Barry Faulkner
Well, so much for those lucky white pants.
The Costa Mesa High football team, for the first time in at least
a dozen seasons, has all but eliminated black from its uniforms. But
the shimmering white pants that worked so well in the Mustangs' 27-24
road win over Chaminade Sept. 20, brought no such good fortune in
Thursday's 14-7 nonleague loss against visiting Laguna Beach at
Newport Harbor High.
"We wore all white (jerseys and pants) on the road against
Chaminade, so we went with (the white pants) again with our green
jerseys (against Laguna)," Mustangs Coach Dave Perkins said.
Wardrobe, of course, had less to do with the outcome than Laguna
Beach quarterback Alex Wilson, as well as some self-destructive
behavior by the Mustangs, who fumbled five snaps, committed two
turnovers and were penalized 10 times for 76 yards.
"The disappointing thing was that we were moving the football,"
Perkins said. "We had more than 300 yards rushing (302), and 17 first
downs to their 16. We controlled the football game, but we didn't
control the scoreboard."
Perkins credited Laguna Beach for pulling off its first win over
the Mustangs in 13 seasons and improving to 3-0. He dispensed special
plaudits to Wilson, a junior first-year starter who completed 13 of
20 passes for 217 yards, including touchdown tosses of 35 and 26
yards to senior receiver Ed Hanke.
"I thought we did a good job of holding down (senior tailback
Donnelle) Darling (80 yards on 18 carries), but Wilson did a great
job throwing the football. And those linemen were big. I think they
may even downplay the sizes of those guys in their program. We
couldn't get around them to get to the quarterback and they deserve a
lot of credit.
"It's a very good football team that I think can challenge
somewhere in the Pacific Coast League. If anybody goes to sleep
against them, they're going to get them."
Senior Borotha Pov, a 315-pound noseguard, was among those who
stood out on defense for Mesa.
Perkins, whose Mustangs (1-2) begin their first season in the
Golden West League Friday against Ocean View (1-2) at Westminster
High, said Laguna Beach is one of three solid teams that have helped
his squad prepare for league play.
"I think we need to eliminate some mistakes, but I think we'll be
fine," Perkins said. "We've taken some good steps to be a playoff
team in the Golden West League. We've played some good teams and
we've seen some different looks and some very good players. I'd like
