Costa football team reaches second round; PV, Redondo eliminated
Dropping its final two regular season games for a third-place finish in the Bay League, Mira Costa’s football team emerged as the only team to advance to the second round of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
Trailing 12-0 going into the fourth quarter, ninth-ranked Mira Costa (5-6) capitalized on a Jonah Tavai touchdown run and a 25-yard scoring strike from Mustang quarterback Nick Carpino to Eddie Burga-Donovan to escape with a 13-12 road victory against No. 3 Crescenta Valley in the opening round of the Division 6 playoffs.
Mira Costa will play at No. 8 Canyon of Canyon Country (6-5) in the quarterfinals Friday at 7:3 p.m.
Evanson Franck-Love led Mira Costa’s defense with 5.5 tackles limiting the Cowboy offense to 145 yards and only three of 13 third-down conversion attempts.
In Division 4, Redondo (6-5) fell short against visiting San Juan Hills in a 24-23 loss.
After DeMarcus Johnson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds remaining in regulation, Redondo head coach Matt Ballard opted to go for the win but quarterback Jack Alexander’s pass for a 2-point conversion was knocked down.
Bay League champion Palos Verdes (7-4) was eliminated in the Division 3 playoffs with a 32-27 loss to visiting Westlake at a game played at Mira Costa High School.
The Sea Kings could not take advantage of a 194-yard rushing performance by Will Boss.
