PHOTOS: Costa Mesa uses powerful running game to notch decisive win vs. Century

Costa Mesa junior running back Gavin Garza breaks loose from a contingent of Century defenders led by Jimmy Jaramillo (15) for a 46-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone.

In Friday’s non-league football matchup between Orange County rivals Costa Mesa and Century, Costa Mesa rode a dominant rushing attack to a 54-14 victory at home.

The win for Costa Mesa (4-1) continued a season of offensive dominance.

Led by its star quarterback Andrew Waiss and star running back Gavin Garza, the Mustangs opened up the game early and never looked back against Century.

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Waiss led all offensive players with 248 all-purpose yards. The senior had two touchdowns through the air and added two more on the ground, including a massive 68-yard score to give the Mustangs a 14-7 first quarter lead they would never relinquish.

Waiss, a receiver-converted-quarterback, spoke about his night postgame with OC Sports Zone.

“[The offense] looked good,” Waiss said. “It looked how we practiced it, and it was a good result.”

However, the dominance for Costa Mesa wouldn’t be possible without Garcia, a top Orange County rusher early in the season. Garcia piled up another monster triple digit yard game on the ground, going for 184 yards and three touchdowns. 

“First and foremost we want to pay treatment to those guys, our hogs up front,”  Costa Mesa Coach Gary Gonzalez said while pointing to the Mustang starting offensive linemen who were posing for a picture. “Our guys are fast. Our guys up front are hungry and aggressive.”

Costa Mesa has enjoyed immense early season success, primarily on the ground. Entering Friday, Garza averaged 154.5 yards rushing per game, with Waiss adding 72.5 per game.

The air attack was also working for the Mustangs on Friday. Both Ruben Sanchez and Jack Shayfiyoon recorded receiving touchdowns, combining for 86 yards in the air.

All told, it was a massively successful effort for a Mustang offense that maintained control of the ball for the majority of the game. Costa Mesa also executed its defensive and special teams gameplans well, sacking the quarterback multiple times and logging multiple big returns, putting the Mustang offense in prime field position repeatedly. 

Costa Mesa will have a week five bye and will look to prepare for its league opener against Santiago on Thursday, Oct. 2.

On Century’s side of the ball, it was a struggle all night on both sides. The Centurions (2-2-1) were able to respond to an early Costa Mesa touchdown drive with a short touchdown of their own by backup quarterback Ramon Toribio to even the score at 7 in the first quarter, but it was all Mustangs after that.

Toribio entered the game after Century’s starting quarterback Leonardo Mendoza went down with what appeared to be a lower leg injury.

Nothing seemed to go right for Century after Mendoza went down. The Centurions’ starting running back Derek Carillo was repeatedly stopped on early downs and the offense seemed to shy away from throwing the ball with Toribio in as a backup. The result was an ugly loss, one that Century Coach Lance Neal embraced postgame.

“We got our butts kicked,” Neal said. “They beat us like they beat a couple teams in our league: a lot to a little.”

Neal was right. Costa Mesa has stacked up multiple big wins against Zeta League members, notably beating Godinez in week two, 49-0. 

Century found a bright spot in backup running back Matthew Pantaleon, who took most of the carries in the second half and helped lead a second half scoring drive to give the Centurions their second and final score of the game early in the third quarter. Pantaleon totaled 70 yards and a touchdown on the ground Friday.

Despite a tough loss, Century will look to move on and try and grab a win on the road against Loara in its non-league finale next Thursday.