Huntington Beach football falters late against Trabuco Hills
Huntington Beach has shown itself to be nothing short of an offensive juggernaut, but the Oilers have yet to stop the opposition this season.
It caught up with them in their second game, as a two-touchdown lead evaporated in the second half.
Junior quarterback Tristan Zale connected with senior wide receiver Ryan Luce on the go-ahead 54-yard touchdown with 5:31 remaining, and Trabuco Hills held on to beat host Huntington Beach 42-38 in the nonleague game.
“They lined up with their safeties all the way down, so I saw him one-on-one on the outside, and I knew where I was going with the ball right when the snap happened,” Zale said.
Zale threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns for Trabuco Hills, which also topped Huntington Beach 31-28 in a tight game on its home field last season. He added two rushing touchdowns among his three carries. Luce made 10 receptions for 169 yards and two touchdowns.
Huntington Beach (1-1) drove to the Mustangs’ 14-yard line before stalling out. Sophomore quarterback Brady Edmunds, bothered by the pressure from senior defensive end Tyler Schmaltz and senior defensive tackle Cash Nicholls, was unable to complete a pass for the first down to senior wide receiver Niko Lopez.
After opening with a 56-42 win against Orange, the Oilers appeared well on their way to another near-unstoppable night. Junior wide receiver Troy Foster took the opening kickoff back 91 yards for a touchdown.
Before long, Huntington Beach had mounted a 21-7 lead two minutes into the second quarter after Edmunds fired touchdown passes of 24 yards to junior wide receiver Steel Kurtz and 5 yards to Foster.
Edmunds threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns, including a 9-yard score to Lopez that lifted Huntington Beach to a 31-21 halftime edge. His lone interception, brought in by junior cornerback Christian Box, came during a second half in which the offense produced just one scoring drive.
“I don’t think it’s anything that’s not fixable,” Huntington Beach coach Brett Brown said of the defensive struggles. “We missed some tackles and a couple of times couldn’t get off the field on third down, but our defense did have some big stops. …
“We know that we have a high-powered, explosive offense. We can’t turn the ball over, and we’ve got to get off the field on third down. I think if we do those things, we’re a really good football team.”
Trabuco Hills took the lead for the first time when Zale found senior tight end Mikey Gray for a 6-yard score to make it 35-31 with three minutes to go in the third quarter.
Senior wide receiver Alex Kiernan had three catches for 106 yards for the Mustangs, and junior running back Landon Pompey rushed 20 times for 100 yards and a touchdown.
“[Kiernan] is a great receiver,” Luce said. “We love him. He’s fantastic. We’ve also got Mikey Gray, great player. We throw the ball to me three times, and then they focus on me, and then we go right to Alex for another three catches. The defense doesn’t know what to do when there are so many weapons out on the field.”
Huntington Beach answered via its own emerging offensive threat, as senior wide receiver Faris Shehadeh broke free of a tackle for a 27-yard touchdown for a 38-35 lead with 7:29 remaining. It came after the Oilers were able to get a fourth-down stop at their own 26-yard line, junior outside linebacker Logan Gray and junior defensive end Gavin Seguin combining on the tackle of Pompey.
“A lot of it is Brady,” said Shehadeh, who made seven catches for 116 yards. “He puts the ball right on the money. Our route tree, it’s made for someone to get open, and it’s just my job to make the play. When I have the chance to make a play, that’s just what I do.”
Nonleague
Trabuco Hills 42, Huntington Beach 38
Trabuco Hills 7 - 14 - 14 - 7 — 42
Huntington Beach 14 - 17 - 0 - 7 — 38
FIRST QUARTER
HB — Foster 91 kick return (Zavala kick), 11:48.
TH — Pompey 2 run (Weiskittel kick), 5:50.
HB — Kurtz 24 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 4:17.
SECOND QUARTER
HB — Foster 5 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 9:45.
TH — Zale 9 run (Weiskittel kick), 9:13.
HB — Zavala 35 FG, 8:00.
TH — Luce 25 pass from Zale (Weiskittel kick), 3:29.
HB — Lopez 9 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 0:27.
THIRD QUARTER
TH — Zale 1 run (Weiskittel kick), 9:31.
TH — Gray 6 pass from Zale (Weiskittel kick), 3:12.
FOURTH QUARTER
HB — Shehadeh 27 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 7:29.
TH — Luce 54 pass from Zale (Weiskittel kick), 5:31.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
TH — Pompey, 20-100, 1 TD; Zale, 3-17, 2 TDs.
HB — Riola, 12-55.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
TH — Zale, 20-29-0, 331, 3 TDs.
HB — Edmunds, 23-37-1, 350, 4 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
TH — Luce, 10-169, 2 TDs; Kiernan, 3-106.
HB — Foster, 9-136, 1 TD; Shehadeh, 7-116.
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