Mira Costa firing on all cylinders.

Mira Costa has come out of the gates HOT this season.

Head Coach, Duke Dulgarian has his boys ready to play, having already vanquished two opponents by healthy margins.

Here are the deets:

Dec 14th. Mira Costa vs Fallbrook. Final Score: Mira Costa 59 - 5 Fallbrook ✅

Mira Costa was down 3 key players in this game, but no matter — they saw 8 (!) different players score tries. What stood out was the many different ways this team can score; Long speed-demon runs? Check. Pound it in with pick-and-goes? Check. 8-man from the scrum? Check. It’s a full bag of tricks on offense for these guys.

Dec 21st. Mira Costa vs Villa Park. Final Score: Mira Costa 49 - 25 Villa Park ✅

The score may seem lopsided in this one too, but Mira Costa coaches noted the intense physicality of the Villa Park lads, saying “I’m glad to have played them now rather than at the end of the year…these guys are extremely physical.”

Mira Costa did a good job contending with that physicality and again showed their ability to score in multiple ways. A stunning chip kick from (Fly Half) Sigi Cortes to (Inside-Center) Pablo Pasqual went 62 meters for a try. Later, Mira Costa winger Charlie McCarthy made a heads-up play by diving on a loose ball for another score. The play of the game belonged to winger David Gibson, as he made a superb run down the sideline before making a well timed offload to his mate in support, (flanker) Jack Schwartz, who grounded the ball for a score.

What stands out when reading the game recaps for these two matches is that Mira Costa seems like a very selfless team. Lots of great offloads for tries, and many moments of excellent support for ball carriers.

So what’s next?

Next up is Mira Costa’s biggest test so far: Sacramento Jesuit.

One of the bigger names in the CA rugby scene, Sacramento Jesuit frequents the upper end of the Goff Rankings and consistently puts out a solid team each year. It will be very interesting to see how Mira Costa fares against an opponent of this status.

When: Friday January 17th (that’s today!)
Where: Mira Costa High School