"Everybody was talking about it all day long, it was time to eat some Eagle," Zapata said. "Lunch, breakfast, all day. We were pumped. Everybody was passing. Everybody was communicating. We beat them. After the game we were telling each other 'Nice game.' Everybody played good."
With Estancia (5-1 in league) and the Mustangs (2-4 in league) due to face each other again, in what will now be the rubber match, Wednesday was not the Costa Mesa seniors' final opportunity to break the streak, but they didn't think of waiting.
"We were thinking about the next generation," Zapata said. "We were so excited."
The loss was the first for Estancia this season in league play and for Eagles Coach Gannon Burks it was the first time in his three years coaching at Estancia that he lost to the Mustangs.
"It was bad from the get-go with players late to the bus," Burks said. "It's just one of those days where you just wish you didn't get up. We weren't focused. We didn't hold our shape on defense. We were very quiet out there. We didn't communicate well. When you are on the top they are going to want to knock you down. We learned a lesson today that had nothing to do with soccer."
Burks said, prior to the season, with three league games against each team alterations between matches would be crucial.
"They made good adjustments," Burks said. "All the credit to Coach [Eugene] Day. All the credit to the Costa Mesa boys."
The back-and-forth game was nearing a tie, having been knotted at one since the 24th minute when Mesa senior Franco Duarte blasted in the equalizer off a 30-yard free kick.
