Costa Mesa Turnovers Are Costly : Estancia Rallies Behind Its Defense for 23-13 Victory

Estancia High School used a strong second-half defensive surge to defeat Costa Mesa, 23-13, in a nonleague football game in front of 1,325 Friday night at Orange Coast College.

Costa Mesa had a 7-6 lead at halftime as its wishbone offense dominated the first half by amassing 176 rushing yards.

But Costa Mesa had just 20 rushing yards in the second half, turning the ball over five times on three fumbles and two interceptions. Two fumbles led to scores and the first interception was returned by Daniel Petrone for a 30-yard touchdown.

Michael Bunker put Estancia ahead, 9-7, with a 21-yard field goal with 5:05 left in the third quarter. The score followed Costa Mesa’s Rich Schones’ fumbled pitch to Lee Moore that Estancia recovered at its own 20.

With 50 seconds left in the third quarter, Estancia’s Kevin Thomas stripped Schones of the ball at the Costa Mesa 47. Two plays later, Dan Ucker passed to Mark Hartley for a 38-yard touchdown.

Ucker completed 5 of 14 passed for 76 yards on the day and was helped by running back Josh Wojtkewicz , who had 72 yards rushing.

Costa Mesa was led by Manny Bonilla, who scored two touchdowns and led all rushers with 91 yards. Bonilla had 75 yards in the first half and both his touchdown runs came from 10 yards out.

Schones completed 6 of 13 passes for 115 yards for Costa Mesa. His passes of 35 and 36 yards to David Salladay led Costa Mesa to its final score with just 14 seconds left.

Estancia’s victory was the first over Costa Mesa in two years.