Huntington Beach Stays on Course
Looking forward to next week’s Sunset League opener against Fountain Valley, first-year Huntington Beach Coach Tony Ciarelli considered the long-term impact of Friday night’s defensive struggle with Dana Hills.
“Our main goal is to make the playoffs, and in our league, if we finished fourth, we could have a record of 7-3,” he said. “So winning this game puts us in a position to have a better chance at getting the wild-card spot in Division I.”
He may be proven right five weeks from now when the regular season ends, but right now, the 5-0 and unranked Oilers, who beat the visiting Dolphins, 7-6, could go into their showdown with the Barons as the favorite. Trabuco Hills pulled off a stunning upset of previously unbeaten and fifth-ranked Fountain Valley, 24-7.
Huntington Beach, behind a stifling defense, has allowed opponents just 12 points all season. The defense broke down just once, allowing a 57-yard Dana Hills scoring pass from quarterback Joe Murray to Tommy Gallups midway through the third quarter.
But the Oilers came up big on the conversion attempt, pressuring sophomore Stephen Jennings into rushing his kick, which sailed just wide right.
The Oilers held the Dolphins to just 69 yards rushing and 159 yards overall. Dana Hills running back Jovan Alarcon, keyed on all night by the Oiler defense, finished with 48 yards.
“We all had our assignments,” said Oiler defensive tackle Eugene Lee. “We played them tight. We knew they would be coming up the middle and we weren’t going to let them get outside of us.”
Ciarelli said the Dolphins’ 57-yard scoring play was a mistake that any defense is going to make once in a while. But he, like counterpart Scott Orloff of Dana Hills, was pleased with the all-around defensive effort.
Dana Hills made Huntington Beach work hard for its 115 yards rushing and 81 yards passing.
“This was a tough loss,” Orloff said. “We should have won this football game. I’m sad for our kids. Defensively, I thought we had them, we just made a couple of mistakes on offense.”
A night of conservative play-calling on both sides may also have led to the result. Huntington Beach lost three fumbles. Dana Hills, which continually pounded the strength of the Oiler defense up the middle, fumbled twice, losing one.
The Oilers’ lone score followed a second-quarter fumble by Dolphin running back Jovan Alarcon at Dana Hills’ 34-yard line, which defensive back Shaun Donahoe returned to the Dolphins’ 13.
Running back Damon VanHoorebeke ran around right end to the Dolphin one-yard line and teammate Shaun Shuck, who finished with 85 yards, gave the Oilers a lead with a one-yard plunge.