High School Football: Los Amigos runs past Costa Mesa

The Los Amigos High football team won Friday night’s nonleague game at Costa Mesa by a comfortable margin, but there was good reason why Coach Carl Agnew had his team running 20-yard sprints by the north end zone after the final whistle.

Or at least, Agnew thought so.

Costa Mesa Coach Glen Fisher wasn’t happy about the sprints, yelling out to him as he left the field following Los Amigos’ 47-14 victory.

“You’re really going to come out here and run on our field now, coach?” Fisher said.

Agnew was quick to respond.

“We’re punishing them for the way they behaved,” said Agnew, whose team committed 14 penalties for 157 yards in the win. “It’s nothing against you guys.”

Fisher had seen enough of the Lobos (2-1) running during the game. Senior quarterback Steven Hernandez had 23 carries for 224 yards and four touchdowns. Senior running back Edgar Galindo carried it 22 times for 186 yards and a pair of scores.

Still, Agnew wasn’t satisfied. Not after all of those penalties.

“Probably about four or five personal fouls,” Agnew said. “Yeah we won the game, but it’s definitely not the way we want to win it. Not the way we want to do things. Just lack of focus there in the second quarter. We came out a little better focused at the start of the third quarter, then somewhere midway through the third quarter we lost that focus again. It’s a young team. There’s very few guys that are two-year starters here. But they’ve got to learn how to be disciplined and how to do things the right way.”

Costa Mesa is off to an 0-4 start for the second time in three seasons, and has lost eight straight games overall dating back to last year.

The 14 points was actually the most that the Mustangs have scored in that stretch. But it wasn’t nearly enough to stop Los Amigos, which jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter.

The offense wasn’t supposed to look this way for the Lobos, who had Hernandez slotted at wide receiver this season. That changed when sophomore quarterback Isaiah Potts broke his thumb just before the season opener.

“They’re a tough tandem to beat,” Agnew said of Hernandez and Galindo, who have now combined for 1,072 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in the Lobos’ first three games. “If one’s not doing very well, the other can pick him up, and vice versa … We’re excited as soon as Isaiah gets healthy, but we’re also doing really well without him as well. So we’re really excited. We’re hoping for about another two weeks, and he should be back.”

The game started as well as the Lobos could have hoped for. After winning the coin toss, they elected to receive. The opening kickoff went out of bounds, giving Los Amigos the ball at its own 35-yard line.

It didn’t stay there for long. Galindo took the hand-off up the middle and was gone to the end zone. Twelve seconds into the game, Los Amigos took the lead.

It didn’t get better for Costa Mesa. The Mustangs fumbled the ensuing kickoff, with Los Amigos sophomore Andrew Contreras recovering at the Mustangs’ 25-yard line. Four plays later, Hernandez scored on a 12-yard keeper.

Hernandez would score twice more before the first quarter ended. The first was on an 11-yard keeper, giving Los Amigos a 21-0 advantage. The Mustangs had trouble moving the ball, but at least they pinned Los Amigos deep in its own territory late in the quarter. Costa Mesa’s Jack Perez had a punt that was downed at the Los Amigos five-yard line.

No problem. This time, Hernandez added a 95-yard touchdown run to give his team a 28-0 advantage.

“It’s great to get our offense rolling, get some momentum in our favor,” said Hernandez, who also had an interception on defense from the safety position.

The Mustangs answered when junior quarterback Ben Swanson found Christian Villaverde on a 20-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left in the first quarter. The score stayed the same, 28-7, at halftime.

Mesa had another scoring opportunity midway through the third quarter, and Swanson hit Perez, a sophomore tight end, for a seven-yard score over the middle. But by then, Galindo had scored on his second long touchdown run, of 42 yards, and the visitors were comfortably ahead.

Los Amigos plays at Dana Hills next Friday night, while Costa Mesa is home at Mustangs Field against Savanna.

Nonleague

Los Amigos 47, Costa Mesa 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Los Amigos 28 – 0 – 13 – 6 — 47

Costa Mesa 7 – 0 – 7 – 0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

LA – Galindo 65 run (kick failed), 11:48.

LA – Hernandez 12 run (Vera run), 9:50.

LA – Hernandez 11 run (Mario kick), 5:41.

LA – Hernandez 95 run (Mario kick), 2:09.

CM – Villaverde 20 pass from Swanson (Olmedo kick), 0:07.

THIRD QUARTER

LA – Galindo 42 run (run failed), 9:09.

CM – Perez 7 pass from Swanson (Olmedo kick), 4:36.

LA – Hernandez 1 run (Mario kick), 1:45.

FOURTH QUARTER

LA – Deluna 17 pass from Hernandez (pass failed), 7:47.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LA – Hernandez, 23-224, 4 TDs; Galindo, 22-186, 2 TDs.

CM – Ayala, 9-15.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LA – Hernandez, 7-10-0, 81, 1 TD.

CM – Swanson, 13-29-1, 97, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LA – Deluna, 4-42, 1 TD.

CM – Villaverde, 6-55, 1 TD.