Abbott was part of a stingy Corona del Mar defense that held a tricky Magnolia double-wing offense that included dives, sweeps and quick pitches, in-check for much of the game.
Offensively, he scored the first touchdown of the game on an 81-yard run, and led all rushers with 163 yards on just nine carries.
His late, would-be interception would have set up the Sea Kings deep in Magnolia territory.
“He was tough, as usual,” Dodge said of Abbott. “Defensively, there’s always room for us to improve but tonight, I was very pleased with our effort. We got our first shutout of the season.”
The win over Santa Ana marked the Mustangs’ first defeat of a team with a winning record in Osso’s four seasons.
But the Mustangs missed out on a chance to forge a better-than .500 record for the first time since 2003 by falling to the Seahawks. Had Costa Mesa won, it would have been 3-2. Now, it is 2-3.
The 2003 Mustangs, coached by Dave Perkins, were 5-4 before a season-ending loss to Santa Ana.
Early in the fourth quarter, there was a bit of confusion — not on the field, but in the press box.
Ocean View High’s “spirit team” allows fans to write personalized messages for $1 at the game, and the notes are read on the public-address system at the end of the third quarter. On homecoming against Costa Mesa, there was apparently a record number of messages bought, which caused the message readers to have to slip them in after each play early in the fourth. The promotion is ideally supposed to be over after the third quarter, but that wasn’t the case.
Ocean View announcer and baseball coach Shane Borowski passed the microphone back and forth with the readers for several minutes, annoying a few fans, but finally all the messages were read.
The Sailors, ranked No. 10 last week, dropped out of the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division top 10 poll.
Mater Dei took its spot after a 36-29 double-overtime loss to top-ranked Edison.
The two interceptions snatched by Estancia defenders Friday give the Eagles seven through five games.
They had only two all of last season.
With the victory over La Quinta, Estancia (4-1), winner of four straight, also surpasses last season’s three victories.
— From staff reports
