Ocean View football runs past Gahr for fourth win in a row
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CERRITOS — Ocean View’s football team is running like a well-oiled machine, leaning further into a ground-and-pound identity since experiencing some early-season adversity.
Without Dean Northam, the program’s second-year starting quarterback, since their second game, the Seahawks have put the ball in the air sparingly, and on Friday night at Cerritos Gahr, not once.
Another big night in the running game for Trevor Vaivao, supplemented by three interceptions defensively, provided the catalyst for Ocean View in a 19-9 win over Gahr at Rants Stadium.
Vaivao rushed for 237 yards and two touchdowns, as Ocean View (4-1) ran its winning streak to four games ahead of its Sigma League opener Oct. 2 at Costa Mesa (2-3).
“The kids filling in for [Northam] are doing a great job — Trevor Vaivao, Greg Gates are both guys who have been in the program since they were freshmen,” Ocean View coach Daniel Hernandez said.”… Greg and Trevor have both been able to do some amazing things and be good leaders, and they’ve done a great job of keeping our team together.
“This team is really the tightest-knit that I’ve had, but the seniors are my first guys I brought into the program. They’re four years with me, and so what we’ve been cultivating culture-wise, it shows.”
Northam, a southpaw signal caller, suffered a labrum tear to his throwing shoulder in Ocean View’s Week 1 win over Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula. Hernandez said the junior, who has appeared in 15 games as a Seahawk, remains involved where he can, attending practices and team meetings, as well as wearing a headset on game days.
Ocean View employed the Wing-T offense against Gahr, fully committing to the run and turning its 43 offensive plays into 280 rushing yards. Vaivao and Gates (52 yards) handled the lion’s share of the work out of the backfield with 15 carries apiece.
Over its past three games, Ocean View has attempted a total of four passing plays.
“We’re able to do anything our coaches input because of how well they coach us up,” Vaivao said. “Because of that, we can do whatever we want. We can throw the rock. We can run the rock, but we’ve seen running the rock work so much, there’s no point in passing it.”
So Ocean View relied on running and protecting the football, going so far as to run the ball in fourth-and-long scenarios when beyond midfield.
Vaivao, who blocked an extra-point attempt following De’Mir Cunningham’s first-quarter rushing touchdown for Gahr (2-1-1), soon evened the scoring with a 87-yard dash along his team’s sideline to the end zone.
The Gladiators finally broke a 6-6 tie early in the fourth quarter, with Matthew Barcelos chipping in a 26-yard field goal to take the lead.
Back to formula, Ocean View relied on its blockers up front — left tackle Kelvin Leal, left guard Andrew Duarte-Adame, center Ryland Boocock, right guard Juan Cantoran and right tackle Josh Lopez, as well as tight end Zack Zentgraf and fullbacks Aidan Bond and Tristan Vaivao — with Trevor Vaivao emerging from behind them in a rush for greener pastures. The junior tailback crashed into the end zone from 3 yards out.
Ocean View’s ball-hawking secondary closed it out. Sophomore Elijah Stokley intercepted a pass over the middle, returning it 53 yards and diving across the goal line to stretch the field-goal margin to a two-possession advantage with 3:34 remaining.
“I felt excited, but also, I gotta remember this gotta be something I gotta get used to,” said Stokley, who also returned an interception for a touchdown the week prior against Temecula Linfield Christian. “This ain’t gonna be my first game I get a pick-six. This ain’t gonna be my last.”
Then with the Gladiators advancing into the red zone, the Seahawks swooped in to halt another aerial attack. Freshman Kye Swancy initially made an interception, before a penalty at the end of the play wiped out the turnover. Sophomore Mark Orozco’s interception three plays later resulted in no harm, no foul.
Ocean View held Gahr to 167 yards of total offense, with Cantoran and Zentgraf each picking up a sack. Gates also had a first-half interception.
Nonleague
Ocean View 19, Gahr 9
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Ocean View 6 - 0 - 0 - 13 — 19
Gahr 6 - 0 - 0 - 3 — 9
FIRST QUARTER
G — Cunningham 2 run (Barcelos kick blocked), 8:28.
OV — Vaivao 87 run (run failed), 4:55.
SECOND QUARTER
None.
THIRD QUARTER
None.
FOURTH QUARTER
G — Barcelos 26 FG, 11:49.
OV — Vaivao 3 run (Gillett kick failed), 6:43.
OV — Stokley 53 interception return (Gillett kick), 3:34.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OV — Vaivao, 15-237, 2 TDs; Gates, 15-52; Morales, 5-7; Zentgraf, 3-2; Ramirez, 1-(-3); Team, 4-(-15).
G — Washington, 10-46; Cunningham, 6-23; Payne, 2-14.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OV — None.
G — Swanson, 10-22-3, 134.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OV — None.
G — Bryant, 2-55; Payne, 2-43; Carter, 4-33; Lockhart, 1-2; Raposo, 1-1.
