Mustangs, Sea Kings still posturing

Patrick Laverty

It’s football season, which means Friday night prep games, college

tailgating on Saturday and following NFL fantasy leagues on Sunday.

But no matter the level, football coaches often take an

understated approach when discussing their teams.

From Bill Parcells to Lou Holtz to Corona del Mar High Coach Dick

Freeman and Costa Mesa Coach Dave Perkins, it seems part of coaching

football is building up the opponent while insisting one’s own team

isn’t as good as it might appear.

“They’re big,” Freeman said of the Mustangs, whom the Sea Kings

square off against in the season opener for both teams Friday at 7

p.m. at Newport Harbor High. “They’re big everywhere. Even their

quarterback looks tall. We’re in trouble.”

For emphasis, Freeman repeated, “We’re in trouble.”

On the other side, Perkins took a moment to downplay the fact that

Costa Mesa returns 34 letterman from last season’s Golden West League

championship squad, including seven starters on offense and eight on

defense, instead focusing on the Mustangs’ struggles in a preseason

scrimmage last week.

“We need to play better in every area,” Perkins said. “I don’t

think we played very well on either side of the ball. Defensively, we

didn’t tackle at all. I think we can heal these things, but I don’t

know if we’re going to be able to heal them in time to beat Corona

del Mar. It may take two to three weeks.”

The likelihood, in spite of what the coaches say, is that this is

going to be a very good game.

Corona del Mar, coming off a 6-5 season and a second-place finish

in the Pacific Coast League, returns just five starters and has only

nine seniors on the roster. But the Sea Kings are also coming off a

35-15 victory over the Mustangs last year.

With Mesa’s experience and Corona del Mar’s youth, this year’s

contest is expected to be much closer, but the keys will still be the

same.

“[The Sea Kings] just run the same stuff [defensively] and they’re

really good at it,” Perkins said. “We need to hit different areas and

find out where we can have success.”

Perkins is hopeful of a more balanced attack on offense, led by

junior quarterback Bruce Wilkinson. The tailback position will be

split between Omar Ruiz and Qualic Vargas, with Ruiz starting.

Balance is also a necessity for Corona del Mar as Freeman expects

the Mustangs to focus on stopping the run.

“Because of what they’ve done in the past and because of what

we’ve done in the past, we’ve got to throw the football,” Freeman

said. “They’re going to stack it trying to stop the run.”

Freeman was happy with the way junior Tom Welch threw the ball in

last week’s scrimmage and Welch has two solid receivers in Kevin

Welch and Shane Collins, as well as tight end Tyler Lance.

But Perkins knows that Corona del Mar’s success in the past has

been predicated on the run. Last year, CdM rushed for 208 yards in

its victory over the Mustangs, who finished 8-3 in 2002.

“We’ve got to stop them off tackle and stop the counter,” Perkins

said. “That’s their bread and butter and that’s what they beat us

with last year.”

True to Perkins’ word, the Mustangs did have difficulty tackling

in their preseason scrimmage. They’ll need to do a better job against

the Sea Kings’ running back duo of Wess Presson and Austin Brawner.

Freeman wasn’t joking either when he said the Mustangs are big.

Though Costa Mesa will likely be without offensive tackle Rodrigo

Gutierrez (6-foot-4, 275 pounds), who suffered a slight

hyperextension of his knee in last week’s scrimmage and is

questionable for Friday’s game, the Mustangs still have plenty of

size. Just imagine 6-3, 225-pound Junior Epenesa, a player being

recruited at linebacker by USC, coming out of the fullback position

as the lead blocker for Ruiz and Vargas. CdM will try to counter that

size with speed on its defensive front.

There’s no doubt that those are only two of the question marks

entering the season opener for Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa. But

there’s little doubt that the players are ready to play a real game.

Even Freeman will admit that, if only with a disclaimer.

“They’re ready,” Freeman said. “Whether they know enough or not,

we’ll see.”