Oilers start strong, finish fast

Mike Sciacca

The Huntington Beach High football team couldn’t have planned a

better start to the 1999 high school football season: they scored the

first time they touched the ball, their quarterback, in his first start,

completed his first six passes, their top returning rusher scored a pair

of touchdowns, and their defense recorded a pair of takeaways.

All in the first quarter of play.

And, the Oilers couldn’t have scripted a better ending, either,

than the one they got Thursday night, but it was the middle parts of the

four-act play that concerned head coach Tony Ciarelli most.

‘It was a sloppy game, no doubt about it. But, we’ll take it,’

Ciarelli said.

Huntington Beach squandered away an 18-point lead, survived a

potent Downey rushing attack, and then used a fourth quarter fumble

recovery and a late touchdown to pull out a 25-21 victory over the

visiting Vikings at Sheue Field.

The Oilers, donning all-orange uniforms for the first time, had

Downey seeing red after the first quarter of play by grabbing a 15-0

lead.

Their advantage grew to 18-0 early in the second quarter before

the Viking running game kicked in to gear, spearheaded by junior back

Justin Phinisee. Downey gained 134 of their 164 first-half rushing yards

on their final three possessions of the half, which covered the final

eight minutes of the second quarter.

The Vikings scored 21 consecutive points, and grabbed a 21-18 lead

with 11:18 remaining in the game.

‘Overall, I thought our defense did a good job,’ Ciarelli said.

‘To their defense, we had never seen an offense like Downey’s. They ran a

lot of mis-direction, and that confused us. But, we also came up with

some big plays and got a couple of breaks.’

No break was bigger than the one the Oilers received with 7:36 to

play. That’s when defensive lineman Mark Corrales pounced on a fumble at

the Downey 42-yard line, and an unsportsman-like penalty call against the

Viking bench moved the ball down to the 27.

Six plays later, senior running back Shaun Shuck scored on an end

around, and Mike DeHart’s all-important conversion gave the Oilers a

25-21 advantage.

Downey took the ensuing kickoff and marched down to the Huntington

Beach 26-yard line (a large chunk of 54-yard drive coming on Darryl

Tamum’s 40-yard run), but on third-and-eight from the 26, Oilers Russel

Chemberlen and Justin Keadle bottled up Phinisee, who had gained 176

yards on just seven carries to that point, for a three-yard loss. On

fourth down, Matthew Craig’s pass fell incomplete, and the Oilers took

over on downs and ran out the final 1:39 on the clock.

‘That was a nice comeback by our guys and a nice defensive stance

we were able to come up with,’ Ciarelli said. ‘We came out looking so

sharp, and thankfully, we were able to make that quick start hold up. I

think those orange uniforms really fired up our team.’

After holding Downey in three plays following the opening kickoff,

the Oilers took advantage of a four-yard punt to begin their first series

at the Downey 33-yard line. Shaun Shuck, who rushed for more than 1,000

yards last year, took the first of his 31carries of the night around

right end, changed direction about 10 yards up field, then sprinted

untouched to the end zone for the game’s first score. Casey Ryder ran in

a two-point conversion, putting the Oilers on top, 8-0.

Shuck also capped a 13-play drive on Huntington’s next series with

a one-yard scoring run, and Shaun Donahoe’s kick made it 15-0 with 37

second left in the quarter.

Shuck finished the opening period with 76 yards on 10 carries, and

also had an interception.

He was Huntington’s lone rusher on the night, and finished with

164 yards overall.

It was Shuck, too, who put the Oilers in scoring position two

minutes into the second quarter, as his 25-yard run on a third-and-30

call led to Donahoe’s 33-yard field goal and an 18-0 lead.

The scoring drive was set up when senior linebacker Chad Maki

recovered a Downey fumble in the final minute of the first quarter.

But Downey, a 9-0 shutout victim to Huntington in last year’s

season opener for both teams, responded with two quick touchdowns to

close out the half.

Senior running back Marc Hughes got the first one on a one-yard

plunge, and Phinisee rambled 64 yards for another score on the Vikings’

next possession to make it 18-13 at the half.

Phinisee also came up with an incredible run on the final play of

the third quarter, which led to Downey’s go-ahead score.

Taking the hand off on third-and-12 from just inside his own

one-yard line, Phinisee just did elude Oiler cornerback Brian Miekosz

around left end at the goal line, rushed out to the 18, then changed direction and headed right towards the Downey sideline. He proceeded to

out-rush a host of Oilers and had just one man to beat, but it was Shuck

who managed to drag down the 5-10, 170 back at the Huntington 19-yard

line after an 81-yard gain.

Two plays later, Tamum scored on a 19-yard run, and Adam

Benavidez’s two-point conversion run gave the Vikings a 21-18 lead with

11:18 remaining.