CdM holds edge

One football game Costa Mesa High wanted back last year was the one against Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings won, 55-3, handing the Mustangs their worst beating of the season.

Costa Mesa gets its shot at CdM again.

Four times CdM and Costa Mesa have met in the season opener. Each time the Sea Kings prevailed.

The fifth matchup between these two local programs to kick off the season is tonight at Jim Scott Stadium at 7. The Mustangs play host to CdM, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division preseason coaches’ poll.

The last opener turned out to be a laugher. Costa Mesa eventually bounced back and started winning games.

Both schools qualified for the Southern Division playoffs last year. The Sea Kings went the furthest, the semifinals, whereas the Mustangs lasted one round.

Last year’s game against CdM is still on Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso’s mind.

“Do I feel that if we would’ve played Corona del Mar in the playoffs that it would’ve been a more competitive game? Yes, I do,” Osso said. “We were a different team at the beginning of the year. If we got down, we had a tendency to just think the game was over and just not even try.”

Getting off to a fast start has been troublesome for the Mustangs. They haven’t figured it out in Osso’s first three years as coach.

The opposition has outscored Costa Mesa, 172-17, in the previous three openers. The latest opponent enters the game with a big advantage having won the last five contests against the Mustangs.

Jason Hitchens, in his second year as CdM’s coach, likes his chances of extending the streak.

The Sea Kings have a strong enough defense to slow down Costa Mesa’s run-happy offense again. They don’t have to worry about Antwon Byrd, who has graduated.

The strength for Costa Mesa is its line with 6-foot-7, 265-pound junior left tackle Andrew Albers and senior center Travis Whitlock.

Senior linebacker Alex Swigert and senior strong safety J.D. Abbott lead CdM’s defensive unit, which held opponents to single digits six times last season.

Last year, Abbott rushed for a career-best 205 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries against Costa Mesa.

Whether tonight’s opener will be closer than last year’s, Hitchens said CdM is ready for the challenge.

“We didn’t know much about Costa Mesa last year and we ended up doing OK,” said Hitchens, who downplayed Osso’s statement that if the two schools had met in the playoffs the game would’ve been more competitive than the first meeting. “If you start looking at common opponents, we easily beat Laguna Beach [41-0 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs] and Costa Mesa [pulled off a 38-30 win] in a barnburner with Laguna Beach at the end of the [regular] season.”

“But that was 2008 and nothing carries over to 2009. We’ll figure out who we are.”