High School Football: It’s playoff time

Three local prep football teams — Edison, Fountain Valley and Brethren Christian, are moving on to play another week.

For three other local squads — Huntington Beach, Marina and Ocean View, last week marked their final games of the 2015 season.

In league finales, Edison defeated Newport Harbor to lay claim to an undisputed Sunset League championship, Fountain Valley turned back the challenge of Huntington Beach to finish runner-up to the Sunset title, and Brethren Christian fought its way to a piece of the Academy League crown with an impressive victory over Crean Lutheran.

All three teams begin CIF Southern Section playoff action at 7 p.m. Friday. Edison and Fountain Valley will contend for the West Valley Division crown, and BC is in the hunt for the East Valley Division title.

Both Edison and BC have home games.

—

FRIDAY

Rancho Cucamonga (7-3) vs. Edison (7-3)

(7 p.m., Orange Coast College)

Edison takes its Sunset League title and five-game winning streak into its West Valley Division first-round game against a Rancho Cucamonga team that impresses Chargers Coach Dave White.

The Chargers will be short-handed when they face the Cougars, too.

Already down five senior starters, Edison lost a handful more in its 27-17 victory at Newport Harbor that concluded a 5-0 league run. Sophomore quarterback Griffin O’Connor passed for 241 yards and four touchdowns, his main target being receiver Shaun Colamonico who had a monstrous game with eight receptions totaling 142 yards, and the junior reached the end zone three times on TD receptions covering 12, 47 and 39 yards.

Junior Turner Maza also had a TD reception (37 yards) for the Chargers who built a 27-3 lead through three quarters.

Edison will be without nine senior starters including its original starting quarterback (Grant Lowary), top running back (Jacob Marines), top receivers (Garrett White, Jacob Price), and all four team captains (White, Price, fullback/lineman Shane Fullbright, linebacker Joel Steele) for Friday’s opener, White said.

“It’s unreal, and we still somehow won a league championship,” he said. “I’ve never had a team this banged up before. I’m real proud of the way our guys have stuck together and how other players have stepped up and played well. We’ve just had some bad luck. It’s tough going into the playoffs this way, but our kids will be ready.”

Rancho Cucamonga ended regular-season play last week with a 31-21 loss to Upland in a game for second place in the Baseline League. The Cougars are led on offense by senior quarterback Angel Matute (399 rushing yards, five TDs; 1,746 passing yards, 16 TDs, four interceptions) and senior running back Aaron Manning (958 yards and 14 TDs rushing; 516 yards and four TDs receiving). Heading the defense are senior linebacker Cameron Smith, tackle Johnny Latu, senior end Deshawn Maiva, senior strong safety Justin Johnson, and junior cornerback Thomas Graham Jr.

Rancho Cucamonga’s three losses have come at the hands of three highly ranked, playoff-bound teams: Upland, Norco (29-26) and Baseline League champion Chino Hills (24-10).

“It’s definitely a tough first-round draw,” White said. “They have so much speed and a lot of athletes on that team. They’re averaging 36 points a game and have three losses to some really good teams who are in the playoffs.”

The winner of the Rancho Cucamonga-Edison game goes on to a Nov. 20 quarterfinal game and will face either Tesoro (South Coast League No. 2) or Great Oak (Southwestern League No. 3).

—

Fountain Valley (7-3) vs. Murrieta Valley (8-2)

(7 p.m., Murrieta Valley High)

Fountain Valley’s opening venture into the CIF-SS West Valley Division playoffs takes the Barons to Murrieta for a meeting with the Nighthawks.

The Barons won seven of their final eight games of the regular season after an 0-2 start to send them on to the postseason.

“First of all, this is an incredible group of kids,” Fountain Valley Coach Ray Fenton said. “We coaches love being around them. It’s a selfless group. We’re happy to see them enjoying the success they have, and that’s a tribute to their hard work. Any time you beat Newport [Harbor], Los Al and Huntington Beach in a season, it’s a pretty successful season.”

The Barons closed out the regular season Friday with a 37-22 win over visiting Huntington Beach. Senior quarterback Chad Olberding ran for 158 yards and a touchdown and passed for 120 yards and a score. Senior kicker Ben Filipek started the scoring with a 24-yard field goal and sophomore safety Josh Tellez extended the Barons’ lead to 10-0 by scoring on a 47-yard interception return. Junior tight end Angel Hernandez took in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Olberding for a 16-0 lead after the opening quarter.

Senior quarterback Kent Swift scored on runs of two and 13 yards in the second and third quarters, respectively, to finish the scoring for Fountain Valley

The win allowed Fountain Valley to finish in second place in the Sunset League, and rebound from a loss the previous week to Edison.

“We track effort and record exceptional performances for every game,” Fenton said. “A good game for us, in that regard, would be anywhere from five to 10 good efforts. I can’t recall more than 10. We had 17 against Huntington and again, that tells you about this team’s character. They wanted to make up for the previous week’s loss, and they made up for it with their effort.”

Fountain Valley will need another top-notch effort for its playoff opener.

Murrieta Valley is the second-place team from the Southwestern League. The Nighthawks finished behind league champion Vista Murrieta, the division’s No. 2 seed. They have scored no fewer than 28 points in each of their eight wins and six times scored 44 or more points.

The Nighthawks have won three straight since a 35-7 loss a month ago to Vista Murrieta. Their other loss is a 34-28 nonleague setback to Rancho Cucamonga, Edison’s first-round playoff opponent Friday.

“They are explosive and can score a lot of points,” Fenton said. “They have two outstanding receivers [Marquis Spiker and Maurice Bell] and a extremely fast running back [Quincy Wimbish]. Those three are big play-makers and make their offense go. It’s going to be a great challenge for us to try to minimize their big plays.”

Wimbish, a senior, has rushed for 1,494 yards and four touchdowns. Spiker, a sophomore, is the Nighthawks’ top receiver with 1,188 yards and 15 touchdowns, and Bell, a junior, has 856 yards and 13 TDs.

Murrieta Valley quarterback Hank Bachmeier, only a freshman, has thrown for 2,473 yards and 29 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

The Fountain Valley-Murrieta Valley winner moves on to a Nov. 20 quarterfinal game against either top-seeded and undefeated Mission Viejo (South Coast League champion) or Newhall Hart (Foothill League No. 3).

—

Sherman Indian vs. Brethren Christian (9-1)

(7 p.m., Ocean View High)

Brethren Christian got the No. 1 seed from the Academy League and starts CIF-SS East Valley Division playoff action at home against a Riverside Sherman Indian team that has won only two games.

BC led all the way in its Nov. 5 Academy League showdown with Crean Lutheran and came away with a 51-36 victory that gave the Warriors a share of the league championship with the Saints and St. Margaret’s.

It’s the first league title for the BC program since 2002.

The Warriors won a coin flip that determined the playoff order for the Academy League, and secured the No. 1 seed from the league.

“It’s so great to have the opening round game at home, instead of a 2-3 hour drive into cold, windy weather,” said BC Coach Pat McInally, whose squad has opened postseason play with long road trips the past few years.

Jordan Leonard went on the run against Crean Lutheran, and BC rode the junior’s legs to a share of the league title. The 5-foot-7 running back was unstoppable as he slashed and sliced, dashed and diced his way to 341 yards and six touchdowns to elevate the Warriors to an impressive victory.

A win by Crean Lutheran would have given the Saints an outright league championship. Instead, they’ll enter the playoffs as the league’s No. 2 seed.

“We’re thrilled to win a share of the title, but [Crean Lutheran] sure didn’t quit,” McInally said. “We had our chances in the first half to really put the game away, but we didn’t.”

BC never trailed, but Crean Lutheran crept back to within striking distance late in the game, closing the gap to 44-36 with 3:37 to play. The Saints needed one more stop to get one last stab at completing a comeback, but couldn’t contain — who else? — Leonard.

BC took possession on the ensuing kickoff at its own 32, and then turned to Leonard. He ripped off a 16-yard gain on first down, and later rambled for 42 yards around right end to put the ball at the Crean Lutheran four-yard line. Two plays later, he scored his final TD from four yards out with 1:39 remaining.

Free safety Josh Gorrell secured the win with an interception deep in BC territory with 14 seconds to go.

Leonard scored on impressive, tackle-breaking runs of 37, 29, 12, 45 and 46 yards, and also scored on a pair of two-point conversion runs.

Junior Nathan Sagastume had a great return of a punt 70 yards for a touchdown late in the first half for the Warriors.

“Jordan Leonard was just fantastic, and our line did a great job out there for him,” McInally said.

Leonard heads into the postseason with 2,223 rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns.

After he ran wild on Crean Lutheran, Leonard was quick to acknowledge the outstanding effort he received from his teammates up front.

“I want to give thanks to my line, and thank God for this opportunity,” a smiling Leonard said after the game, looking no worse for the wear after his big night as he accepted congratulations from his teammates and several Crean Lutheran players and coaches. “I just ran as hard as I could and followed my blocks. My line was great. I love those guys.”

BC has won nine games in a season for the first time since 1992.

“Our kids are playing well and are very excited,” McInally said. “It was a great win against Crean for a [tri-championship].”

Sherman Indian started the season with seven consecutive losses but closed out regular-season play with consecutive wins to qualify for postseason play as the second-place team from the Arrowhead League. In nine games, they’ve given up an average of 37 points per game and have been held to eight or less points (shut out three times) in five of their nine games.

BC has scored 42 or more points in each of its nine wins, and has a season-low 31 points in its only loss (34-31 to St. Margaret’s).

The Sherman Indian-BC winner advances to a Nov. 20 quarterfinal game to face either St. Monica Catholic (Santa Fe League champion) or Temecula Rancho Christian (South Valley League No. 2).

—

Season ends for Oilers, Vikings, Seahawks

The 2015 prep football season came to an end Friday for Huntington Beach, Marina and Ocean View.

In a Sunset League finale, Huntington dropped a 37-22 contest to Fountain Valley. Senior quarterback Mike Veyette accounted for 182 yards of offense, rushed for a touchdown and threw a 60-yard TD pass to junior Jake Adams. Senior running back Hunter Simmons rushed for 84 yards and a score.

Simmons finished the year with 1,621 yards and 14 touchdowns (200 carries).

The Oilers finished 1-4 in Sunset play and 3-7 overall.

Marina went winless (0-5) in Sunset League action. The Vikings closed out their season Friday with a 48-0 loss to visiting Los Alamitos. The Vikings were 1-9 overall.

Ocean View ended its season on a winning note as the Seahawks ended their Golden West League schedule with a 38-21 victory over visiting Loara. Senior quarterback Blake Meyer threw for 121 yards with a touchdown pass to junior Xavier Salgado, and rushed 15 times for 161 yards and a pair of scores. Junior running back Adel Holmes ran for 102 yards on 17 carries, and senior Jason Bryan rushed for a touchdown.

Ocean View finished 2-3 in league and 5-5 for the year.