Huntington Beach football scores early, often in win over Marina

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HUNTINGTON BEACH – Huntington Beach took control of the game early and cruised to a 45-13 win over Marina on Thursday in a nonleague football game at Huntington Beach High.

Huntington Beach improved to 3-2. The Oilers also have wins over Western and Long Beach Wilson. Their losses are to Aliso Niguel and El Toro.

Oilers senior quarterback AJ Perez passed for 203 yards and three touchdowns and had a 30-yard touchdown run. EJ Riederich rushed for 87 yards including a 25-yard touchdown run.

AJ Vandermade, Hideo Ray and Jordan Castro had touchdown receptions. Tyler Moses scored on a 37-yard run on a fake punt, and Nathan Tauanuu returned a fumble for a touchdown.

Marina quarterback Brock Beaver threw two touchdown passes, both to receiver Bo Green.

The game had an abundance of penalties, including several personal foul infractions and a few unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The Huntington Beach and Marina coaching staffs were each assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Huntington Beach’s penalty yardage was 172 yards, with Marina totaling 105 yards in penalties against the Vikings.

Marina is 1-4. The Vikings lost their first three games, to Arcadia, Newport Harbor and Elsinore before beating Fountain Valley last week.

Huntington Beach scored on its first possession, with Perez scoring on a 30-yard run. The Oilers had trouble getting extra points, including a missed point-after kick after the Perez touchdown, leaving them with a 6-0 lead.

Moses scored next for the Oilers on his 37-yard, fake-punt run to make it 12-0.

They stretched the lead to 18-0 one minute in the second quarter when Perez passed to Vandermade for a 31-yard touchdown play. Perez’ next touchdown pass covered 65 yards, with Castro getting behind pass coverage along the right sideline for a 25-0 lead.

Marina got its first-half touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Beaver to Green with 58 seconds left in the half to make it 25-7.

Ray was the next to get a touchdown pass from Perez. Ray also took a pass along the right sideline for a 74-yard scoring play with 19 seconds remaining in the half for a 31-7 halftime lead.

Riederich scored on a 25-yard run in the third quarter and seconds later Tauanuu grabbed a fumble and returned it 26 yards for the final Oilers touchdown and a 45-7 lead. Beaver passed 6 yards to Green for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

Marina plays St. Anthony of Long Beach next Friday at Westminster High. The Vikings’ Big 4  League opener is at Segerstrom on Oct. 15.

Huntington Beach has a bye next week before playing its Sunset League opener Oct. 1 against Fountain Valley at Huntington Beach High.