Mustang Football Needs to Get It Together

Despite his calm demeanor, there were no mistaking Don Morrow’s frustrations.

“We’re struggling to find production, that’s for sure,” said Morrow after Mira Costa varsity football dropped its third consecutive contest after a 33-3 drubbing by Newport Harbor in a nonleague affair Thursday night in Newport Beach.

“We tried a little different wrinkle tonight with the spread, which we haven’t run much of, but we just can’t seem to get anything going. We tried. It looks good in practice, but it hasn’t carried over to the games. It’s very frustrating.”

Newport Harbor, which had experienced some frustrations of its own during the past few weeks, took advantage of Mira Costa’s troubles, cashing in three second-half turnovers to rout the Mustangs in a nonleague contest at Newport Harbor.

Mira Costa couldn’t contain Newport Harbor’s Titus Hasson, who ran for a game-high 109 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries and recorded two interceptions, both of which led to third quarter touchdowns for the Sailors.

Hasson, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter, also had a 47-yard scoring run called back for an illegal procedure penalty.

“I thought they definitely took it to us in the second half pretty good,” Morrow said. “We didn’t make anything happen and they did a lot of good stuff. They definitely outplayed us in the second half.”

Hasson ignited the spark and guided the Sailors to a 21-point run in the opening eight minutes of the third quarter, turning a 10-3 halftime lead into a blowout.

A 6-1, 190-pound senior, Hasson intercepted a pass by quarterback Chase Caprio at the Newport Harbor 31 after just 52 seconds had elapsed in the third quarter. Four plays later, he bolted up the middle of the Mira Costa defense en route to a 52-yard touchdown run and a 17-3 Newport Harbor lead with 9:31 remaining in the third.

He wasn’t finished. Less than four minutes later, Hasson picked off Mira Costa quarterback Alex Cuevas, leading to a 43-yard scoring pass from quarterback Cole Blower to wide receiver Cory Cablay for a 24-3 advantage with 5:44 remaining in the quarter.

Newport Harbor (2-3) added a 26-yard touchdown pass by Blower to Landon Gyulay less than a minute later for its final trip to the end zone.

Morrow and his staff will attempt to figure out which quarterback gives the team a better option. Again, they alternated with Caprio, a senior, who got his first start of the season, and Cuevas, a junior, who was the frontrunner at the start of the season. But neither has been successful in leading the offense—they combined for only 80 yards passing and three interceptions against Newport Harbor—though Morrow wasn’t blaming either player for the Mustangs’ woes.

Initially, the coach believed starting Caprio might shake them from their funk, but that didn’t work either.

“We thought we’d give Chase a start tonight because he played pretty good in the Chaminade ball game,” Morrow said, referring to last week’s loss. “Both have been getting reps in practice and we wanted to make sure we played both tonight. The whole offense is in a bog. It isn’t just them. All we can do is go back Monday and give them both chances, practice hard and see if we can get something going.”

Mira Costa scored first before the Sailors coasted past it. The Mustangs took a 3-0 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Gavin Jerrigan with 2:24 left in the first quarter, but they never scored again.

Newport Harbor answered with an 81-yard drive in eight plays as Hasson scored on a 2-yard run with 5:39 remaining in the second quarter for a 7-3 lead.

The Sailors added another score near the end of the first half. After getting possession near midfield, Newport Harbor drove to the Mira Costa 2-yard line before settling for a 20-yard field goal by Christian Ochoa with three seconds left for a 10-3 advantage heading into intermission.

After halftime, it all fell apart for Mira Costa (1-4).

The Mustangs will need to find an answer to their problems if they expect to repeat as champs of the Bay League. They open next Friday at home against West Torrance (4-1), which hasn’t had much trouble scoring. West Torrance posted a 40-7 victory over North Torrance on Thursday night. West has scored at least 28 points in three of their four victories.

Palos Verdes golf team enjoying strong run

The girls golf team at Palos Verdes is experiencing another outstanding run and one head coach Ray Rivera hopes will continue through the postseason.

“It’s been very exciting with how well our team has been playing,” said Rivera, whose team captured the Burbank Tournament for the second straight year on Thursday. “Hopefully we can play for the regional and state championships this year. We just missed last year. But I’m very optimistic we’ll do well in the postseason because of the season we’re having.”

Last year, Palos Verdes missed advancing to the CIF-WSCGA Regionals by five strokes. This year, the Sea Kings are expected to be a factor again, particularly since they are giving golf powerhouse Torrance a run for the money in the Ocean League.

Palos Verdes entered the week tied with Torrance for the top spot in league until the Sea Kings dropped a 187-192 decision to the Tartars on Tuesday at Los Verdes Golf Club to fall a game back. The two teams were scheduled to meet again Wednesday at the Palos Verdes Country Club, but rain forced the match to be postponed. It could be rescheduled for either Oct. 18 or Oct. 20, Rivera said.

Despite Tuesday’s loss, the Sea Kings remain a confident bunch.

“It’s not the end of the world because if we beat them once it would be a big accomplishment,” said Rivera, who is 0-11 against Torrance in his six seasons as head coach.

A victory in the rematch would also allow the Sea Kings to tie for first place and possibly finish as co-champs with Torrance in league. That would be a monumental accomplishment since Torrance has ruled league play for more than a decade and hasn’t lost a league match since 2001.

The Tartars are 98-1 in dual matches since 2002, their only setback coming against Peninsula in 2009. But those numbers don’t intimidate Palos Verdes junior Elizabeth Doty. She believed playing at Torrance’s home course was the difference in Tuesday’s outcome.

“Having the home-course advantage probably accounted for a least a shot per player,” Doty said. “Since we lost by five, that’s one shot per person. It’s not like we had a really bad day. We didn’t do as well as we wanted, but it could have gone either way.”

Doty, who shot a match-high 34 against Torrance, is a big reason the Sea Kings (7-2, 4-1) have played so well. Sophomores Sophie Bergland and Mackenzie Perez, juniors Roxanne Mata and Natalie Mu and senior Jacqueline Cootes also have been key contributors. But Rivera believes they can get better as a unit.

“We set some team records already, but I still don’t think we’ve played our best yet,” Rivera said. “We haven’t played to our true potential yet, but I think we will eventually.”

Doty also believes their best days are ahead.

“Last year was really good for us, but I think everyone has improved this season,” she said. “Last year we were new to the playoffs and all because we had a really young team. But now we know what to expect. We’re better prepared.”

Redondo volleyball team bounces back

Tommy Chaffins is feeling better than he was last weekend after his Redondo girls volleyball team won their second straight contest on Thursday, beating host Palos Verdes, 25-23, 25-10, 25-18.

Skylar Dykstra played well again, finishing with 15 kills and 10 digs, with Brianna Lanktree adding six kills and two blocks. Tiffany Morales led Redondo with 17 digs.

But it was the clutch play and serving down the stretch of junior setter Olivia Bustamante, who served winners for the match’s final four points, that finished it for Redondo (8-6, 2-0).

The victory over Palos Verdes comes on the heels of Tuesday’s sweep of Peninsula, 25-15, 25-19, 25-23, in the Bay League opener at Redondo. Morales was the hero in that win, serving for six consecutive points to close out the match.

Freshman Abril Bustmante led the way with eight kills. Devon Bogart finished with seven, while Dykstra added five and five digs.

Last Saturday, Chaffins was ticked because he believed his Sea Hawks mentally “checked out” in a disappointing sweep by South Torrance in the Kim Blankinship Torrance Challenge at Torrance High.

Redondo had a chance to close out the second game in the match, leading 24-21, but couldn’t finish it. Instead, South won the match 27-25 and it seriously deflated Redondo. Chaffins, though, wasn’t having any of that.

“When we didn’t close it out and lost, I was very disappointed that our team checked out and didn’t respond in the last game,” he said. "Our mantra is: next play, focus. We didn’t do that.”

Next week, Redondo and Mira Costa clash in what surely will impact the outcome of the league championship. The match is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. Thursday at Costa.

Mira Costa stayed unbeaten in league with Thursday’s sweep of West Torrance, 25-13, 25-14, 25-19, behind the play of Grayce Campbell, who finished with eight kills and four digs. Gabi Rosenfeld recorded three blocks.