Oschman Gets Carried Away and Oilers Get 17-0 Victory

Who says oil and water don’t mix? On a rainy night at Huntington Beach High School, the Huntington Beach Oilers had the ideal weapon for a mushy field: A tailback whose needle never hit empty.

Russell Oschman carried the ball an astonishing 50 times, rushing for 268 yards and a touchdown, and carried Huntington Beach to its first victory in nearly a year, 17-0 over Capistrano Valley before about 800 spectators Friday night.

“Fifty? Fifty?” Oschman said when informed of his total. “Jeez. Guess I’ll be tired tomorrow.”

Oiler Coach Tony Ciarelli: “That’s what we want to do, control the ball and play good defense. Russell had a great night.”

Huntington Beach (1-2) didn’t play much defense last week in a 45-27 loss to Oxnard Hueneme, wasting Oschman’s 235-yard day.

But Friday the Oilers held Capistrano Valley (1-2) to 73 yards, 65 of them by tailback Travis Becktel, who limped off with an apparent leg injury late in the game.

By then, the Oilers had it won, on the strength of quarterback Casey Ryder’s 10-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Mike DeHart’s 31-yard field goal in the second and Oschman’s one-yard scoring run with 4:06 to play.

It was Huntington Beach’s first victory since beating Dana Hills in Week 5 last season, when the Oilers started 4-1 but went 0-5 in the rugged Sunset League. “Very gratifying,” Ciarelli said of ending the seven-game losing streak.

It was especially gratifying for Oschman, a 5-11, 180-pound senior.

“Last year, I played both ways,” he said. “This year, they told me I’m just going to play offense so I can carry more of a load.

“Thirty? Forty? Fifty? Whatever. Gimme the ball, I’ll run it.”

The Oilers should have carried him off the field Friday night.