The Cavaliers (9-2), who finished in a three-way tie for champion of the Garden Grove League, got the deciding field goal from junior Robert Fernandez midway through the fourth quarter.
But it was the Mustangs (5-6) who looked like they might run away with the game in the first half. Not only did senior Antwon Byrd score on a 22-yard run on Mesa’s second drive, but the Mustangs got the ball into the red zone on each of their subsequent drives after Luis Gomez recovered a fumble and Kevin Astorino intercepted a pass.
Each time, Orange Coast League champion Costa Mesa was turned away, once on a missed field goal and then when a quarterback keeper run was stripped by Escamilla.
“We have to convert in those situations,” Coach Jeremy Osso said. “That right there shows our inexperience in the playoffs, the fact that we were down there and we couldn’t convert ... It hurts. It hurts. There aren’t many words I can say.”
Santiago evened the score with 8:03 left in the third quarter, but Gomez again responded. After a squib kick went through a Mustang player’s legs, Gomez scooped it up and ran it back 90 yards, putting the Mustangs back on top, 14-7.
But Santiago then used its trump card, Escamilla, who ran for 173 yards on 30 carries.
After he scored to again even the score, he did plenty of damage in the fourth quarter, too. When the Cavaliers got the ball back with 5:53 to play in the game, Santiago used runs by Escamilla and quarterback Harvey Alavez to make sure the Mustangs wouldn’t get another chance.
The Cavaliers converted fourth-down situations twice on the final drive, including Alavez’s quarterback keeper on fourth-and-inches with under two minutes to play to ice the game.
