Estancia denied shot at title

COSTA MESA — Two visiting teams showed up to Estancia High on Friday night, one to play the Eagles and the other to watch.

Things didn’t turn out right for the home team.

The Eagles found themselves out of the big picture, a chance to contend for a share of the Orange Coast League title. The visitors on the field and in the bleachers are playing for the outright league championship for the second straight year.

Laguna Beach beat the Eagles, 27-17, setting up next week’s league finale showdown at home against Costa Mesa.

The Mustangs (6-3, 3-0 in league) are aiming to claim their third straight league crown. Sitting a few rows up on their crosstown rivals’ side during the game, the Mustangs looked as if they might clinch at least a share of the title during their bye week.

Estancia (5-4, 1-2) needed to upset Laguna Beach (4-5, 3-0). Things looked promising eight minutes into the second half.

The Eagles scored 14 points and took a 17-13 lead. What happened in the next five minutes kept the Mustangs silent and ruined any thought the Eagles had at possibly splitting the league crown with one league game remaining.

A personal foul penalty aided a Laguna Beach score five seconds into the fourth quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles fumbled the ball, giving it right back to the Breakers.

Taking over inside the Eagles’ 20-yard line, quarterback Austin Paxson threw his second touchdown to put Laguna Beach ahead by 10 points. The next time Estancia touched the ball would be the first since the midway point in the third quarter.

Even with 10:53 left to play, Estancia Coach Mike Bargas figured it was too late for a comeback. Running back Sean Davis rushed for 115 yards on 16 carries.

“We had a couple of bonehead maneuvers. That hurt us,” Bargas said. “We had the momentum going our way. We had a nice little six-minute drive [to open the second half].

“We played really well I thought for most of the time. We had some breakdowns and those breakdowns cost us the football game.”

Instead of going into their league finale next week with a victory and an opportunity to share league for the second time since 2007, Estancia has to beat Calvary Chapel (5-4, 1-2) to earn the league’s third entry into the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

The No. 1 spot is between Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa.