Seahawks Stay Grounded in Victory Over Santiago

Justin Krueger kicked a 35-yard field goal with 6 minutes 48 seconds remaining to give Ocean View a 30-28 nonleague victory over Santiago Friday at Huntington Beach High.

The Seahawks (7-2), who will battle Tustin on Thursday for a share of the Golden West League title, did most of their damage on the ground for the second consecutive week. The county’s passing leader, Deshai Houston of Ocean View, was held to 97 yards in the air. Ocean View got 166 rushing yards from Jason Rhoads, who scored three times, and 76 from Houston.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers said. “When they start going into double and triple coverage, it opens up room for us to do other things.”

Santiago (4-5) led through much of the early going, getting scoring runs of 61 and 59 yards from Brandon Perry (223 yards) to lead 21-12 midway through the second quarter. The Seahawks battled back to take a 27-21 lead at halftime as Rhoads scored on runs of 27 and 34 yards.

The Cavaliers regained the lead in the third quarter as a 44-yard touchdown pass play from Brian Pilkington to Trung Nguyen gave the visitors a 28-27 advantage, but penalties against the Cavaliers on their next two possessions took away any hopes of victory.

A procedure penalty negated a fourth-down conversion inside the Ocean View 25 early in the fourth quarter, and a clipping penalty turned a potential first down at midfield into a second-and-23 with six minutes to go. Santiago eventually punted on that series, and Ocean View ran the final 4:30 off the clock.

“We need to do a better job of tackling,” Santiago Coach Ben Haley said.