Huntington Beach Enjoys ‘Boring’ Victory Over Dolphins

So much for the notion that teams need to be flashy, or impressive, or incredibly efficient to win football games.

There wasn’t much of that going on Friday for Huntington Beach, which showed that boring can indeed be beautiful.

The Oilers had only three gains that were as long as 10 yards, but mustered two touchdowns and walked away with a 14-7 victory over host Dana Hills in front of about 3,000. And they also walked away with their fourth victory in five games as they head into Sunset League play next week against Fountain Valley.

“That’s the kind of game we expected, low scoring and boring,” Huntington Beach Coach Tony Ciarelli said with a smile. “Play some defense, make some turnovers, not give up the big plays.

“That’s got to be the best 1-4 team in Orange County.”

After five games, Dana Hills has broken into double-figure scoring only once. As much as both teams have struggled on offense recently, it was almost a foregone conclusion that defense would play a pivotal role.

And the critical play of the first half, came from Huntington Beach’s Justin Keadle, who stripped the ball from Damon Alavekios after a 16-yard pass completion, then raced 28 yards to the Dana Hills 36-yard line. The Oilers needed 11 plays to score, and needed four plays after a first-and-goal at the two-yard line. After Dana Hills’ Tom Kazarian stopped running back Shaun Shuck twice from the one, Casey Rider scored on a quarterback sneak with 3:27 left in the half.

Shaun Donahoe added the extra point.

“That was a real turning point,” Ciarelli said. “They were driving, and then we took it down and scored. If we’re going to win, we must win the battle of turnovers.”

In this case, Huntington Beach won 4-0, getting two fumbles and two interceptions. The timing couldn’t have been better for the Oilers, either. Three turnovers came in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins’ last three possessions.

“If we put 14 points on the board, we feel we can win any football game,” said Shaun Shuck, who rushed 29 times for 119 yards, and also had a fourth-quarter interception sandwiched between Isaac Davalos’ fumble recovery and Brian Miekosz’s interception with 1:31 remaining.

Huntington Beach took a 14-0 lead in the third quarter, taking advantage of its biggest offensive play, a 41-yard run by Shuck, that led to a 13-yard scoring pass from Casey Rider to Russell Oschman.

Dana Hills answered in the next series with its lone scoring drive, going 76 yards, the last 48 on a pass from Mike Bergey to Matt Morgan.