Estancia High football wins seventh straight Battle for the Bell game
Estancia High School senior Lucas Pacheco took pictures after Friday night’s game with not only his teammates, but his older brothers Trevor and Nathan and his parents.
Trevor graduated in 2019, and Nathan a year after. This unique season has given Lucas a chance to shine in his senior year as well.
The brothers’ father, Jack Pacheco, also played football at Estancia, but the window closed on the family’s football legacy at the school after this year’s Eagles ended the season in the Battle for the Bell game against rival Costa Mesa.
That is, unless another generation of Pachecos comes walking through that door.
“It’s been an amazing ride,” Estancia football coach Mike Bargas said. “I hope they have another one hiding someplace. We’ve gotten our money’s worth out of the Pachecos. They’ve been a wonderful football family for us, and they’re going to be dearly missed. Somebody else has got to pick up the pace now.”
The Eagles rode Lucas Pacheco to another impressive win against their crosstown rivals. Estancia routed Costa Mesa 42-3 at Jim Scott Stadium, earning its seventh straight Battle for the Bell win and 10th in its last 11 tries.
With no playoffs in this delayed and abbreviated season, things ended for both Estancia (3-3, 1-2 in league) and Costa Mesa (0-5, 0-2) on Friday night.
Lucas Pacheco scored a touchdown on both his first carry of the night and his last. In between, he was impressive, too. He finished with 22 carries for 250 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.
“I think we really deserve that win,” said Pacheco, headed for Marian University in Indiana to play rugby. “We’ve been practicing all year long, waiting for it, hoping for that 1% chance of having a season and it finally came. We worked our butts off for it.
“It’s not just me, it’s the whole team. They’re just pushing me during the offseason to get stronger, get faster, get better. They really made me want to stand out even more, to be the best I can for this team.”
The offensive line — senior left tackle Ethan Jones, senior left guard Ethan Rodriguez, senior center Bryan Agustin, junior right guard Misael Sandoval and senior right tackle Freddy Guzman — opened up holes for Pacheco all night, as did sophomore tight end Oswaldo Sanchez.
Jones, a transfer from Costa Mesa, had the unique ability to say he has seen both sides of the rivalry game.
“We had a short season, but we had a long time to get prepared,” he said. “We might not have been able to practice together like that, but we still put in our work at the gym, at a park or something. We all made sure that we paid what we owed.”
Estancia scored touchdowns on four of its five possessions in the first half, grabbing a 28-3 halftime lead. Senior quarterback Luke Hutchinson also had a passing touchdown, finding Jack Burns in the back right corner of the end zone.
Hutchinson, who started the year at wide receiver, played his second game at quarterback for the Eagles. They tried several players at the position this season, including Pacheco for a game, after starter Cameron Knickerbocker got hurt.
“It means everything, coming back here and playing in this game,” Hutchinson said. “I’ve been going and watching this game since I was in second grade, and being able to play in it and being able to fight for my school is just unreal.”
Costa Mesa got its only points when Dylan Oliver made a 33-yard field goal attempt on the Mustangs’ second drive of the game.
The Mustangs used a varied passing attack, and quarterback Nick Burton completed his first eight passes of the game. But the Estancia defense, led by senior defensive end Cameron Ruehling (four sacks), was too much.
Chris Pacheco and Noah Aires combined to sack Burton in the end zone in the first half for a safety.
For Costa Mesa, Oliver had an interception on defense. He and Joe Paxson led Mustang receivers with six catches each for 65 and 58 yards, respectively.
Regardless of the final score, both teams could appreciate the fact that they were able to have the Battle for the Bell game in the first place. Bargas said his returning players get two weeks off, then it’s time to prepare for the fall season.
“Sometimes we’re the only continuity and hope for these guys,” he said. “Luckily for us, we had a football season, and I think we made the most of it.”
Orange Coast League
Estancia 42, Costa Mesa 3
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Costa Mesa 3 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 3
Estancia 12 – 16 – 7 – 7 — 42
FIRST QUARTER
E – L. Pacheco 17 run (run failed), 9:18.
CM – Oliver 33 FG, 4:15.
E – Burns 18 pass from Hutchinson (kick failed),
SECOND QUARTER
E – Safety (QB sacked in end zone), 5:17.
E – L. Pacheco 41 run (Guzman kick), 3:34.
E – L. Pacheco 4 run (Guzman kick), 0:42.
THIRD QUARTER
E – L. Pacheco 16 run (Guzman kick), 10:32.
FOURTH QUARTER
E – L. Pacheco 17 run (Guzman kick), 9:22.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
CM – Oliver, 2-16.
E – L. Pacheco, 22-250, 5 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
CM – Burton, 18-28-1, 161.
E – Hutchinson, 6-9-1, 57, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
CM – Oliver, 6-65.
E – Burns, 3-33, 1 TD.
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