Boys From ‘Hood Make Coach Proud

For years, Tom Baldwin spent his fall weekends at the park, watching his grandson play football with his friends.

Like most proud grandfathers, Baldwin puffed his chest and smiled each time Ronnie Lievanos made a tackle or ran with the ball. And, he concluded, judging the boys’ caliber of play, they were going to make some high school football coach very happy one day.

Now, the boys are making good on Baldwin’s prediction.

Baldwin is the defensive coordinator at Costa Mesa, and those kids have grown up to lead the Mustangs to an 8-0 record. They play seventh-ranked Laguna Hills (7-1, 3-0) tonight for sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast League. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Mission Viejo High.

Baldwin is not surprised that Costa Mesa has posted its best start in school history after going 10-11 in Jerry Howell’s first two seasons as head coach.

A history and economics teacher at the school and a 40-year coaching veteran, Baldwin was the Mustangs’ coach from 1984-92. After several seasons working in the community college ranks, he returned to coach the Mustang defense last year.

“We have good kids that have played well together for a long time,” Baldwin said. “They only lost one game as freshmen [and one on the junior varsity level].”

It’s hard to tell who is more excited about Baldwin’s return, Lievanos, a senior defensive back/quarterback, or his grandfather.

“This has been a dream of mine for a long time,” Lievanos said. “[Baldwin] told me that he wanted to coach me at Costa Mesa and I think it’s great. I learned a lot from him before [high school] and I’ve learned a lot now.”

Baldwin doesn’t hide the fact that his return was prompted by the opportunity to coach his grandson and guide those neighborhood kids he watched all those years.

Baldwin has turned out to be a good judge of talent. Some of the numbers posted by those players this season have been outstanding. Junior defensive back Rovinn Sou has eight of the team’s 20 interceptions, and senior cornerback Ben Felter has four.

Opponents are so fearful of Lievanos on defense, according to Howell, “people don’t throw at him.” Lievanos has two interceptions.

Sure, Costa Mesa has benefited from stellar running by senior Steve Herzog (1,052 yards, 11 touchdowns), senior Vince Hamade (786 yards, seven touchdowns) and the leadership of Lievanos, a two-way starter, at quarterback. But the stunting, slanting, quick defensive unit is clearly the team’s heart and soul.

Herzog also plays linebacker and the others who contribute on defense are senior ends Nam Kim and Richard Price, junior tackle Gerald Norman, senior tackle Matt Rudesill, sophomore linebacker David Weir and senior linebackers Chris Shanley and Jeremy Siedsma.

“I always believe in stunting and playing aggressive defense,” Howell said. “Offensive line is the most difficult position to learn how to play, and the younger they are the harder it is, particularly for high school kids. So we [use] stunts.”

The strategy apparently works. Costa Mesa has four shutouts. Of the 30 points allowed this season, 13 were scored by Estancia two weeks ago and six of those came on a 79-yard kickoff return.

In the Mustangs’ league opener against Aliso Niguel, Costa Mesa recorded a safety and Weir returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown after a big hit by Siedsma.

Costa Mesa fell behind University, 7-0, last Friday, but shut out the Trojans in the final three quarters for a 34-7 victory. Lievanos also helped out by rushing for two scores.

Baldwin said his players are a joy to coach and they play well as a unit.

“The key is that we have two corners who cover extremely well in man to man,” Baldwin said. “We don’t have to give them any help, so we can commit more people to put pressure on the quarterback.

“Our down guys are good, but with such strong safeties, it enables us to put lots of pressure on the running game and quarterback.”

Baldwin is again having a ball, he said, because it’s fun to be around a group of boys he has watched grow up.

“They’re very bright,” Baldwin said. “They’ve been playing football a long time. They are smart enough that we let them change defenses on the field. They hardly run what I call. They come up to the line of scrimmage and if they see something [different from the offense], they change to a different stunt so we are still bringing pressure all the time.”

Lievanos said the team benefits from its closeness, good quickness and lots of tackling drills.

“We have great speed,” he said. “We have guys who just have a feel for the game. We’ve been together since youth leagues and we have guys who love to hit. Most other guys may tackle opponents, but they don’t hit like us.”

Rudesill says he and his teammates are having a good time on the field.

“A lot of guys on our defense just like to play,” he said. “We think of it as fun, more than getting beaten up. We don’t pay attention to the bumps and bruises. We just go out and hit.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

COSTA MESA VS. LAGUNA HILLS

Featured Game

When: 7 tonight

Where: Mission Viejo High

Records--Costa Mesa 8-0, 3-0; Laguna Hills 7-1, 3-0

Rankings--Costa Mesa is third in Division VIII and ninth in Orange County; Laguna Hills is fifth in Division VIII and seventh in the county.

Noteworthy--In 38 varsity seasons, Costa Mesa has never gone 10-0 and must beat one of the county’s most highly regarded teams to stay unbeaten. The task for the Mustang defense, which has allowed only four touchdowns in eight games, is to stop county career rushing leader Michael Jones, who has scored 26 touchdowns and is averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Jones is third in rushing this season (1,439 yards). Costa Mesa’s Steve Herzog (1,052 yards), the county’s 10th-leading rusher, is averaging 6.6 yards with 11 touchdowns.