Some of county’s top football talent to compete at Oilers passing and linemen event
Passes and defensive stops. Lifts and powerful tugs. Those are a few of the things that will be on display Saturday at the Huntington Beach Oilers Passing and Lineman Competition.
Twelve teams will vie for this year’s title in a competition that starts at 8:45 a.m. There will be a new champ, too, as defending champ St. John Bosco isn’t returning for a repeat shot at the title.
There are plenty of teams looking to take over St. John Bosco’s title hold on the event, first-year Huntington Beach Coach Brett Brown said.
“There’s a ton of talent in this tournament,” Brown said. “San Clemente has one of the best quarterbacks (Jack Sears) around, and teams like JSerra, Orange Lutheran, Tesoro and Long Beach Wilson are among other top teams looking to win this thing. We play a few of those teams (San Clemente, Tesoro, Wilson) this season.
“There’s going to be a lot of great passers, and the linemen competition is always a fun tournament. It’ll give us a chance to see how athletic and strong we are this year.”
The 12 teams in this year’s 7-on-7 passing tournament will be divided equally into four pool groupings. They are: Pool A (Orange Lutheran, Saugus, Huntington Beach); Pool B (JSerra, Long Beach Wilson, Pacifica); Pool C (Tesoro, Damien, Dana Hills); Pool D (San Clemente, Corona, Santa Ana).
San Clemente’s Sears, one of the top recruits in the country, is one quarterback to watch Saturday. The senior-to-be competed two weeks ago at the Elite 11 quarterback competition in Oregon.
Brown and Huntington Beach Defensive Coordinator and Secondary Coach Diego Segura had a chance recently to catch 7-on-7 passing highlights of Sears on ESPNU.
“This Saturday should be a lot of fun with all the talented quarterbacks we will face, and might face, starting with the QB from Orange Lutheran (Ryan Hilinski) in our pool, who is starting to pick up some offers, to the top QB around in Jack Sears,” Segura said. “He is the real deal and it’s exciting to possibly play them this Saturday, and he definitely will keep me up at night thinking of ways to stop him and the talented guys around him come the second game of the season this year.
“There is a lot of good teams in this tournament and we get to see some teams we play in the fall, from L.B. Wilson, who went 9-1 last year, to Tesoro, who is always really good and well-coached, and then, obviously, San Clemente, who is going to be a very good football team this fall. It’s exciting and our guys will be up to the challenge to compete against these top wide receivers and quarterbacks in this tournament, and it’s another step in the process to get ready for the fall.”
Huntington Beach’s first passing event of the spring/summer season was the Dana Hills AirStrike Tournament in May. The Oilers lost to only two teams, Corona del Mar (twice) and Harbor City Narbonne, one of those losses coming to CdM in the semifinals. They also competed in June in the Western Passing and Lineman Competition, then took their dead period (no practice sessions) and resumed their summer schedule last week.
Saturday’s passing and linemen competitions on the Huntington campus will mark the final throwing competition of the summer for the Oilers.
Brown said that Nick Welch, a junior-to-be this year, will start Saturday at quarterback for the Oilers. Welsh rotated in at quarterback in games against Moorpark and Newport Harbor during the 2015 season. Also working at quarterback is senior-to-be Dylan McCoy.
Jake Adams, Huntington’s leading receiver last year, returns and has played “really well this summer,” Brown said, adding that the senior-to-be took part in a football camp in June at San Diego State. Jeremiah Flanagan, who played a few reps on varsity last year as a freshman, is another key receiver who Brown said has “the potential to be a big-time receiver for us.” A big target at tight end is 6-foot-5 senior-to-be Payton Marlow, whom Brown deemed “big, athletic and possesses good hands.”
“It’s been a pretty good summer so far for us,” Brown said. “We’d been off for three weeks before resuming last week, and I’m impressed with what our guys have retained during our down time.”
Saturday’s Schedule
Passing Tournament (pool play)
8:45 p.m.:
Huntington Beach vs. Saugus (Field 1); JSerra vs. Pacifica (Field 2); Tesoro vs. Dana Hills (Field 3); San Clemente vs. Santa Ana (Field 4).
9:35 p.m.:
Saugus vs. Orange Lutheran (Field 1); Pacifica vs. Long Beach Wilson (Field 2); Damien vs. Dana Hills (Field 3); Corona vs. Santa Ana (Field 4).
10:25 p.m.:
Huntington Beach vs. Orange Lutheran (Field 1); JSerra vs. Long Beach Wilson (Field 2); Tesoro vs. Damien (Field 3); San Clemente vs. Corona (Field 4).
Noon:
Seeded tournament play begins (all fields)
12:50 p.m.:
Title game (Field 1); Third-place game (Field 2); Fifth-place game (Field 3); Seventh-place game (Field 4); Ninth-place game (Field 5); 11th-place game (Field 6).
Linemen Competition
Bench Press:
Six competitors per school; max repetition event.
Power Clean Max:
Eight competitors per school; one minute to do as many reps as possible.
Plate Push Relay:
Eight teammates per school; timed event.
Tire Flip Relay:
Ten teammates per school; timed event.
Tug-O-War:
Ten competitors per school; single-elimination format.
Hot Dog Eating Contest:
One team member per school; five-minute contest.
