Independent Game of the Week: Ocean View vs. Kennedy

You will have to forgive the excitement that has been echoing

around the Ocean View High campus this week.

Really, there is plenty to celebrate.

For the first time since the 1990 season, the Ocean View football program

will be involved in a CIF Southern Section postseason playoff game.

Friday at 7:30 p.m., the Seahawks will travel to Western High’s Handel

Stadium in Anaheim to battle the Kennedy Fighting Irish in a Division VI

first round showdown.

Ocean View finished in a three-way tie for second-place in the Golden

West League, then won a coin flip and was designated the league’s No. 2

playoff entry.

Although the campus is buzzing, there is caution, not only because the

Seahawks will be chartering new territory, but also where they are coming

from.

Ocean View will enter the playoffs coming off a 78-7 loss to Tustin in

the final week of the regular season.

“We didn’t come ready to play in the Tustin game, but I know our kids

will be ready for the playoffs,” said Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers, who

has guided the Seahawks into the playoffs in just his second year. “How

well we’ll bounce back from that (Tustin) game, I don’t know. The answer

to that question remains to be seen. No doubt, though, this campus is

excited.”

The Seahawks come into Friday’s contest with a 7-3 record, the same as

Kennedy, the Empire League runner-up.

The Fighting Irish have won four in a row since dropping their league

opener to eventual champion Loara, 27-7.

During that win streak, the Kennedy defense, which spurred the school’s

return to the playoffs after a one-year absence and is led by the senior

trio of linebacker Nick Tucker, tackle Cliff Scott, and ends Eric Mull

and Mike Knobbe, have yielded just 29 points.

The Irish offense, which features quarterback Geoff Etherson (1,3434

yards) and receiver Steve Yaden (671 yards, 14.3 avg.) has scored 28

points or more in six games, but has been held to nine points or fewer in

four other contests.

Etherson, a junior who was a part-time player last year, has thrown eight

touchdown passes but has been intercepted six times.

That could bode well for Ocean View defensive back Deshai Houston, who

has a team-high six interceptions.

“I don’t know much about Kennedy, although they have to be a quality

football team to be in the playoffs,” Eggers said. “All we have to do is

take care of ourselves.”

Houston also triggers Ocean View’s explosive offense, which had been

averaging 40points per game until it was limited to a touchdown by

Tustin.

The senior has thrown for 2,249 yards and 33 touchdowns - both school

records - with 10 interceptions in 320 pass attempts.

Sophomore receiver Patrick Campbell, who has bounced back from a

late-season injury, enters the game with 668 yards and a 13.9 yards per

reception average.