Costa Mesa beats out Laguna Beach for league title

COSTA MESA- The Orange Coast League championship game between Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa on Friday at Estancia High fittingly came down to a wild fourth quarter and an even wilder final drive.

The Mustangs, who had trailed by three touchdowns after the first quarter, held off the potential tying drive deep in their own territory to preserve a 38-30 victory. (Full game stats.)

The victory clinches first place outright for the Mustangs (5-5, 4-0).

Costa Mesa coach Jeremy Osso said. "To fight through that was huge."

Justin Miller's 1-yard touchdown run gave the Mustangs a 31-30 lead with 1:59 remaining in the game.

Costa Mesa's Thomas Munoz  then recovered a fumble on the ensuing drive, and the Breakers allowed the Mustangs to score a touchdown in order to get the ball back.

The Breakers had 57 seconds and a timeout when they started their final drive on the Costa Mesa 44.

Laguna Beach (4-6, 3-1) reached the Costa Mesa 15, and with one second remaining, quarterback Austin Paxon threw an incomplete pass in the end zone on what should have been the game's final play.

A pass interference penalty gave the Breakers one more shot from the Costa Mesa 7-yard line, but the next pass fell incomplete.

Contact the writer: lponsi@ocregister.com