GARDEN GROVE – Pacifica scored on its first possession and never trailed to beat Estancia, 34-14, Thursday in a nonleague game at Bolsa Grande High.
The win ended the Mariners’ five-game losing streak that included their final four games of last year, when they finished 2-8, and last week’s season-opening loss to Bellflower, 10-7.
Mariners junior running back Tommy Mercurio scored four of his team’s five touchdowns, all on 1-yard runs. He rushed for 64 yards on 15 carries.
Pacifica junior quarterback Nick Garcia passed for the other touchdown, a 29-yard completion to junior Tirek Benjamin. Benjamin also rushed for 67 yards and had 43 receiving yards.
Notice the aforementioned players are juniors. Pacifica coach Marcello Giuliano said that partly explains last week’s loss.
“We have a lot of young guys,” said Giuliano in the middle of an exuberant postgame celebration by Mariners players. “We had a lot of first-game issues last week and we were able to fix them.”
The Eagles (1-1) beat Loara, 48-20, last week.
Pacifica’s first touchdown drive was a short one. A good kickoff return put the Mariners on the Estancia 37-yard line. Mercurio’s first touchdown run made it 6-0; the kick for the extra-point missed.
The Mariners made it 12-0 on the Benjamin touchdown catch.
Estancia, which finished 5-6 last year and is ranked No. 8 in the CIF-Southern Section’s Southern Division, made it 12-7 on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Conner Brown to Dalton O’Daly, who caught the ball at the Pacifica 32 after it was tipped by intended receiver Ronnie Urquiza.
The next two Mercurio scoring runs made it 28-7.
Estancia trimmed that to 28-14 on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Christian Laurent in the third quarter.
Mercurio’s fourth touchdown in the fourth quarter ended the scoring.
Pacifica plays Garden Grove at Bolsa Grande next Friday. Estancia plays at home against Irvine in a nonleague game next Friday.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
