The Mira Costa Mustangs pulled off a shocker Saturday, beating defending SCIRF champs St. John Bosco 34-31.

Bosco won the 2019 final in the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation, and this winter the school won the California Open Division state football championship. Meanwhile, a very young Mira Costa team already lost big Cathedral Catholic on December 21 in their league opener.

But that Mustangs team was missing eight players, including five starters, thanks to the fact that it was played right after finals. With players back and  time to work together and fix some issues, Mira Costa was able to surprise St. John Bosco.

"I think we got them at the right time," said Mira Costa Head Coach Duke Dulgarian. "Maybe if we play them again, we lose. But the guys ust played out of their skins."

The big issue for the Bosco Braves was discipline. Big and physical, SJB struggled to avoid penalties, and that, along with great bravery among the much smaller Mira Costa players playing defense, helps Mira Costa get on the front foot.

Mira Costa got on the board early with a penalty goal from flyhalf Giuseppe Meola from 31 meters out. The Braves answered by driving the ball down the field to go over and take a 7-3 lead. Meola hit another penalty to inch closer, and penalties continued to be an issue for Bosco.

Right after that second Meola penalty, Bosco was pinged again. This time, captain and scrumhalf Christian Hunter tapped quickly and exposed a Braves defense too slow to get into position. Hunter galloped 60 meters to score, and with Meola's conversion, the Mustangs led 13-7.

Leading at halftime, Mira Costa started to realize they could hang with the Braves.

"They were kind of joking all week about how strong Bosco is, but at halftime they began to believe," said Dulgarian. 

Bosco made adjustments and thundered over for two tries in quick succession to take a 21-13 lead. But just as it seemed that the Braves might pulled away, Hunter once again took advantage of a penalty to score. Meola's conversion made it a one-pint game at 21-20.

Bosco replied, scoring two unconverted tries and led 31-20 with the game winding down. But Mira Costa kept at it, and put the pressure on. From an attacking scrum, Hunter scampered around the weak side and fed freshman flanker Taveed Tamarin, who did the rest. Meola was good onthe kick and the score was now 31-27. Once again Mira Costa did well to run the hpases, and once again Hunter tapped on a penalty, and once again he scored. Meola converted and Mira Costa led 34-31 with six minutes to go. 

Costa's defense held firm in the closing moments, and the Mustangs had their upset.

"Now they know they can stand up to teams like this," said Dulgarian. "They know they can tackle guys who are 100 pounds heavier."

Along with Hunter, Meola was a star for Mira Costa. His goalkicking was excellent, as he kicked two penalties and converted all four Mira Costa tries. But it was more than that. He ran the attack brilliantly, kept the tempo up, making the Bosco defense work hard in those latter minutes, and was stalwart on defense.

Meanwhile, Bosco will be lamenting their ill discipline; 27 of Mira Costa's 34 points came directly from a penalty.

The result throws the SCIRF into a bit of a confusion. Is Mira Costa a completely different team now? Can Bosco rebound? San Clemente is 2-0, but they have some tough games left. Torey Pines is also strong, while Cathedral and St. Augustine are 1-0.