Pop Warner Football: Costa Mesa Eagles win Orange Bowl, 20-0

It remains true at all levels of football, from the NFL down to Pop Warner.

You can’t lose if you don’t give up any points.

The Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Midget Eagles have spent the last seven weeks proving that adage. And, in their biggest game of the season, they certainly delivered.

Costa Mesa blanked West Covina, 20-0, to capture the Orange Empire Conference Division 4 Orange Bowl title on Saturday at Jim Scott Stadium.

It was the latest dominant defensive effort for the Eagles, who rebounded from a tough start to the season to capture the Orange Bowl hardware. Matthew DiSilva and Caden Garrido had interceptions for Costa Mesa, and Austin Muro and Marlon Chavarria each recovered a fumble.

“We’ve pretty much done what we’ve done today for seven weeks in a row,” Eagles Coach Byron Williams said. “We’ve given up eight points in seven weeks. We were 0-3 and it was tough, but we just kept grinding. The kids didn’t give up, and the coaches kept coaching hard, and they just got it. I told them, ‘Look, we can stand on the sidelines and call plays and call all this fancy stuff, but if you guys don’t go out there and execute it, then it means nothing.’ They took that to heart, and they played their hearts out. I could not be prouder of a group of young men. They’ve earned this.”

Williams said the only time Costa Mesa gave up points in the last seven weeks, it was after fumbling a ball on its own five-yard line against Brea on Oct. 3. The Eagles lost that game, 8-0.

Otherwise, they have been perfect defensively. Saturday’s game was the second against West Covina this season, as Costa Mesa also won, 8-0, on Sept. 26. The Eagles (6-4) also earned shutouts against Huntington Beach and Santa Margarita to close the season.

In the playoffs, the team of 12- and 13-year-olds defeated Santa Margarita, 20-0, and Pico Rivera-based Twin Cities, 18-0, prior to Saturday’s Orange Bowl win. Costa Mesa outscored opponents by a combined 100-8 in its last seven games.

“It’s felt good,” said Chad Koste, who rushed 12 times for 87 yards and two touchdowns and also played middle linebacker. “We really turned this season around. For awhile I thought it was going to be a losing season, but I’m really confident that our team can do almost anything we want now ... I don’t think anybody thought we were going to lose [today].”

Costa Mesa led, 6-0, at halftime on a 21-yard touchdown run by Kaden Stowell in the first quarter. The Eagles’ Jake Manning said getting the early lead was key.

“It helped our defense a lot, to give us momentum,” Manning said.

The Eagles extended their lead early in the second half, after a bad snap on a punt gave Costa Mesa the ball at the West Covina 15-yard line. Three plays later, Koste had his first touchdown, from two yards out.

The tough-to-bring-down Jacob Sutica (13 carries for 56 yards) and Stowell (six carries for 48 yards and the touchdown) also ran well for Costa Mesa. Muro had four carries for 16 yards, while Nathan Pacheco and Justin McCoy had one carry each.

They ran behind an impressive offensive line of left tackle Ryan Miller, left guard Pacheco, center Caden Fenn, right guard Mason Walker and right tackle Manning. On defense, Manning also had a big hit on the quarterback to cause a fumble.

“We’ve got what you’d call a six-headed monster,” said Williams, a veteran Pop Warner coach who previously was also the freshman football coach at Costa Mesa High for five years. “We’ve got six kids who can run the ball. They all do different things, but they’re all tough, they all run the ball hard and they all cheer for each other. That’s the whole key. I’ve been around football for a long time, and these kids are friends and they genuinely care about each other. I think that was a big thing this season.”

Costa Mesa got its final touchdown when Koste ran it in from a yard out with 3:08 remaining in the game.

Vincent Defina and Henry Waterman shared quarterback duties for Costa Mesa. Defina completed two passes, one to Muro for 17 yards and one to Garrido for 19 yards.

Other contributors for Costa Mesa included Chris Abac, Carson Bulgin, Jaycen Cash, Taylor Clark, Kevin Henry, Christopher Jover, Ryan Maples, Jacob Rosales and Timothy Tizon.

West Covina barely got into the red zone just one time late in the first half, before a false start penalty backed the Bulldogs up to the 25-yard line. Then, on third-and-eight, Stowell’s tackle on a receiver led to a fumble that Muro recovered at the 24.

Williams credited assistant coach Frank Galvez for much of the team’s defensive excellence. William Defina, Erik Koste, Tom Walker and Garrick Williams were other assistant coaches for Costa Mesa.

“We coached in Pop Warner together before,” Byron Williams said of his relationship with Galvez. “When I took this job, I brought him back specifically for defense. He made me look like a genius, man. He did a great job, got the team ready, and it’s just a great win for these kids.”

Williams said that the Eagles will play one more bowl game this season, in either San Diego or Laughlin, Nev.