Mira Costa Wins With New Method

In the 12 previous seasons that Don Morrow coached Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, the Mustangs had always been an I-formation, power-running team.

Deciding to discard that offense for one that attacked through the air, Mira Costa scored its first victory in six attempts over a Division I opponent, defeating Anaheim Esperanza, 23-21, Friday behind Kevin Romero’s 258-yard passing performance.

“He’s a unique talent who lost his whole junior year,” said Morrow, citing Romero’s academic ineligibility. “But he came out every day and played scout-team tailback, got his brain beat in during practice, and it showed what kind of kid he is.”

The victory over Esperanza, then ranked No. 6 in the Southland by The Times, signaled a turn toward respectability. The Mustangs won section titles in 1993 and 1997, but last season they finished third in the Bay League and were first-round losers in the Division III playoffs.

It’s a long story to get to Romero’s school-record 22 completions in 31 attempts for a program better known for its ground game.

It begins last season with Charles Wolfgramm, who was to continue the school’s I-back legacy. However, Wolfgramm, then a junior, had his inter-district transfer revoked and was sent packing to his neighborhood school, Lawndale Leuzinger.

“The thinking was, ‘What are we going to do?’ ” said Morrow, who had a quarterback but suddenly no running back. “We installed the spread option and said we’re going to let Romero be the passer and featured runner.

“But then the Wolfgramms moved into our district and the school let him back in.”

Rather than scrap the new offense, learned in the off-season during sixth-period classes, Morrow decided to stick with it.

“We’ve got a bunch of kids who ran nothing but the I-back power offense their entire careers,” he said. “I think they can go back to it in a heartbeat.”

The new offense was sporadic in its season-opening 20-14 victory over North Torrance.

“We said, ‘OK, we’ll give it one more chance, and if we can’t improve, we’re going back to doing what we know how to do,’ ” Morrow said. “We definitely made progress.”

Wolfgramm, who is also lining up as a linebacker, rushed for 61 yards and Romero rushed for 70.

Santa Ana Mater Dei is 0-2 and lost, 48-7, to top-ranked Mission Viejo -- a far cry from last year’s seven-point loss -- but Coach Bruce Rollinson took his team’s fifth consecutive loss to the Diablos in stride.

“I think [Mission Viejo Coach Bob Johnson is] on a quest for a national championship, and I don’t blame him,” Rollinson said. “You don’t win national championships winning 14-7, like last year.”

Mission Viejo (3-0) is averaging 53 points a game this season.

Last year, Mission Viejo finished second to Southlake (Texas) Carroll in the Student Sports national rankings, a “title” that Mater Dei claimed in 1994 and 1996, when it finished No. 1 in USA Today’s poll.

Whose stock is up: Simi Valley Royal used quarterback Kevin Harrington’s season-ending broken arm as a rallying point for its 17-12 victory over West Hills Chaminade in its season opener. With a full week to prepare for Oxnard Channel Islands, a team it beat last year, 13-10, Royal scored a resounding victory, 44-7, behind Curtis Marsh, who ran 17 times for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Royal’s first big test is Friday at Ventura, another team that has a lot of things going its way.

Whose stock is down: Pomona Diamond Ranch entered the season with grand expectations. Having reached the Division VIII semifinals last season, second-year Coach Tom Leach said this year’s team was even better. But it is 0-2, chasing its first-week loss to West Covina with a 38-14 loss to Anaheim Servite. The Panthers have been outscored, 66-26, and play host to Covina Northview on Friday at Pomona Ganesha High. “I thought we were going to be good,” Leach said, “but right now we’re immature.”

Junior Samson Szakacsy, who transferred two weeks ago from Ventura St. Bonaventure to Camarillo, completed 21 of 29 passes for 227 yards and one touchdown -- a 56-yarder to Kevin Bork -- with three interceptions in his debut, a 22-7 loss to Agoura.

“After six practices, Samson knew about 75% of the playbook,” Coach Dennis Riedmiller said. “He’s a pretty bright kid. I’m pretty sure he has a photographic memory.” Then Szakacsy should have no problem remembering Agoura’s Eric Wells, who had four of the Chargers’ five sacks.

“If we can’t block for him,” Riedmiller said, “it doesn’t matter who our quarterback is.”

Three dots and a cloud of dust: Stafon Johnson, the tailback, is clearly better than Stafon Johnson, the quarterback, but Los Angeles Dorsey Coach Paul Knox had little choice but to use his best player at quarterback in the Dons’ first two games while waiting for another passer to emerge. Sule Tate, a junior, came off the bench in the second quarter of a 27-21 loss to Santa Margarita on Friday and completed 15 of 23 passes for 171 yards. “He did a great job,” said Johnson, who can now focus on being the Southland’s best tailback.... Newhall Hart’s 33-21 loss to St. Bonaventure marked the first time it has lost three in a row to the same team in the 17 years Mike Herrington has served as coach.

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Times staff writer Eric Sondheimer contributed to this report.