves.

“This first half [Wednesday], everybody’s an individual,” Day said. “The second half, we did much better, but that should have been the beginning of the game.”

Burks began getting a little nervous on the sidelines, yelling to his seniors, “Start playing. You’re not seniors for no reason.” But in the end, they’d preserve the shutout.

“For me, I want to trust in them,” the third-year coach said after the game. “If we do need reserves to come in and play well, that’s something that’s important. Most of my reserves are seniors. I want to be able to know that they can come in and fill a gap, and know their role. This was a good confidence-builder.”

The team has already been thinking about the CIF playoffs, where Estancia has exited in the first round each of the last two years.

This year, the Eagles hope to get another home game and stretch their season a little bit longer.

“We just have to work hard, train harder and go for CIF,” Edgar Rodriguez said. “If we keep up the intensity that we’ve had, we can go far.”