High School Football: Mighty Marina improves to 3-0

WESTMINSTER — The game was billed as the “Battle at Boswell,” as both the Westminster and Marina high school football programs use Boswell Field for their home games.

The Vikings were the designated visitor on Friday night for the nonleague clash. At the end of a back-and-forth contest, though, they made sure they were right at home.

Noah Holmes, that is.

The senior receiver caught two touchdown passes and a late interception by Caden Snyder helped seal the Vikings’ 24-20 victory and continue their impressive undefeated start to the 2016 season.

Marina is 3-0, and it’s believed to be the Vikings’ first 3-0 start in decades.

“All I know is it’s been a while,” Coach Jeff Turley said. “[This game] just showed their growth. I’ve watched, for three years now, these guys growing up. This showed a lot of what they’re made of inside, and I’m very proud. We were down most of the game, and they refused to roll over, and that’s huge. This is a big step forward.”

Marina junior running back Blaine Riederich scored the go-ahead touchdown from a yard out with 2:24 left in the game. It looked like the Vikings could be done after Rand Kiedel’s 40-yard field-goal attempt earlier in the possession was just short, but Westminster (0-2) was called for roughing the kicker on the play.

Marina got a first down at the Westminster 12-yard line. Two plays later, Riederich found the end zone.

The Vikings then had to withstand a Westminster drive with moments left. On first down at the Marina 31-yard line, Westminster’s pass was intercepted by Snyder at his own two-yard line. Snyder started running it back and fumbled, but Holmes dove on it with 56 seconds left to play.

“We came through adversity,” said Holmes, who finished with 91 yards receiving and has caught two touchdown passes from Ian Green in each of the Vikings’ first three games. “That’s what we’ve been teaching the guys. As a senior class, [we’ve had] three years of just [being] down in the dumps, nobody was getting energy. It was just so great to see the team just come together and work through it. I mean, I’ve never experienced something like this before. It was something else.”

Marina, ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Division 12 poll, did indeed trail for much of the game. But the Vikings took their first lead late in the third quarter, when Keidel’s 39-yard field goal gave them a 20-17 edge.

Westminster took the lead back on a seven-yard quarterback keeper by Noah Melbon early in the fourth. But the Lions were stuffed midway through the quarter, when they decided to go for it on fourth-and-one at their own 19-yard line. The running back fumbled the ball, and Marina’s Cooper Malerstein recovered with 5:41 remaining in the game.

That drive nearly ended with the missed field goal, but the Vikings made the most of their late second chance caused by the roughing the punter penalty.

Turley said two-way senior lineman Kyle Tsu stood out throughout the game for the Vikings.

“We couldn’t have done it without him,” Turley said. “He pretty much played both ways the whole game. Usually we’re able to rotate them a little bit more, but we had guys go down.”

Marina returns to action Thursday back at Boswell Field against Santa Ana.

It will definitely feel like home.

“I thought the past two years we had better teams, but I realized that I’ve been playing with these guys for four years and we’ve been bonding together as a team,” Holmes said. “When we get on each other to do better, we all want to do better. It’s not just one guy that’s getting on the other guy; everybody’s getting on everybody else. We’re hitting the weight room and we’re really getting a lot better.”

Nonleague

Marina 24, Westminster 20

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mar 0 – 6 – 11 – 7 — 24

West 7 – 7 – 0 – 6 — 20

FIRST QUARTER

West – Avila 1 run (Rocha kick), 7:23.

SECOND QUARTER

West – Anderson 24 pass from Melbon (Rocha kick), 0:55.

Mar – Holmes 13 pass from Green (kick failed), 0:26.

THIRD QUARTER

Mar – Holmes 28 pass from Green (Riederich pass from Green), 9:09.

Mar – Keidel 39 FG, 2:15.

FOURTH QUARTER

West – Melbon 7 run (kick failed), 10:15.

Mar – Riederich 1 run (Keidel kick), 2:24.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Mar – Riederich, 20-62, 1 TD.

West – Avila, 22-131, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Mar – Green, 9-20-0, 121, 2 TDs.

West – Melbon, 7-12-0, 68, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Mar – Holmes, 6-91, 2 TDs.

West – Anderson, 4-35,