League play is almost here

This is it, the final week of tune-up before the second leg of the season starts.

Five local teams will play their final nonleague games of the season before embarking on important league play that begins next week.

Los Amigos kicks off the schedule for the locals by hosting Northwood of Irvine tonight. On Friday, Ocean View is home to Estancia for homecoming, while Huntington travels to face Gardena and Marina plays at Western. Saturday finds Brethren Christian visiting Western Christian.

“We’re looking to continue on improving this week and hope to take some momentum into next week,” Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers said of the Estancia game that precedes the Seahawks’ Golden West League opener Oct. 17 against Segerstrom.

Both Edison and Fountain Valley completed nonleague play last week and both the Chargers and Barons emerged victorious, Edison by beating Mater Dei, 24-14, and Fountain Valley by taking care of Palos Verdes, 17-3. Both teams are idle this week.

  Tonight

Northwood (1-3) vs. Los Amigos (1-3) at Garden Grove High, 7 p.m.: Los Amigos picked up its first win of the season last week and it was a big one, as the Lobos handed Santa Ana its first defeat.

In a 17-7 win, Jose Gonzalez threw touchdown passes to Ricky Vu — who also rushed for 132 yards — and Jose Perez, and he also kicked a 27-yard field goal.

Vu brings a 143 yards per game average into tonight’s game.

Northwood has just one win under its belt, but two of the Wolverines three losses have come by four points or less. Last week, they lost to Irvine, 24-7.

Their only win was a 31-7 victory over Ocean View on Sept. 27.

Two of Los Amigos’ three losses have been by three points each.

  Friday

Huntington Beach (2-2) at Gardena (2-2), 7 p.m.: A CIF Southern Section intersectional matchup takes place Friday when Huntington Beach pays a visit to Gardena of the City Section.

The Oilers came up with a stirring rally Saturday to get past Westminster, using a 22-0 fourth-quarter finish to claim a 36-26 nonleague victory.

“It was incredible,” Huntington Coach Eric Lo said of his team’s rallies from 20 and 19 points down. “We think we are in every game, that we always have a chance to win in the fourth quarter and our guys never gave up after trailing, 26-7.

“We made some really big plays and I thought [quarterback] Sean Guite did a great job in the second half. He only had three incompletions and that was a big key.”

Guite came back in the second half after throwing two interceptions in the opening half to connect on 13 of 16 passes. The junior finished with 228 yards and threw scoring passes of 58 yards to Dominic Capone, 57 yards to Kendall Ivey, three yards to JD Ogilvie and the go-ahead score an 11-yard pass to Dylan Simmons. Kaller Roemer topped the wild comeback with a 26-yard scoring run to complete the scoring.

Gardena put an end to a two-game losing skid last week with a 12-0 victory over Inglewood. Coach Marshall Jones’ Panthers are led by quarterback Keshaun Malone, who rushed for one score and threw for another in the win.

“They are very athletic and have a good quarterback running their offense,” said Lo, whose team beat Gardena, 25-12, last year.

“We need to start games better than we have been,” he added. “We can’t continue to wait until the second half to get going. We’ve been emphasizing to the kids that they need to put together a complete effort, from start to finish. I hope that our players understand that great efforts during practice will propel them on game night.”

Marina (2-2) vs. Western (2-2) at Western High, 7 p.m.: Marina has won two straight and hopes to keep the momentum rolling when it takes on a Western team that has lost its last two games.

The Vikings are coming off their easiest win of the season, a 41-0 shellacking of Orange in an Oct. 2 game. Senior running back Sam Wilson rushed for 225 yards and five touchdowns and John Taylor ran for the final touchdown of the night for the Vikings.

The victory was the first shutout recorded by a Marina team since a 12-0 win over Paramount opened up the 2003 season.

Western’s most recent loss was a 21-13 setback to Tustin on Friday. Junior running back Ruben Ortega rushed for 178 yards and a pair of scores for the Pioneers. Ortega is averaging 132 yards a game and heads a running attack where seniors Quincey Kizee and Mookie Cooksie also get plenty of carries.

Estancia (2-3) at Ocean View (2-2) at Ocean View High, 7 p.m.: Despite not having the services of two starters on its offensive line Friday, Ocean View was able to pick up a 26-14 win over Costa Mesa.

Kyle Walker ran for 128 yards and a score and sophomore quarterback Nolan Tippy tossed touchdown passes to Kenny Tarpley and Adam To in the second half.

The Seahawks were missing starters Jordan Miller and Robbie Benavidez along the offensive line. But filling in admirably in their absence were David Zarate and Michael Congelliere.

Zarate also played defensive end and Congelliere at linebacker.

“I thought both David and Michael did an outstanding job,” Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers said. “We needed some kids to step up, especially on the offensive line, and they did. It’s always nice to win a ballgame, especially when you’re not a full-strength.

“Now we face an Estancia team that I think is athletic and that moves around a lot on defense, which can be confusing to an offense. They also have a pretty good running back.”

Estancia is Ocean View’s homecoming opponent Friday. The Eagles have struggled offensively in dropping their last two games, most recently failing to score in a 19-0 loss Saturday to La Quinta of Westminster. Carlos Mendez is the Eagles’ leading rusher with a 142 yards-per-game clip and averages seven yards each time he carries the ball.

  SATURDAY

Brethren Christian (0-4) vs. Western Christian (4-0) at Covina High, 7 p.m.: Brethren Christian travels to Covina in search of its first win of the season and will go up against a Western Christian squad that has been on a roll.

The Warriors last week dropped their fourth game when they lost, 35-6, at St. Anthony of Long Beach. Drew Fabrigas scored the lone touchdown on a second-quarter run.

Western Christian enters the game averaging 37 points on offense and the Fighting Lancers are coming off a 35-28 win Friday over Sierra Vista. Junior running back Ryan Salausa is averaging 138 yards per game and has a team-high 10 touchdowns.

The teams have a common opponent this year in Calvary Chapel of Downey: Brethren Christian lost, 23-14, to Calvary on Sept. 20 and Western Christian scored a 19-0 victory Sept. 13.

Chargers topple Mater Dei, 24-14

Behind a defense that harassed Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley throughout the night and an offense that came up with several big plays, eighth-ranked Edison posted a 24-14 victory over third-ranked Mater Dei on Friday at Orange Coast College.

The Edison defense sacked the USC-bound Barkley four times and got interceptions from Jeff Crissman and Matt Reza.

The Monarchs also had an uncharacteristic 16 penalties in the game.

The Chargers won the big game despite losing running back Davion Orphey and receiver/defensive back Michael Rivera to concussions in the first quarter. White also said that several Chargers, including quarterback Matt Viles, had been ill during the week leading up to the game.

“Our defense was terrific,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “We did some nice things offensively, although we did waste some scoring opportunities.”

Edison put up 10 points in the second quarter to go into the half with a 10-7 lead when Preston Spence turned a shovel pass from Viles into a 30-yard scoring play. Lucas Vandeman connected on a 28-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in the half for the other Edison score.

Spence, starting at tailback for the injured Wade Houston, also missed several days of practice due to a calf injury. Spence still went on to have a terrific game and also catapulted into the end zone from four yards out to finish off Edison’s first possession of the second half and increase the Chargers’ lead to 17-7.

“That was a big drive for us,” White said. “We had some momentum going into the half and that really helped us stay in control. But we knew the game was far from over.”

And it was.

Mater Dei pulled to within, 17-14, with 6:59 to play on a three-yard touchdown run by Dylan Price. But whatever momentum the Monarchs gained, the Chargers wiped out in a heartbeat. Edison needed just two plays to regain a 10-point cushion. From his own 43, Spence burst through the line and raced 57 yards for a touchdown with 6:16 remaining.

“We’ll enjoy this one for a little while,” White said. “It’s nice to have next week off but now comes the Sunset League. Nothing will be easy there.”

The Chargers next face Newport Harbor on Oct. 17.

Barons subdue Palos Verdes, 17-3

It took a great effort by Kyle Middlebrooks to finally put Fountain Valley in command of an Oct. 2 nonleague game against Palos Verdes.

The junior tailback took a handoff from quarterback Dominic Ragland, first had to hurdle a would-be tackler at the line of scrimmage and then squirmed his way past a host of Sea Kings and sprinted toward the end zone. Middlebrooks finally reached his destination but not before he twisted and turned his way the final seven yards to pay dirt.

The 41-yard touchdown run with 11:41 to play allowed the Barons to finally put away the Sea Kings and was the final score in a 17-3 Fountain Valley victory on homecoming night at Orange Coast College.

The mad dash by Middlebrooks sent him on his way to a 148-yard performance on 19 carries.

Middlebrooks has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of Fountain Valley’s four victories.

The Barons took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Ragland hit Artie O’Keefe with a five-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal. Bryan Erskine, who also provided two PATs, kicked a 22-yard field goal late in the second quarter to give Fountain Valley a 10-3 lead at the half. The Barons defense, led by O’Keefe, Awwad Yasin, Scott Bailey, Scottie Trudnowski and Dylan Itkoff recorded eight tackles for loss.

Yasin had three of those tackles and O’Keefe two.

Bailey also had an interception.

Fountain Valley opens Sunset League play against Esperanza on Oct. 16.

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.