McLawyer, timely defense spur Huntington Beach past Marina

Huntington Beach High football coach Brett Brown has sensed a change in his team the last couple of weeks.

His players are showing up to the field full of energy and excitement, the sort of youthful exuberance that allows teams to pull off some amazing feats.

For Huntington Beach, a .500 record is not likely in the cards. The Oilers did not need it to make the postseason last year, and they are two-thirds of the way to accomplishing that again.

Junior quarterback Arick McLawyer produced three total touchdowns, and junior middle linebacker John Gosney ended the game with a sack, as the host Oilers beat Marina 28-20 in a Sunset League game on Friday.

Huntington Beach (3-5, 2-1 in league) is tied with Edison (5-3, 2-1) and Fountain Valley (6-2, 2-1) for second place in league. The Oilers own the head-to-head tiebreaker versus the Barons, but not with the Chargers. The Oilers are at first-place Los Alamitos (5-3, 3-0) next week before playing their regular-season finale at home against Newport Harbor (0-8, 0-3) on Nov. 3.

Two rushing scores by Brandon Savea had helped Marina cut a 28-7 deficit to a one-score game. After Marina stopped a McLawyer rushing attempt on fourth-and-one at its own 15, the Vikings (3-5, 0-3) moved the ball to the Oilers 27 with 25 seconds left.

Marina quarterback Ian Green rolled out to his right, but Gosney tripped him up before he could get a pass away. The clock expired before the Vikings could get lined up.

“We were definitely feeling each other,” Gosney said. “It was a very emotional game. It was just a big win.”

Huntington Beach turned the starting quarterback duties over to McLawyer because Brown wanted his most dynamic playmaker to have the ball in his hands more often.

It paid dividends in the second quarter, as the junior displayed his blinding speed when he decided to tuck the ball and run up the middle for a 38-yard score.

Later in the period, he added to Huntington Beach’s lead on a designed run. With the assistance of great downfield blocking by wide receiver Jeremiah Flanagan, McLawyer was able to find the right edge and trot in for a 15-yard touchdown.

“Our mindset coming into this game was that we’re beating Marina,” McLawyer said after celebrating with the Victory Trophy. “We owed it to the guys before us. It’s been nine years [in a row] before tonight. We owed it to our seniors from last year to not lose and carry on this tradition.”

The Vikings attempted a trick play on their opening drive, but it did not fool the Oilers. Flanagan intercepted a pass from Savea, returning it 41 yards to give Huntington Beach a 7-0 lead.

Flanagan had a 38-yard reception before serving as McLawyer’s blocker on the quarterback’s second touchdown. On the Vikings’ next drive, Flanagan recorded a sack. He stalked around after making the tackle, clearly enjoying his run of impactful plays.

“I thought he played really well,” Brown said of Flanagan. “In my opinion, he’s one of our players of the game. It’s the little things. He blocked really well.

“He was really unselfish, and he got excited for guys when they made plays on defense. I’m proud of the way that he battled tonight.”

The Oilers led 20-7 at halftime.

Marina’s lone score of the first half was a fortunate occurrence. On a fourth-and-two beginning the second quarter, Nick Napoli got his hands on Green’s pass. The deflection continued into the end zone, where Nathan Pendleton made a shoe-string catch for the 20-yard touchdown.

McLawyer hit Isaac Bryant on a crossing route for a 52-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

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Huntington Beach 28, Marina 20

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Marina 0 – 7 – 7 – 6 — 20

Huntington Beach 7 – 13 – 8 – 0 — 28

FIRST QUARTER

HB — Flanagan 41 INT return (Reed kick), 10:20.

SECOND QUARTER

M — Pendleton 20 pass from Green (Stitt kick), 11:53.

HB — McLawyer 38 run (Reed kick), 9:23.

HB — McLawyer 15 run (McLawyer pass failed), 1:42.

THIRD QUARTER

HB — Bryant 52 pass from McLawyer (McLawyer run), 9:39.

M — Savea 11 run (Stitt kick), 0:11.

FOURTH QUARTER

M — Savea 2 run (kick blocked), 5:48.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

M — Savea, 12-69, 2 TDs.

HB — McLawyer, 12-93, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

M — Green, 8-18-1, 115, 1 TD.

HB — McLawyer, 4-9-1, 101, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

M — Palma, 3-48.

HB — Bryant, 3-63, 1 TD.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner