Fountain Valley Routs Marina

Fountain Valley, the second-ranked team in Orange County, scored 28 second-quarter points to turn its Sunset League game into a laugher, and even opposing Coach Dave Thompson of Marina had to smile.

Fountain Valley quarterback Scott Bertoni completed nine of 14 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Jeremy Nicholson rushed for 65 yards and scored two touchdowns on eight carries to lead the well-balanced Barons to the 41-7 victory against Marina Friday at Huntington Beach High.

“That’s a fine football team,” Thompson said. “If you’re making mistakes that’s one thing, but if you’re getting beat physically, that’s another.”

So which was it?

“We got manhandled tonight,” Thompson said.

Fountain Valley’s defense dominated the first half, holding the Vikings (3-3, 2-1 in league) to minus 19 yards and no first downs.

Sophomore defensive tackle Jeff Rusch was a resident in the Marina backfield, sacking Viking quarterback Travis Anderson twice and tackling him for a three-yard loss on an option play.

Fountain Valley (6-0, 3-0) forced four turnovers, recovering three fumbles. Chuck Harcar, who rushed for 97 yards in 12 carries, also intercepted one pass.

“We worked hard all week on stopping the option,” Fountain Valley Coach George Berg said. “A lot of times, our defense doesn’t get the credit it deserves, but that’s because our offense gets all the attention when it goes out and puts on a show.”

Marina’s defense put the Barons’ offensive show on hold in the first quarter, limiting Fountain Valley to a 39-yard field goal by Jeremy Meltebarger.

But after a sack by Rusch pinned Marina back at its five early in the second quarter, a poor punt by Anderson gave Fountain Valley the ball at the Marina 34.

Six plays later, Nicholson scored on a six-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes 25 seconds remaining in the half.

After another Marina punt gave Fountain Valley the ball at the Marina 45, Bertoni passed 20 yards to Brandon Puga, then scrambled out of the pocket on the next play to score on a 25-yard touchdown run. Meltebarger’s conversion gave the Barons a 17-0 lead with 6:06 remaining in the half.

After a fumble recovery gave Fountain Valley the ball at the Marina 17, it took Bertoni four plays to score, connecting with Brandon Leimbach on a seven-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-0 with 3:56 remaining.

Marina scored its only touchdown on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Mike Groh.