Austin Leads Marina Past Edison

SUNSET

Scot Austin rushed for three touchdowns, passed for one more and had a key interception as Marina scored a rare victory over Edison, 26-14, in a Sunset League opener Friday at Huntington Beach High.

It was only the fourth time Marina has beaten Edison in 25 meetings.

The victory was the most significant at the school for Coach Mark Rehling, who is in his fourth season, upstaging the Vikings’ upset of Los Alamitos last season.

“It’s wonderful,” Rehling said, “It’s big. Our philosophy is that you’ve got to be able to beat your neighbors.”

Rehling tried a bit of deception in the first half as his team came out in the wishbone, but switched in the second half to the option that the Vikings (4-2, 1-0) normally run.

“The first half,” Rehling said, “I got too cute. You just do better when you do what you know.”

Edison led, 14-7, at the half and Marina was still struggling in the third quarter. Austin lost a 63-yard touchdown run because of a personal foul 20 yards behind the play and the Vikings also fumbled twice.

But things turned in the fourth quarter as the Marina defense kept giving the offense a chance by containing Edison (3-3, 0-1). Marina got within a point, 14-13, on an 84-yard pass play for a touchdown from Austin to Justin Golden. Golden caught the slant pass and outran two defenders to the corner of the end zone with 9 minutes 34 seconds left.

Edison then lost six yards in three plays and had to punt. Marina drove 45 yards in nine plays and took a 19-13 lead on a one-yard run by Austin, who led his team with 126 yards (81 in the second half) in 22 carries.

Austin, who is 6 feet 4 and also plays defensive back, reached over an Edison receiver and intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards to the Charger nine on the next play from scrimmage.

“I was going for the knock down,” Austin said, “I don’t even know how I caught that.”

Three plays later, Austin scored again from the one and Marina led, 26-14, with 1:37 left. “It’s huge,” Austin said. “It gives us a lot of confidence.”