Esperanza, Looking Ahead, Still Dumps Huntington Beach

Esperanza Coach Gary Meek did his best to downplay his team’s 40-0 victory over Huntington Beach Thursday night at Huntington Beach High.

“The ball bounced our way,” he said. “We had the luck and they didn’t have any. I’ve been on the other end of these enough times.”

There was more to it than luck. Esperanza (4-2) was quicker, stronger and more disciplined, and if Aztec quarterback Dave Parrish hadn’t spent part of the first half tripping over his offensive linemen, the score could have been much worse.

The Aztecs played without starting tailback Jamal Footman, who has a groin injury. They also admitted they were looking ahead to next week’s showdown with top-ranked Los Alamitos.

But they were so superior in talent and size to Huntington Beach (3-3) that it didn’t matter.

Huntington Beach managed two first downs in the first half and crossed midfield only twice. It didn’t help that the Oilers were playing without starting quarterback David Yadrick, who was injured. Backup Mershad Javan threw four passes that were intercepted and was sacked four times before leaving in the third quarter with an injury.

“In high school football, you don’t have a lot of quality guys,” Meek said. “That makes it tough when you have to play your second-string quarterback.”

Meek went to his second and third strings in the third quarter after his starters built a 33-0 lead. Before leaving, Parrish completed nine of 16 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Running back J.B. Guffey, who was filling in for Footman, rushed for 52 yards and a touchdown in 10 carries.

It was the perfect night for a team trying to stay focused and injury-free before its game of the year.

“All week we were talking about going into next week’s game with momentum,” Parrish said.

Said Meek: “We didn’t perform as well on offense in the first half as we would have liked. We wanted to run the ball a bit more. But we played well enough on defense.”

Esperanza defensive back Brian Forth was the Aztecs’ best defender. He had two of the secondary’s five interceptions. He returned his first interception 39 yards for a touchdown to give Esperanza a 19-0 halftime lead.