Mira Costa football wins wild, high-scoring game against Culver City (2024)

MANHATTAN BEACH — Don Morrow has been on the sidelines for four decades, but the Mira Costa High football coach had seen nothing like what transpired in Friday night’s Bay League shootout with visiting Culver City.

The teams combined for 13 touchdowns, 43 first downs, eight plays covering at least 40 yards, eight touchdowns on plays of 30 yards or more, with four players totaling more than 200 yards, and, all said, some 1,168 yards of offense and no lead changes.

Sophomore running back A.J. McBean ran for 340 yards and four touchdowns and junior quarterback Liam Meeker rushed for 219 and three touchdowns as the Mustangs (5-2, 2-0) took a quick lead, held on as their foe repeatedly answered, then pulled away in the second half to 56-34 triumph to set up a showdown for the league lead next week with Inglewood.

They did so despite the magic Seth Shigg repeatedly summoned for Culver City (6-1, 1-1).

The speedy, slippery West Point-bound quarterback totaled 578 yards, five more than the Centaurs’ total output, and five touchdowns, completing 27 of 45 passes for 457 and three touchdowns, two of them to star receiver Myles Singleton, and running for 121 and two scores.

“(Culver City is) so tough to defend, and they’ve had some really wild shootout games the last few years, so that’s what we were trying to avoid,” Morrow said. “But they’re so talented and Seth is incredible. … Our two guys are tremendous and our O-line guys have gotten better and better.

“They had trouble executing for awhile – against some good teams – but before the game tonight we went back and showed them their opening drive (in last week’s romp over Lawndale in the league opener), and it was perfect. I said, ‘You’re capable of doing this,’ and I think they did a lot of that tonight.”

McBean, often breaking four and five tackles, got his yardage on 29 carries. Meeker got his on 10 carries, and both said the real stars were up front: center Luke Phillips, guards Ben Martin and Michael Prosser, and tackles Hunter Taylor and Will Rusnack, the latter returning from injury. All but 17 of the Mustangs’ 595 yards came on the ground.

“Oh, man, the gaps I was finding, I’ve never felt like this before,” said McBean, who had touchdowns of 65, 34 and 33 yards.

Noted Meeker, who covered 77, 52 and 42 yards on his trips to the end zone: “The O-line’s execution was something special. I’m seeing my linemen make crazy blocks, making great plays to open big holes for me to run through, and all the credit goes to them.”

Mira Costa, No. 4 in the Daily Breeze’s South Bay rankings, grabbed a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, Meeker scoring on 77-yard sprint and McBean on a 1-yard push, and was back-and-forth for most of the next two quarters, with 11 of 13 drives finding the end zone, five of them in just one or two plays, into late in the third.

Shigg helped the Centaurs get within a point twice before halftime, a missed extra-point attempt the difference, with three touchdowns passes. He tossed a 49-yarder to Harley Moore (five receptions, 213 yards) and had 25- and 58-yard touchdown strikes to Singleton (six catches, 123 yards), the last after escaping a sack on fourth down with the Northern Arizona-bound receiver eluding a tackler and sprinting most of the way.

A McBean touchdown on the first drive of the second half extended the lead to 35-20, and Culver City closed within nine and then eight points but could get no closer.

Inglewood, the Bay League favorite, will provide a similarly difficult test, but Mira Costa could see No. 1 quarterback Nico De La Cruz return after missing 5½ games with a broken hand. He practiced this week for the first time since he was hurt against Redondo on Sept. 6, and Morrow said the hope was he would be cleared to play next week.

“Out of the furnace and into the fire, that’s the saying, right?” he said. “We’ve seen Inglewood a couple of times, and they’re so impressive, so athletic. It’ll be interesting.”

Said McBean: They’re a very tough team, but I know we’re ready for them and can beat them.”

Originally Published:

Mira Costa football wins wild, high-scoring game against Culver City (2024)
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