Mietkiewicz, Marina rush to lofty status

A record-setting night by Ray Mietkiewicz, another stellar

defensive performance, and a ball-hawking effort by the offense Friday

night by the visiting Marina Vikings added up to a 47-15 Sunset League victory over rival Huntington Beach before 4,000 at Cap Sheue Field.

Marina scored the game’s final 40 points to win going away and spoil

homecoming night for the Oilers.

The victory also broke a three-game winless streak in the series for the

Vikings, and Marina’s most lopsided win against Huntington Beach,

bettering a 45-14 victory in 1978.

The 47 points were the most scored on the Oilers since Long Beach Poly

rolled up 52 in the first round of the Division I playoffs last November.

The victory also was startling in many other aspects. Not only did it put

Marina at 3-0 in league play, the triumph also gave the Vikings sole

possession of first-place with two regular season games remaining.

‘Is that something, or what,’ Marina Coach Mark Rehling said of the

Vikings’ lofty status. ‘With this win, we’ve put ourselves in position to

play for a league championship. We coaches thought this was possible

because we thought we had a good team on our hands when the season

began.’

One of Rehling’s best Mietkiewicz, a workhorse fullback who galloped past

the Oilers all night.

The 6-foot-1, 235 senior rushed for a career-best 323 yards on 32

carries, scored a school single-game record five touchdowns, went into

the Marina record books for most career points scored, and also became

the school’s all-time career yardage leader with his outstanding effort.

Mietkiewicz simply overpowered the Oilers and scored on runs covering 7,

28, 17, 15, and 2 yards.

‘Ray was unbelievable out there,’ Rehling said. ‘He ran over people -

through them, and around them. He was just outstanding, but our

(offensive) line deserves a lot of credit, too.’

Huntington Beach Coach Tony Ciarellli echoed Rehling’s sentiments, saying

that Mietkiewicz simply had too much.

‘We just couldn’t handle Mietkiewicz tonight,’ Ciarelli said. ‘Ray’s

just a great runner and his line deserves a lot of credit, too. I’m glad

we don’t have to see him any more.’

Huntington Beach (4-4, 0-3) twice opened up leads on the Vikings in

the first half. Casey Ryder scored on a 43-yard quarterback keeper on the

Oilers’ first possession of the game for a 7-0 lead, and running back

Russel Oschman scored on a five-yard run. Holder Shaun Donahoe scooped up

a fumbled snap on the point after attempt and ran it in for a two-point

conversion, giving the Oilers a 15-7 lead with 9:28 to play in the half.

From that point on, however, it was all Marina.

First, Mietkiewicz scored from 28-yards out, then ran in a two-point

conversion to knot the score at 15-15 with 2:10 left. Then, the Marina

defense took charge from there.

Following Mietkiewicz’s score, Huntington Beach began its next drive from

its own 28-yard line. But the Oilers lost 11 yards on a fumbled hand off,

Oschman was tackled for a seven-yard loss, and Shaun Shuck was dropped

for another five-yard loss. Huntington was forced to punt from its own

end zone, and Marina took over at the Oiler 34-yard line with 54 seconds

on the clock.

After Mietkiewicz burst his was for 16 yards down to the 18 on

second-down, quarterback Beau Brown hit Brandon Thornton with an 18-yard

touchdown strike to give Marina its first lead, 21-15, which the Vikings

took into the locker room.

It was Brown’s first and only completion of the game, following an 0 for

4 start.

Brown attempted just one more pass (an incompletion) following the

intermission.

‘You know, Huntington came out with a real good defensive scheme tonight,

but our kids just turned it up a notch and got things going after a slow

start,’ Rehling said. ‘I thought came turnaround was when Beau (Brown)

hit Brandon (Thornton) with that late touchdown pass, and I also felt our

defense really began to come around midway in the second quarter.’

After Huntington’s second quarter scoring drive, Marina would surrender

just one more first down the remainder of the game.

A relentless heavy rush by the Vikings had Ryder on the run much

of the second half. The junior was sacked six times overall for 53 yards,

five of which came in the final two quarters.

Defensive end M.J. Ansel led the way in the second half with two

sacks, while John Manley, Kyle Warren, and Aaron Bishop each had one.

Joe Winford also had a sack in the first half.

‘Our defense really has been on fire these past three weeks,’

Rehling said. ‘The kids have really buckled down in practice with great

intensity, and it’s paying off for them on game night.’

Marina, now 5-2-1 overall, travels to Placentia Thursday to battle

Esperanza at Valencia High’s Bradford Stadium at 7 p.m.

The Vikings will be looking to beat the Aztecs for the first time since

Esperanza joined the Sunset League five years ago.

Marina closes its regular season Nov. 12, hosting Los Alamitos at

Westminster High’s Bill Boswell Field.

Los Alamitos was knocked out of a first-place tie Thursday night by

Fountain Valley, which scored a 34-27 upset victory over the previously

unbeaten and top-ranked Griffins.

‘We have two mighty big games coming up, but I think our guys are ready

for the challenge,’ Rehling added. ‘We’re 3-0 right now in league, and

it’s a wonderful thing. Let’s hope it keeps going.’