Oilers, Chargers Baron open “real” season

A year ago at this time of the prep football season, Tony Ciarelli

had taken the Huntington Beach High Oilers to their first 5-0 nonleague

mark in five years to set up a showdown on the opening weekend of Sunset

League play.

Huntington Beach went on to suffer a heartbreaking 13-12 loss that

October night, while the Barons used that victory as a springboard to a

successful league showing an postseason playoff berth.

Well, it’s 1999, and Ciarelli’s Oilers went a respectable 4-1

during the first five weeks of the season, all of which is a prelude to

another Sunset League lidlifter with Fountain Valley.

The Oilers and Barons hook up for the 27th time Friday (7 p.m.) at

Huntington Beach’s Sheue Field on Fountain Valley’s homecoming night.

“We’ve had a nice nonleague season, but now the real season

begins,” said Ciarelli, now in his third year at Huntington Beach.

“Our guys have played well and we’re pretty much injury-free, and

we’re just looking forward to play a tough Fountain Valley team.”

Huntington Beach’s last win in the series came in 1993, when the

Oilers scored a 14-10 victory. They went on to claim the Sunset title

that year - the school’s last - and reached the Division I championship

game.

It was also the final victory of a four-game win streak in the

series by Huntington Beach, which trails the Barons, 19-6-1.

The Oilers’ best chances of notching series victory No. 7 lay in

their ground game and a stingy defense that is allowing opponents 15

points per game.

Running back Shaun Shuck is Huntington’s main go-to guy, and the

senior has responded with 553 total yards and a 4.5 yards per rush

average.

“He’s a good one,” Fountain Valley Coach Eric Johnson said of

Shuck. “He’s just a tough runner and a real workhorse, and it should be

an interesting battle between he and Nedal.”

Johnson was referring to Fountain Valley running back Nedal

Abdelmuti, who has rushed for 527 yards (8.2 average), in his first four

games.

Abdelmuti did not suit up for last week’s game with Trabuco Hills

because of a one-game suspension he had to serve.

The junior was ejected in the second half of an Oct. 2 win over

Servite after receiving his second taunting penalty of the game.

“It’s nice to have Nedal back, especially for league play,”

Johnson said. “Hopefully, he’s learned his lesson from that mistake and

is ready to get on with the season. We’ll need him if we hope to have a

respectable rushing game.”

Without Abdelmuti last week, Fountain Valley struggled on offense

and was shutout by Trabuco Hills, 13-0, leaving the Barons with a 3-2

mark entering league play.

The Barons have averaged scoring just 16 points in their first

five games.

The Huntington Beach-Fountain Valley matchup is just one of three

Sunset League openers slated for Friday.

At Westminster High’s Bill Boswell Field, Marina will entertain

Edison on homecoming night for the Vikings, while the night’s key

showdown will pit rivals Los Alamitos against Esperanza at Valencia High

in Placentia.

EDISON (5-0) vs. MARINA (2-2-1)

(at Bill Boswell Field, Westminster High, 7 p.m.)

What a rushing match this one will be, albeit one contrasting in

styles.

In one corner, you have Edison’s speedy junior running back,

Darryl Poston, who has averaged 9.5 yards per carry. He needs just 75

more yards to hit the 1,000 yards rushing mark this season.

In the other corner, there’s Marina’s big, bullish fullback,

senior Ray Mietkiewicz, who has rushed for 732 yards and an 8.5 yards per

carry average in four games.

Although Mietkiewicz is still playing with a broken left wrist,

the matchup figures to be the central theme of this league opener.

“You have two great runners going head-to-head, and you have two

teams trying to start the league season on the right note,” Marina Coach

Mark Rehling said. “This should be a heck of a game.”

Edison will put its unbeaten record and No. 6 ranking (Division I)

on the line. The key to the Chargers’ success could lie in its defense,

which has surrendered an average of 13 points a game. It will be put to

the test by a Marina squad scoring 25 points per game.”

The Vikings scored 26 in last year’s 26-14 victory - their first

in the series in seven years, and just their third in a series Edison

leads, 21-3-1.

“I think our team’s been improving every week, and that’s real

important because I really feel that our league is a balanced from top to

bottom as it’s ever been,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “On any given

night, one team can beat another so, our guys will have to be at the top

of their game these next five weeks.”

LOS ALAMITOS (5-0) vs. ESPERANZA (3-2)

(at Valencia High, Placentia, 7 p.m.)

There’s no clear-cut favorite in this battle between two teams

that have hogged the both the league’s headlines and championships the

past five years. You can throw out the records when these two meet. But

for the host Aztecs to emerge with a win, quarterback Ryan Sausedo will

have to be on target against a Los Alamitos defense that has yielded a

total of 27 points in five games. Sausedo has completed nearly 54-percent

of his passes, and his favorite target has been Ryan Murray, who has a

16.8 yards per reception average. The Griffins, ranked third in Division

I, begin defense of their league title.