Mira Costa takes on View Park Prep in an important game for both teams in the Southern California Varsity White league.

Costa is 2-0 after beating beating Servite HS and with the Tavai Brothers powering through defenders, they are all kinds of solid this season. But they will have a strong opponent in View Park Prep, which is a little unlucky to be just 1-1.

View Park beat St. Monica, but lost early to St. John Bosco in a game where both teams scored four tries, but View Park was unable to convert any of those tries and lost 24-20.

(Those games between View Park and Bosco are always tight - four points is in fact the largest margin of victory between the two teams in the four times they have played.)

Against league debutants St. Monica, View Park started slow, said Coach David Hughes, but opened it up late.

“We were too experienced for the first-year team and just had too much speed in the open,” said Hughes. 

Still it was a good performance given that many players leave town for the winter break - playing a league game the day after New Year’s Day is tough on any sports team.

“We were missing some players as always over the break,” said Hughes. “Trying to get students to practice is also a challenge. Our preparation has been less than ideal but we make of it what we can.”

Weather - in this case rain, considered a toxic substance in Southern California - could hamper teams’ practice times too.

View Park will be looking to get enough possession to let their speedsters fly. No. 8 David Colvin has been a revelation, especially taking the ball up in traffic, and openside flanker Charles Farrar is also a strong runner. But the guy who dices things up out wide is center/fullback Kaleb Jenkins, who scores from anywhere.

Mira Costa, meanwhile, has been able to blood some new players surrounded by some serious and experienced talent. Justus and Jonah Tavai are stars, but lock and captain Justin Johnson is the guy who leads from the front. Costa Coach Duke Dulgarian has no illusions about the task ahead.

“It is a huge game,” said Dulgarian. “It seems that the big three in our division are Bosco, View Park, and we’d like to think ourselves. View Park, like us and St. Monica, are 100% schools and is full of tremendous athletes.”

(The Varsity White in SoCal required 70% of a team’s roster to be from one school, while the Varsity Red requires teams to have 100%. View Park, St. Monica, and Mira Costa are 100% teams, but since they are not in the San Diego area, don’t play in the Red.)

“View Park are extremely fast, physical, and athletic.  Any turnover can immediately result in a try going the other way. However I think their greatest asset is their Head Coach David Hughes. Coach Hughes and his staff are extremely knowledgeable of the game and they are effective coaches. They are able to coach up their kids like no one else.”

The players from Costa and View Park know each other and many have grown up in the same neighborhoods. So this is a good rivalry, but a friendly one. But there’s still a lot on the line. As St. John Bosco waits to make a push for the top spot, Mira Costa and View Park will want to make a statement.