Huntington Beach can’t keep up with San Clemente, loses Battle of the Beach game

“I think we played really hard for about two-and-a-half quarters. Unfortunately the game is four quarters long. We ran out of gas.”

Those words by Huntington Beach High football coach Brett Brown summed up the Oilers’ Friday night against host San Clemente, which won the annual Battle of the Beach game 62-20.

The Oilers (0-2) have yet to register a win this season, but Brown liked what he saw in his young team in the nonleague contest against the Tritons.

Huntington Beach had a good start, despite a little misfortune. The Oilers forced a three-and-out against San Clemente in the first series, but quarterback Jacob Hanlon was intercepted on the Oilers’ opening drive. Eventually, the Tritons scored the game’s first touchdown courtesy of Keith Jones catching a 25-yard pass from Brendan Costello.

On the Oilers’ next drive, quarterback Arick McLawyer looked as if he had an easy 50-yard rushing touchdown, but he fumbled the ball on the Tritons’ three-yard line and San Clemente recovered in its end zone. McLawyer redeemed himself later in the quarter as he scored a three-yard rushing touchdown to eventually put Huntington Beach up 7-6 at the end of the first.

But the second quarter belonged to the Tritons (2-0), as they reeled off three straight touchdowns. One coming on a one-yard rushing touchdown from Austin Whitsett, another from quarterback Costello finding Chris Kane for an eight-yard score and the final one coming on Costello running it from 42 yards out.

Costello finished with five touchdowns, throwing for 361 yards and rushing seven times for 95 rushing yards.

“We started a little shaky in the first quarter and we didn’t come to play.” San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz said. “I tell our kids we’ve got to play 48 minutes of football and I think we played 36. It was nice to see the kids rebound in the second quarter and in the second half and finish the job.”

The Tritons — the reigning CIF State Division 1-A champion — never allowed the Oilers to mount a comeback. The Tritons won their second game of the season and their eighth straight dating back to last season.

The Oilers next plays at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Tesoro. Like the Huntington Beach, Tesoro will come in 0-2, coming off a 48-47 loss to Edison and a 45-14 blowout against La Habra.

Huntington Beach 20, San Clemente 62

Huntington Beach…...7 6 7 0 — 20

San Clemente………...6 21 21 14 — 62

First Quarter

SC – Jones 25 pass from Costello (kick failed), 9:30

HB – McLawyer 3 run (Gonzales kick), 1:29

Second Quarter

SC – Whitsett 1 run (Trager kick), 7:20

SC – Kane 8 pass from Costello (Trager kick), 3:48

SC – Costello 42 run (Trager kick), 2:33

HB – Moore pass from Mclawyer (2-point conversion failed), 43

Third Quarter

SC – Shippy 96 pass from Costello (Trager kick), 10:20

SC – Donaldson 28 pass from Costello, (Trager kick), 8:19

SC - Jenkins 47 pass from Costello (Trager kick), 6:15

HB – Bryant 5 pass from Hanlon (Gonzales kick)

Fourth Quarter

SC – Whitsett 4 run (Trager kick), 11:01

SC – Turcotte 5 run (Trager kick), 1:01

Individual Rushing

SC – Costello, 7-95, 1 TD

HB – Mclawyer, 5-61, 1 TD

Individual Passing

SC – Costello, 13-22-361, 4 TD

HB – Mclawyer, 10-28-112, 1 TD, 1 INT

Individual Receiving

SC – Shippy, 1-96, 1 TD

HB – Moore, 5-46, 1 TD

TERAN RODRIGUEZ is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @TeranRodriguez1