HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mira Costa’s Miracle Season Ends With Division VII Title

The play didn’t work last week in Mira Costa’s semifinal victory over La Palma Kennedy. Sometimes the play doesn’t work even in practice.

But it worked to perfection Friday night as Mira Costa (13-1) won its first Southern Section football title with a 29-17 victory over Garden Grove Rancho Alamitos (9-4-1) in the Division VII final at El Camino College.

The play is a screen pass over the middle from Mira Costa quarterback Ryan Barnes to wide receiver Matt Guererro. With Mira Costa leading, 13-3, and less than a minute remaining in the first half, the Mustangs had fourth and six at the Rancho Alamitos 32.

“We run (the play) so poorly in practice, the coaches just laugh about it,” Mustang assistant Guy Gardner said. “But we’ll keep it in (the game plan) for Friday.”

Mira Costa Coach Don Morrow called for a slant pattern. Gardner, after talking with Barnes, decided to change the pattern to a screen. This time, the play worked as it was designed, resulting in a 32-yard touchdown and a 20-3 halftime lead.

Barnes completed a short pass to Guererro at the 30, and the junior raced untouched to the end zone.

“I was looking for the end zone,” Guererro said of his only reception in the game. “I could smell it, and I had to go for it. You can’t feel any better than this.”

Guererro didn’t have quite the same feeling when he dropped the same pass in last week’s 23-19 victory over Kennedy.

“I knew that I had to come back and make the play in this game,” Guererro said.

Morrow, at a team film session on Monday, felt he had to clarify a few things for Guererro.

“Matt, see that brown thing that (Barnes) is about ready to throw?” Morrow said, laughing as he rewound the tape that showed Guererro dropping the ball. “That’s a football. Matt, see that goal line down here where nobody’s going to be after you catch it? That’s called the end zone.”

The Barnes-to-Guererro TD pass was set up by a crushing sack and fumble recovery by defensive tackle Phil Fonua. The 6-foot-2, 265-pound junior overpowered the Rancho Alamitos center, hit sophomore quarterback John Frank and fell on Frank’s fumble at the Rancho Alamitos 39.

“He’s a man-child when he wants to be,” Morrow said.

Fonua wasn’t the only Mira Costa lineman to make life miserable for the Vaquero offense. The defense, playing primarily with five down linemen, held Rancho Alamitos running back Kevin Allen to minus-seven yards rushing in 12 carries.

Allen, a junior, entered the game averaging 222 yards rushing in the playoffs, but seemed to run tentatively after being gang-tackled behind the line of scrimmage seven times by the swarming Mira Costa defense.

Mira Costa’s dominance on the line of scrimmage forced Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Allen to alter his game plan.

“What I thought would win for us didn’t,” Case said. “We had to change the center, we had to go to the shotgun. We haven’t faced too many five-man fronts. They stacked the outside, so we had to run inside, but we couldn’t. We couldn’t run the power, or go up the gut. Maybe we should have passed more.”

Mira Costa, with quarterback Barnes completing only three of 11 passes, certainly didn’t need to pass more often. The Mustangs had little problem running the ball.

Mira Costa fullback Ron Hand used his size, all 5-foot-6 and 170 pounds of it, to his advantage late in the first quarter. On first and 10 at the Mira Costa 45, with the Mustangs trailing, 3-0, Hand took a handoff and was stacked up at the line of scrimmage. A second later, Hand popped out of the pile and into the secondary, running 55 yards for a touchdown.

Hand was as surprised as the Rancho Alamitos defense.

“I didn’t think I was going anywhere,” said Hand, who rushed for 77 yards in nine carries. “I didn’t see anything until I was past everybody. Being so short helps.”

Mira Costa junior tailback Mike Fikes also had an opportunity to run past everybody, scoring the Mustangs’ final touchdown on a 59-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.

Fikes, who rushed for 152 yards in 23 carries, scored his first touchdown since becoming eligible three weeks ago. He couldn’t believe it when he saw open field ahead of him.

“I thought my brain was going to explode,” Fikes said. “I saw the open grass, and the (goal-line markers), and I knew no one was catching me. I’d like to thank the line, the coaches, the fans and my mom.”

One of the coaches Fikes thanked was offensive line coach Chuck Arrasmith. Arrasmith said Mira Costa, whose only loss was a 21-20 defeat by Culver City in Ocean League play, achieved nearly all of its goals this year.

“I think we proved it to everybody tonight,” Arrasmith said. “If anyone thinks that we’re soft, they should ask the guys on the other side of the field. We won the (Division VII title). How much farther were we expected to go?”