Oilers start fast, drop rival Marina

HUNTINGTON BEACH --- The players of the Huntington Beach High football team raised the trophy high above their heads Thursday night.

It was the Oilers’ first win of the season but it meant so much more, after they dispatched intercity rival Marina, 31-7, at Huntington Beach High.

“This week at practice, we were at war,” explained Oilers senior defensive end Sean Tavakoli, who had several big plays on defense including a quarterback sack. “We weren’t going to lose this week. This is our rival, and we weren’t going to let them win on our field. We weren’t going to let that happen.”

Senior quarterback Sean Guite made sure it didn’t for Huntington Beach (1-2). He led the Oilers on touchdown drives on their first three possessions. And, after his eight-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Kaller Roemer, it was 21-0, Huntington Beach, with just over eight minutes left in the first half.

“I thought offensively in the first half, we were unstoppable,” Oilers Coach Eric Lo said. “Three drives, three touchdowns, which is pretty impressive. It’s a rivalry game, and these kids got up for it. They were not going to lose.”

Senior running back Jack Dillbeck, who continued his strong early-season play with 149 yards rushing, scored the first touchdown from 19 yards out. Guite did it himself on the second, running up the middle for an eight-yard strike late in the first quarter.

He added another rushing score in the second half and finished with 133 passing yards, although Marina did get two interceptions from Mitch Huffman and Kai Ane.

The Vikings (0-3) had their chances. They put together an impressive 80-yard touchdown drive just before half, culminating on junior Nick Dallas’ six-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one.

And, they had a chance to pull within a single score midway through the third quarter. At the end of a Vikings punt, a Huntington Beach player inexplicably tried to dive on the ball and failed, and Marina got the ball back on the Oilers 47. But, from there, it was four downs and the ball again belonged to the Oilers.

“We put together one solid drive,” Marina Coach Dan Petrone said. “Other times, we had opportunities and we didn’t put it together. We just need to get to a point where we can perform consistently, execute consistently. We’ve just got to figure things out and pull it together. Any of the three games we’ve played so far, we could have won, but in order to win you’ve got to execute.”

Through three games, Dillbeck has 332 yards rushing and three touchdowns for Huntington Beach.

“He’s been running hard all year; he’s been just a consistent guy in our offense,” Lo said. “It’s really nice to see what he’s doing, because he’s got some speed, and he runs with such a low center of gravity.”

Jake Akerlind had three catches for 69 yards and senior kicker Eric Chan added a 49-yard field goal for the Oilers, who play at Westminster Oct. 2. Marina plays Aliso Viejo Oct. 1.