Finish line nearing

The final week of the 2008 prep football regular season is here and for several local teams, league championships and coveted CIF playoff berth bids rest on the outcome of games to be played today and Friday.

Three games — Fountain Valley-Marina, Ocean View-Westminster and Capistrano Valley Christian-Brethren Christian — are on tap tonight. Three other matchups — Esperanza-Edison, Woodbridge-Huntington Beach and Santiago-Los Amigos — take place Friday. All games kick off at 7 p.m..

  TONIGHT

Fountain Valley (6-3, 2-2) vs. Marina (2-7, 0-4) at Estancia High: A playoff berth hangs in the balance for Fountain Valley when the Barons battle Marina in an important Sunset League game.

A victory over the Vikings, coupled with an Edison win Friday over Esperanza, would give Fountain Valley no worse than third place and an automatic playoff berth. A victory, combined with an Edison loss and Los Alamitos loss tonight to Newport Harbor, would leave an unprecedented five-way tie between Edison, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Esperanza, Newport Harbor for first place, as each team would finish at 3-2.

The scenarios seem endless, but the bottom line for the Barons is that they have to take care of their own business tonight.

Fountain Valley is coming off a tough 14-7 loss to archrival Edison. The Barons led 7-0 in the fourth quarter before Edison struck for two scores in the final six minutes to pull out the win. Running back Kyle Middlebrooks, who was held to a season-low 47 yards, scored on a two-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter following an Edison turnover.

Marina is trying to avoid a winless Sunset campaign and a win tonight also would nip a losing streak at five games. Last week, the Vikings dropped a 49-7 game to Newport Harbor. Zach Couey hit Jarrid Balis with a 19-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter for the Vikings.

Westminster (6-3, 4-0) at Ocean View (4-5, 1-3): Ocean View will play for pride tonight and is the visiting team in its own stadium when it takes on Golden West League-leading Westminster.

The Seahawks dropped their first three league games but got into the win column last week by beating Saddleback, 36-9. Sophomore quarterback Nolan Tippy threw for a season-high 262 yards and had touchdown passes to Kenny Tarpley and Eric Morejon and Kyle Walker rushed for Ocean View’s first two scores.

“Nolan played really well and our kids played a really good game, as well,” Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers said. “It was nice to finally get that first league win.”

Westminster has scored no fewer than 35 points in its first four league contests.

Capo Valley Christian (0-9, 0-2) at Brethren Christian (3-5, 1-1): Brethren Christian can wrap up no worse than second place in the Academy League by beating winless Capo Valley Christian tonight.

The Warriors got their first league win last week by whipping Sage Hill, 41-7. Drew Fabrigas rushed for 171 yards and scored the first two touchdowns of the game and Brad Hess threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns and he also ran for a score.

  FRIDAY

Esperanza (6-3, 2-2) vs. Edison (7-2, 3-1) at Orange Coast College, 7: Edison knows what’s riding on the outcome of tonight’s Sunset League clash with Esperanza: it’s a game with league championship implications.

The Chargers can earn a piece of another league title with a win over the Aztecs. Edison enters the final week of the league season tied with Los Alamitos for first place in the league standings. They’ll know their situation a little better by kickoff, as the outcome of the Newport Harbor-Los Alamitos will have been decided a day earlier.

Edison was in a similar situation last year, needing a win over Newport Harbor on the final night of regular-season play to win a portion of the league title. The Chargers got that victory and went on to share the crown with Esperanza.

Edison kept its repeat title hopes alive last week by rallying midway through the fourth quarter to score two touchdowns and escape with a 14-7 victory over Fountain Valley. The Chargers were shut down in the first half but finally scored the tying touchdown on a three-yard pass from Matt Viles to Jordan Zumwalt. With 1:36 left to play, Viles found Michael Rivera on a 16-yard TD pass for the winning score.

Esperanza came close to knocking off its main rival Los Alamitos last week, but saw a 21-14 fourth-quarter lead turn into a 22-21 defeat. Jared Moore rushed for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the loss.

“We’ve put the Fountain Valley game behind us pretty quickly and the kids have had two great days of practice getting ready for Esperanza,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “We know what’s on hand Friday and all the possible scenarios, but the bottom line for us is that we need to go out and win.”

Woodbridge (1-8, 1-3) vs. Huntington Beach (4-5, 2-2) at Ocean View High: Huntington Beach holds its own postseason destiny and a win over Woodbridge would wrap up a playoff berth for the Oilers, who currently share third place in the Sea View League with El Toro. Huntington squared its league mark with a 13-10 come-from-behind win last week over El Toro. Down 10-0 at the half, Sean Guite — who threw for 216 yards — helped rally the Oilers in the second half by throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass to Kaller Roemer, followed by a 43-yard scoring pass to Jonathan Ogilvie.

“That was a big win for us,” Huntington Coach Eric Lo said. “We knew what was at stake, but we had problems in the red zone in that first half, although we were playing pretty good defense.

“We’re approaching Woodbridge as a must-win game. We control our destiny but that great comeback win over El Toro will mean nothing if we don’t get the job done Friday.”

Woodbridge won its league opener (14-11) over Northwood but since has been outscored, 114-27, in three straight losses. Last week, the Warriors got two touchdown passes from Charlie Kelley but lost, 35-20, to Trabuco Hills.

The Warriors offense has been held to nine or less points in five games this year.

Santiago (7-2, 3-1) vs. Los Amigos (5-4, 4-0) at Garden Grove High: With a win Friday over Santiago, Los Amigos would lay claim to an outright Garden Grove League championship.

The Lobos lead the league race by a single game over Santiago and Garden Grove, heading into the final week of league play. Should Santiago and Garden Grove both win this week, they would move into a three-way tie with Los Amigos for the league title and a coin flip would determine the league’s playoff pecking order. Los Amigos won its fourth straight game last week by routing Bolsa Grande, 40-14. Ricky Vu racked up 201 rushing yards and scored on runs covering 55, 37 and 20 yards.

Santiago had a five-game win streak snapped last week by Garden Grove, which scored a 10-7 win. Prior to that setback, Santiago had averaged 33 points in its first three league games.