Prep Football : Anderson Touchdown Pass Lifts Pacifica to 7-2 Win

Mark Flatten caught a 12-yard pass from Bobby Anderson with six minutes left in the game to lift Pacifica High School to a 7-2 nonleague victory Friday at Huntington Beach.

Flatten’s scoring catch capped a 96-yard, 10-play drive during which Anderson completed 5 passes for 72 yards, including a 33-yarder to Chris Shockley that brought the ball to the Pacifica 43.

“We knew we had to pass the ball better in the second half if we were going to win,” said Bill Craven, Pacifica coach. “Anderson is a player who has a very big heart, and he showed it tonight.”

“We were in great shape defensively,” said George Pascoe, Huntington Beach coach, “but they made some great catches against us, and that’s what won the game for them.”

Huntington Beach (0-2), which held Pacifica (1-0-1) to 60 yards total offense before the Mariners’ scoring drive, got a last-minute scoring opportunity when it received a 15-yard Anderson punt on the Mariner 39. But Oiler quarterback Eric Pettinato, who completed a nine-yard pass to Russ Corbin after an incomplete pass, then threw two more incompletions to end Huntington Beach’s victory hopes.

Huntington Beach got its only points with five minutes left in the third quarter when Anderson, who was standing deep in his end zone in punt formation, stepped out of the end zone after catching a high snap from center for a safety.

The Oiler score was set up four plays earlier when Huntington Beach punter Doug Cunningham squibbed the ball 26 yards to the Pacifica 2.

Although they started most of their offensive series in Pacifica territory in the first half, the Oilers could not take advantage of their field position, managing just 57 yards in total offense during that span. The Mariners, on the other hand, had problems with Huntington Beach’s defense as they were held to 59 yards of first-half offense.

The deepest Huntington Beach could penetrate in the first half was to the Mariner 16--on a 14-yard completion from Chris Will to Kevin Dickey early in the second quarter. But a 15-yard clipping penalty brought the ball back to the Pacifica 31, and the Oilers could get no closer to the Mariner goal line for the remainder of the half.

Pacifica got as deep as the Huntington Beach 37 with less than a minute left in the half on a 32-yard pass from Anderson to Kevin Prentiss. On the next play, however, Pettinato intercepted an Anderson pass at the Huntington Beach nine to stall the Mariner threat.