PHOTOS: Santa Ana opens defense of league title with 40-9 victory over Costa Mesa

Jason Costa of Santa Ana picks up a big gain for Santa Ana. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Santa Ana High’s football team has won the last three league titles and looked like a team Thursday night that could contend for another.

The Saints took a first step Thursday night, defeating Costa Mesa 40-9 at Santa Ana Bowl in the Orange Coast League opener. Santa Ana is the defending Orange Coast League champion and won two Golden West League titles in a row before that.

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“We just came off our bye week and we got healthier physically and mentally,” said Santa Ana Coach Charlie TeGantvoort. “We had 20 guys starting for the first time and they just needed time to learn how to play football on varsity. We just got to keep getting better week to week.

“We’ve set the tone in the past and now it’s up to this new Saint team to keep it going. They know what we’ve done but now we’re focused on what we’re going to do.”

Quarterback Aldo Leyva passed for 87 yards, scored one TD and passed for another to lead the Saints (3-3).

Jason Costa rushed for 89 yards and scored two TDS for Santa Ana.

“He’s a great kid and he is a football player,” the coach said. “He knows how to play football and does those little things that real football players know.”

Leyva helped the Saints jump out to a 7-0 lead when he scored on a 20-yard TD run. Costa then had a 2-yard run to make it 13-0.

Costa Mesa (2-4) cut the lead to 13-7 on a 3-yard TD run by quarterback Nick Burton in the second quarter. The Mustangs cut the lead to 13-9 when they notched a safety following a low snap on a punt by Santa Ana. The ball was kicked into the end zone by the Saints.

But after that, Santa Ana scored 27 unanswered points. It was the 17th consecutive league win for Santa Ana. The Saints last league loss was Oct. 29, 2015 vs. Westminster.

Leyva connected with Pablo Perez on a 26-yard TD pass, Costa had a 3-yard TD run, Miguel Vaca had a 27-yard TD run and Jesus Olvera had field goals of 27 and 35 yards to cap off the night. A 61-yard kickoff return by Damian Lambert at the start of the third quarter set up Costa’s second TD run which put the Saints ahead 27-9.

“We worked hard in practice and we were talking over the weekend; we got together as a team and we bonded and we showed it on the field and we believed in each and every one of us,” said Costa. “We used all 11 to our full potential and it worked out.”

“I think we just executed our game plan,” added Leyva, the quarterback. “Obviously, we got some things to fix. Coach put in a great game plan and we executed.”

Vaca was solid in the second half and wound up with 91 yards rushing.’

Santa Ana’s defense was tough all night and Alejandro Mora and Costa had interceptions. Mora’s pick set up the TD pass fom from Leyva to Perez which put the Saints ahead 20-6 and seemed to give Santa Ana control.

Burton, the Costa Mesa QB, passed for 113 yards and battled the whole night, rushing for 85 yards.

Costa Mesa lost one of its top running backs early in the game when Bryan Hernandez hurt his hamstring and was out for the rest of the game.

“I’m not one to make excuses,” said Costa Mesa Coach Jimmy Nolan. “But I thought with all the injuries early, it really threw us off of our game plan. I’m OK with that. But at Costa Mesa, you don’t have a whole lot of guys. When the Bulls lose Michael Jordan, it’s a different team and our Michael Jordan went down in the first quarter.

“And it really bothered me because I was liking what I was seeing. And he’s the guy who makes it happen because we put in a lot of new stuff that we haven’t shown yet. Another guys (Emmanuel Ortega, a running back) got hurt yesterday. They’re both very instrumental parts of our offense. We weren’t able to run what we were able to run all week.”

About the only concern for Santa Ana was penalties. The Saints were flagged 12 times for more than 100 yards.

RELATED: Pre-game report on Santa Ana-Costa Mesa

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com