The CMHS football team won 49-14 against the Calvary Chapel Eagles at home on October 28th.

Mesa started off very strong, scoring six touchdowns in the first half alone. Two of these were made by senior Mario Smith and two more by Senior Jordan Walden. The final two touchdowns were split one each between senior Trace Curet and sophomore Oronde Crenshaw. In the second half Smith made the last touchdown for the Mustangs.

The Eagles managed to score twice in the game, once in each half.

Mesa is currently 7-1 in their season, and remains undefeated in league at 3-0.

Looks like Mesa only has one more meal of “Eagle meat” to eat.

Mustang Water Polo defeated the Eagles at a home game on Tuesday. The win was vital for the Mustangs because it allowed them to go to CIF. Mesa played well and stayed in control during the entire game, with a final score of 9-6. 

Starting off the game, Mustangs got down to business by scoring two goals in the first 2 minutes. The eagles answered back with a goal of their own, concluding the first quarter. The second quarter saw a little more action with Mesa scoring 3 more goals and Estancia returning with 1. 

The second half began with an even amount of action as both teams played more aggressive. Both teams scored 2 goals in the third quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, there was a key moment when #2 Wyatt Ferris sent the ball soaring into the Eagles’ goal. Both sides continued the intensity, with 2 goals being scored by each team. 

Many Mustangs were present at the game cheering on the team, including members of CMHS’s football team and Girls Tennis team. After the intense match-up, junior, Quan Nguyen said, “I’m just stoked that we won because we’re going to CIF.”

CMHS Cross Country took home two major victories last Saturday from the largest Cross Country meet in the world, the 64th annual Mt. SAC(San Antonio College) Cross Country Invitational.  
     
“Mt. SAC”, as it is affectionately known, is so large that at any given time three to four races will be on different parts of the course; a new race departs every seven minutes. The leaders of most races are shown live on a jumbotron viewable from most of the course.

The size and status of this meet can intimidate even veteran runners. Mt. SAC’s three main hills have etched their names into cross country legend, starting with the Switchbacks, then Poop Out Hill, and lastly Reservoir Hill.


"The largest Cross Country meet in the world did not disappoint as the course tested the team both physically and mentally," said Coach Moreno. 

Mesa was awarded two medals and ran three PR’s(Personal Records). Boys’ Varsity took 7th, Girls’ Frosh took 8th, and Girls Varsity took 15th.  Brett Bermudez took 1st place in the sophomore race and Robert Blackwell took 2nd overall in the Boys Varsity race. 

Mesa's Top Times:  *Personal Best
Boys:
Robert Blackwell-Senior 16:34 
Brett Bermudez-Sophomore 17:21 
Dakota Alford-Junior 17:40 
Matt Morgan-Senior 18:13 
Chad Webster-Senior 19:08 
Harry Do-Senior 19:25 
Tristan Padron-Sophomore 19:52

Girls:
Raquel Friedmann-Senior 22:02 
Kristi Adams-Junior 22:37 
Jennifer Daley-Junior 23:24 
Arisa Joi-Freshman 23:54 
Serena Ozonur-Freshman 24:59 
Daysi Vasquez-Freshman 25:16 
Jocelyn Gutierrez-Sophomore 25:40

Mesa football is better than it has in the past ten years. “I’ve got a ton of talent…I've been really fortunate; I've got a great group of kids and a great group of coaches,” praised Coach Wally Grant.

Mesa’s victory last week at La Quinta of 61-0 was the Mustangs’ highest score in a single game and the largest margin of victory since 1999 (63-0). This leaves the Mustangs at 4-1, their best start since 2001.

It was the Mustangs’ first shut-out game since 2007, an 8-0 game against Calvary Chapel, which is not nearly as impressive as last week at La Quinta. Mesa also approached the program's single-game point’s record, set in 1992 65-19 victory over Laguna Beach, which is further evidence of Mesa’s amazing team this year.
 
Costa Mesa had last week off before the OC League began. However, Mesa isn’t using the week as a break.

"We're just going to work hard," Mario Smith, one of Mesa’s top receivers, said at last week’s game. "It's not a rest for us next week. We've got to come hard because [league] is a new season."

Mesa football is very determined and spirited this year. Cheerleader Olivia LaValley commented that, “The team plays a lot better, a real improvement from last year. Also, I love the new coach.” And tight end Trace Curet claims “If Nate [Alvis] keeps hitting his targets, we’ll be an
unstoppable offense.”
 
“It’s just been a fun, fun year so far. They’re making plays.” Coach Grant says. Everyone at
Mesa has plenty of optimism for the overall Orange Coast League season.

The OC Cross Country Championships took place last weekend. Every school throughout Orange County came together at Irvine Regional Park for the event.

Along with meet trophies, competitors had the opportunity to win a spot in the upcoming "All County" meet. 

Mesa returned with 8 Personal Bests and two top five finishers (one of which will be going to the “All County” meet). Girls’ frosh/soph took 14th place out of 17 teams and girls’ varsity took 13th place out of 19 teams while boys’ varsity took 13th place out 26 teams. 

Brett Bermudez, who usually runs Varsity, was placed in the sophomore race instead this week and got 2nd place in his race.

Regardless, Coach Moreno was clearly proud of his team stating, "great job to Robert, who placed 4th overall in the boys varsity race and Brett, who placed 2nd in the boys’ sophomore race!"     

Mustangs got eight PR’s (Ana Puga, Nuria Avalos, Arisa Joi, Maya Lee-Lopez, Lesley Diaz, Daysi Vasquez, Serena Ozonur, and Dakota Alford) and two medals from Robert and Brett. 

Next Friday’s race is dubbed amongst high school runners as the infamous Mt. SAC (Mt. San Antonio College) invitational.

Top 7 Mesa Times:
Boys:

Robert Blackwell-Senior 15:58 

Brett Bermudez-Sophomore 16:59 

Dakota Alford-Junior 17:13* 
Matt Morgan-Senior 17:21  

Mesa Boy’s Water Polo won first place in a tournament last weekend (October 14 and 15). The tournament was sponsored by Lil’ Pickle USA and was hosted by CMHS.

Mesa played a total of four games over the two days and won all four.

The first game, versus San Juan Hills High School, was a close match which ended with a game-winning goal in sudden death by Mesa senior James Lewis. The final score was 11-10.

Mesa easily swept the next two teams, Santa Ana Valley and La Quinta High Schools. These two victories placed Mesa in the championship game against Pacifica High School.

Going into their final game, Mesa’s team was assured by Coach Justin Taylor that a victory would come to them because of their physical conditioning. According to the coach, Mesa could swim harder than Pacifica in the long run.

As four quarters passed, the scores of both teams remained within two points of each other. Toward the end of the fourth quarter, Pacifica scored, gaining a one-point lead over Mesa. Senior Jamie Sacco then scored at the last second to tie up the game with seven goals for each team.

Between the fourth quarter and overtime, Coach Taylor reassured the boys once more, stating “We’re right where we want to be.” The coach also reminded the team of previous victories they had earned in close match ups. All it took, he said, was one strong possession for Mesa to win.

The opportunity came when Mesa earned a five-meter penalty. Upon seeing the penalty called by officials, Coach Taylor left his seat on the bench and ran past the halfway point of the pool, cheering. Officials gave the coach a yellow card for this breach of standard protocol (moving past half). James Lewis then went on to score the penalty, winning the game for Mesa, 8-7.


This was Mesa’s first tournament win in several years. As their prize, Boy’s Polo was awarded with free sandwiches from Lil’ Pickle USA.

This year’s Homecoming football game pitted the Costa Mesa Mustangs against the Godinez Grizzlies. The game featured four Homecoming floats and the presentation of Homecoming Court at halftime.

As the game kicked off, Mesa scored a touchdown within five minutes. Later they intercepted a pass for another touchdown, establishing the lead that they kept the entire game.  By the end of the first quarter, Mesa led 21-0.

In the second quarter, Godinez could not push back Mesa's defense, and Mesa got further ahead with two more touchdowns.  Mesa finished the quarter with a daring break-away in the last 30 seconds, leaving the score at 45-0 at halftime.
    
Costa Mesa's head coach Grant said, "The game's going extremely well.  The kids’ and coaches’ work over the week is really showing and paying off."  In the stands, Mesa fans were jumping up and down, cheering on the players.

In the second half Godinez managed one touchdown, and Costa Mesa got two more, ending the game at 59-7.

Mesa Boys’ Varsity Water Polo defeated Sage Hill in a league game this Wednesday. The final score was 20-5.

Senior James Lewis and Junior Wyatt Ferris led the team to victory with 4 and 5 goals, respectively. James Lewis also earned 6 assists during the game. Mesa's senior goalie, Mitchell Grandia, contributed 18 saves.

Sage Hill's relatively inexperienced team was unable to keep up with Mesa's, whose starting players were all juniors and seniors. This was shown by the score at the end of the first quarter, 8-0 in favor of Mesa.

Wednesday's game was Mesa's third league game and second league victory. Boys' Water Polo currently has a win-loss record of 11-3.


Photos by Kyle Picco

It was a sad night for my varsity volleyball team when we lost to 
Estancia Tuesday night.

As we prepared to face our enemies, we felt pumped and ready to play. 
We made sure to keep our pre-game routine of cheering and playing ninja.

However, the high energy seemed to be overpowered by our nerves as we began to play. In the first game there were 17 unforced errors, which is pretty much giving the other team 17 out of the 25 points without them
having to work for it.

The second game was a different story. We felt determined to win and would not put our heads down and give up. Michelle Luna helped lead us to victory with an 11 serve run.

We knew we had to take two other games in order to win the match. But we were not able to do so. In the final two games, Estancia came back harder and won. On our side of the net, it was quieter and less intense than we needed to be in order to come out on top.

My team is not discouraged by this loss. We do not think we played badly, we just made a lot of mistakes ourselves we need to fix. We keep coming together as a team and staying positive, which is a good 
step towards winning the rest of our games and having a chance at CIF.

There is another game at Estancia on the 27th, which is our last game of the season. This game we will come out on top, so come watch us eat some Eagle meat!

Photos by Royce Friedmann

The Mustangs beat the Eagles at home.

This Tuesday, the Costa Mesa Girl’s Varsity Tennis team went head-to-head with their rival, Estancia, and won 13-5.  

After the ceremonial shaking of hands and introduction of both teams’ line-ups, the match began.  Mesa’s singles line-up faced trouble as they were pitted against Estancia’s No.1 Singles player, Christy Brown. None of the Mustangs could pull a win off her and Brown ended up scoring 3 of the 5 points for Estancia. Facing the other Eagles, the singles players were all able to score 2 sets.

In Doubles, No.1 players Jacky Dang and Lisa Vu were undefeated for all three sets.  Fighting hard for 2 wins, the No.2 partners Stephanie Rand and Rachel Russell won a tiebreaker, scoring 7-6.  The No.3 players, Ciara Rudas and her partner, also pushed for a second win against No. 1 Estancia players Serena Kao and Leah Woodside, by successfully ending the set with 6-1.  

After the match, the Mesa girls surprised their captains Jacky and Lisa by spraying them with sparkling water.  

After realizing their win against Estancia, Ciara Rudas screamed: “Guys, we just beat Estancia!”  

Gathering around, the team started chanting: “We eat Eagle Meat!” repeatedly.  

After a long day on the hard court, Stephanie Rand confessed: “I doubted myself in the beginning, but in the end I ended up winning and represented my team.”