PREP FOOTBALL / Special Pullout Section : Late Rally Gives Oilers Berth in Final : DIVISION II

When Huntington Beach rallied for an 18-12 Southern Section Division II semifinal victory against Compton Dominguez at Huntington Beach High, the Oilers set up a potential No. 1 vs. No. 2 Orange County showdown.

The winner of tonight’s semifinal featuring Sunset League rival Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos, which finished the season ranked No. 1 in Orange County, will the play second-seeded Oilers next week.

Trailing, 12-10, with 8 minutes 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Oilers (13-0) needed an 83-yard scoring drive . . . and they got it.

Tight end Tony Gonzalez, who caught seven passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, passed to Jason De Vries for a key 42-yard gain, and Chris Yadrick capped the 10-play drive with a six-yard touchdown run with 4:00 remaining.

The Oilers went for a two-point conversion, and Gonzalez caught a pass from quarterback Levi Schuck, who completed 18 of 27 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown with one interception, for an 18-12 Oiler lead.

Thirty-four seconds later, Huntington Beach forced Donald Davis to fumble, and Yadrick recovered at the Dominguez 45. It was Dominguez’s sixth fumble of the game, but the Dons (10-2) lost only two.

Huntington Beach ran out most of the time remaining, but was forced to punt with 17 seconds left. With no timeouts remaining and five seconds on the clock, Dominguez tried to get off two final plays, but time expired when Anthony Bilbo fired an incomplete pass to the sidelines.

“We made too many mistakes to win, simple as that,” Dominguez Coach Willie Donerson said.

Huntington Beach’s secondary made the mistakes early, when Alarez Wynn got behind the Oiler defensive backs not once, but twice.

With 3:42 remaining in the first quarter, Bilbo connected with Wynn for a 57-yard touchdown pass, but the Oilers blocked the conversion. With 10:12 remaining in the second quarter, Bilbo found Wynn for an 82-yard touchdown pass and after a failed two-point conversion, the Dons led 12-0.

“We didn’t get down because we only gave up two plays,” Gonzalez said.

The Huntington Beach defense limited the Dons’ usually potent rushing attack to 113 yards and held Dominguez scoreless in the second half.

Linebacker Justin Flagg made perhaps the biggest defensive play of the night, intercepting a pass at the Huntington Beach 10 and returning it to the 42 after the Dons were driving while holding a 12-0 lead late in the second quarter.

After the turnover, Schuck took over.

Schuck found Gonzalez for a 27-yard completion on a fourth-and-five to put the Oilers on the Dominguez six.

On the next play, Schuck found Gonzalez for a six-yard scoring pass and Jason Bartusick’s conversion cut the lead to 12-7 with 21 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

“At halftime, the assistant coaches did a super job getting the kids refocused,” Huntington Beach Coach George Pascoe said. “The kids just battled back.”