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High School Football: Teams finish strong

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A championship was won, and playoff berths secured, on the final night of prep football’s regular season.

Edison enjoyed a best-case scenario and benefited from a big night Nov. 7 for rival Fountain Valley, and the following night, for rival Huntington Beach.

The Barons went to Veterans Stadium in Long Beach to take on a Los Alamitos squad having designs on no worse than a share for the Sunset League title. Those designs were put on the heap, as the Barons led from start to finish in a 10-7 victory.

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The Oilers last Friday played host to a third team, Newport Harbor, that had entered the week with a chance to claim at least a portion of the Sunset title. The Oilers gave the visiting Sailors no chance, winning the league finale, 40-14.

That same night Friday, Edison took care of its business, by taking care of Marina, 49-15.

The two-night results left defending champ Edison as sole possessor of the Sunset League championship.

Fountain Valley (7-3, 3-2 in league) started the final week of the league season by stunning Los Alamitos (8-2, 3-2). The Barons took a 10-0 lead on the strength of a one-yard scoring run in the first quarter by senior back Isaiah Davis, and a 22-yard field goal late in the third quarter by senior Jonah Mack.

They held off the Griffins who scored their only touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense has been our strength all year long, and they played an excellent game against Los Alamitos,” Fountain Valley Coach Ray Fenton said. “I was really, really proud of the way our boys bounced back from the emotional game we had the week before against Edison (a 24-0 loss), and played well in a game that had so much on the line.

“That win put us in a tie for second place, and gave us an automatic playoff berth. I thought our guys showed a lot of character and maturity, in bouncing back and beating Los Al.”

Huntington (5-5, 2-3) scored the final 21 points of the game against Newport Harbor (5-5, 3-2) and went on to knock off the Sailors, 40-14. Senior quarterback Kai Ross rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns and threw a TD pass to junior receiver Nolan Thompson. Sophomore running back Hunter Simmons opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run, and fellow sophomore back Travis Heer scored on a 45-yard run for the Oilers who won on Senior Night.

“It was a big win for us,” Huntington Coach Eric Lo said. “We played well all the way through and closed strong.”

While Huntington was taking out Newport Harbor, Edison (7-3, 4-1) was doing the same to Marina (1-9, 0-5) at Westminster High.

In the Chargers’ 49-15 victory, senior wide receiver/defensive back Kiante Goudeau took a turn at running back, and turned in a big game. Goudeau rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns including a score on a 75-yard run, on only two carries. He also had a touchdown reception on a pass from sophomore Grant Lowary (eight off 11), the starting quarterback on the Edison junior varsity team. On defense, he had five tackles.

Senior running back Tyler Warren rushed for a touchdown, junior Matt Gane, who started at quarterback, teamed with junior receiver AJ Beynon on a 69-yard scoring pass, and sophomore running back Jacob Marines rushed for 101 yards and two scores on 10 carries.

The Chargers were without senior receiver/defensive back Jeremy Maxwell and senior running back/defensive end Marcus Swanigan for the game due to injury.

“We got to chance to play a lot of guys and everyone did a good job. “Matt [Gane] had a nice TD, Grant [Lowary] threw the ball real well, and Kiante [Goudeau] had a great game. Our first-team defense didn’t give up a touchdown.”

For Marina, senior quarterback Daylan Harmeyer threw touchdown passes to junior receiver Josh Gordon (nine yards) and senior receiver Scott Phillips (19 yards). In his final game, Harmeyer was 24 of 38 for 257 yards.

“We did really well in shutting them down on first and second down to start the game then, on a fly play, they go [75] yards, and score,” Marina Coach George Pascoe said. “We were only down 7- or 14-0, then had a bad two-three minutes. They scored, and then we were well behind. You work hard, and work hard, and then something like that happens. That’s been our M.O. all year.”

•Brethren Christian wins; Ocean View falls in finale

Brethren Christian completed an 8-2 record regular season Nov. 7 by cruising past visiting Lynwood Firebaugh, 52-28, in a nonleague game on Senior Night. The Warriors used a 28-point second quarter to break away from a 14-all tie and sprint past the Falcons.

BC also scored the first 10 points of the second half and after going up, 52-14, in the third quarter, the game went to a running clock.

Senior running back Jared Fuga ran 15 times for 170 yards and two scores in just over two quarters of play. Senior quarterback Jack McInally, playing with a sprained wrist, broken toe and injured knee, was 14 of 28 for 189 yards with two touchdown passes to junior receiver Guy Demazeliere and one each to senior running back Anthony Moore and junior running back Andrew Assaf.

Moore also scored on a 95-yard kickoff return in the first quarter for BC’s first touchdown of the game.

Defensive end Will Martin came up with quarterback sacks on consecutive plays in the second quarter, which allowed the senior to set a school single-season record for sacks at 16. Martin also had a strip and fumble recovery, and returned a second-half kickoff 40 yards.

Bobby Hardigree hit a 25-yard field goal for the Warriors. Senior Austin Gorrell returned a kickoff 99 yards for an apparent touchdown in the first quarter, but the score was wiped out due to a holding call.

“Jared [Fuga] ran really well,” BC Coach Pat McInally said. “We’ve been trying to establish our running game more and more. We know for the playoffs, we need to be more balanced offensively. When we run the ball well, it opens up the passing game. I thought we did a good job running the ball [against Lynwood].”

Ocean View (1-9, 1-4) finished its season Friday against Golden West League foe Orange, and lost, 45-28, to the visiting Panthers (7-3, 2-3). Senior running back Daniel Valencia rushed 19 times for 221 yards which included an 80-yard scoring run on his final carry of a big career.

Sophomore quarterback Blake Meyer threw for 145 yards with touchdown passes to junior Tyler Clay, senior Jordan Stout, and junior Hector Calderon.

“The season ended the way our season went all year,” Ocean View Coach Luis Nunez said. “We simply turned the ball over way too much and our defense just didn’t have the size to stand their own all night.

“Our record, obviously, doesn’t show how much improvement this team made this year. We played with tons of underclassmen and many will benefit from this year. Going 1-9 will be plenty of motivation for our kids to have a great off-season. Our frosh/soph level is 18-2 in the last two years, and I have no doubt with a great off-season, we can bounce back.”

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