Costa Mesa improves to 3-1 in football with 13-9 win over Los Amigos

A year ago, Los Amigos High ticked off Costa Mesa coach Glen Fisher by running sprints on the Mustangs’ football field after blowing them out.

Once again, the Lobos were looking to sprint with Costa Mesa on the field, sprint to victory. They were trying to put together a possible game-winning drive in the final 64 seconds.

The Mustangs could stop the Lobos this time, and they successfully did on Thursday.

What a difference a year has made with Costa Mesa? After last year’s one-win season, Costa Mesa has won three of its first four games.

The Mustangs continued their bounce-back season, holding on for a 13-9 nonleague win against Los Amigos at Bolsa Grande High.

“Please tell me we’re not going to talk about last year’s record again,” Fisher said with a grin. “First week, it’s ‘Hey, they already [matched] their [win total from last year]!’ Second week, it’s ‘Hey, they doubled their [wins]!’ This week, it’s ‘Hey, they got a chance to triple it!’ C’mon, there’s got to be a new [storyline].”

The story is that Fisher has the Mustangs winning again, as they’re off to their second 3-1 start in three years under him.

The Costa Mesa defense came through in the waning seconds. After quarterback Brandon Tinoco moved the Lobos past midfield, Nilson Cardona sacked him for a seven-yard loss. With no timeouts, and the Lobos now on their 45-yard line, Tinoco decided to run with the ball, only to run into Aaron Gonzalez, and time ran out on Tinoco and the Lobos.

“Big survival,” Fisher said.

His team allowed Tinoco to rush for a two-yard touchdown on fourth-and-inches with less than three minutes to play, making it a four-point game.

The Lobos (1-2), scoring their first touchdown after getting blanked 42-0 at Ocean View last week, went for a two-point conversion. They wanted to cut the deficit to two, in hopes of getting a defensive stop and winning it with a field goal late, but Tinoco’s pass went right through the hands of Saul Robles and fell incomplete.

Sixty-six seconds into the fourth quarter, Los Amigos had a chance to tie the game at 6-6. The left-footed Elian Escalante, who made a 36-yard field goal to give the Lobos a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter, pulled a 26-yard attempt to the right.

Ben Swanson helped Costa Mesa extend its three-point lead. The left-handed quarterback rolled to his left, before throwing across the field to a wide-open Jack Perez in the end zone. The 20-yard touchdown pass with 7:50 to go allowed the Mustangs take a 13-3 lead.

“He’s having a real nice year,” Fisher said of Swanson, who completed nine of 19 passes for 135 yards. “When we need a play, Ben makes a play.”

No one could make plays for most of the first half.

The opening drive by Costa Mesa turned ugly when it tried to punt on fourth-and-five near midfield. The long snapper hiked the ball over the head of the punter, Perez. He recovered the ball, but Joseph Garcia brought him down right away inside the Mustangs’ 25-yard line. The mistake led to Los Amigos taking the lead.

The Mustangs wound up turning the ball over on downs on their next drive. This time they went for it on fourth-and-one on the opponent’s 34, and Robles stuffed running back Chris Romero for a two-yard loss.

Los Amigos did not take advantage of the great field position. Once the offense got inside Costa Mesa’s 25-yard line, Garcia picked up a 15-yard personal-foul penalty, and the Lobos couldn’t do much, electing to punt two downs later.

There was little offense in the first half.

The Mustangs sacked Tinoco three times in the second quarter. Mark Maes, Cardona and Alex Solis brought him down.

With 64 seconds left in the first half, Costa Mesa took over near midfield. It took one pass to almost double Swanson’s productivity through the first 23 minutes.

Swanson found Jose Blanco all alone near Costa Mesa’s sideline, and the senior broke a tackle and got the Mustangs to the Lobos’ six on the 45-yard catch. Two plays later, Swanson gave Costa Mesa a 6-3 lead on a two-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown.

“They pounded us last year,” said Fisher, whose defense allowed 122 rushing yards, compared to the 431 rushing yards in last year’s 47-14 loss to the Lobos. “We talked about it and we got over it.”

Costa Mesa 13, Los Amigos 9

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Costa Mesa……..0 6 0 7 — 13

Los Amigos……..3 0 0 6 — 9

FIRST QUARTER

LA – Escalante 36 FG, 5:41.

SECOND QUARTER

CM – Swanson 2 run (run failed), :07.

FOURTH QUARTER

CM – Perez 20 pass from Swanson (Olmedo kick),7:50.

LA – Tinoco 2 run (pass failed), 2:47.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CM – Romero, 10-48.

LA – Garcia, 14-79.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CM – Swanson, 9-19-0, 135, 1 TD.

LA – Tinoco, 4-9-0, 54.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CM – Blanco, 1-45.

LA – Chavez, 2-31.

david.carrillo@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByDCP