Marina football wins battle with Garden Grove in Big 4 League opener

WESTMINSTER —  The Homecoming king wasn’t just one of the stars of halftime during the Marina football game on Friday night.

Marina left tackle Adam Dekhili had his name called to head the court, and he helped pave the way for an effective running attack.

Those contributions helped Marina win consecutive games for the first time this season, a timely development, as the Vikings beat visiting Garden Grove 28-21 in a Big 4 League opener at Boswell Field.

“I’m more excited that we won, because that’s bigger, but I guess my school loves me,” Dekhili said. “I’m happy that I got [Homecoming] king.”

Anthony Fabian rushed for 183 yards and two touchdowns for Marina (4-4, 1-0), which finishes up with road games against Katella (1-7, 0-1) and Segerstrom (5-3, 1-0). Ty Green added a rushing score on a wide receiver end-around that also employed the left side of the line to chart a course to the end zone.

The Vikings took risks and reaped the rewards. Their first two touchdowns were directly preceded by fourth-down conversions, and another fourth-down conversion on the final drive allowed Marina to run out the clock.

“With the four-team league, every game is so important,” Marina coach Charlie TeGantvoort said. “There’s no room for slip up. To change the Marina culture, we got to take chances, and I think they’re excited when we take those chances because they just want an opportunity to succeed. We are so thankful for these opportunities, and I’m just proud of how these kids are changing and rising to the occasion.”

Garden Grove (2-6, 0-1), like its counterpart, was intent on establishing the run, sometimes putting seven blockers along the offensive line in a formation that was anything but sleight of hand.

The Argonauts ran the ball 38 times for 194 yards. Quentin Pacelli turned his nine carries into 44 yards and two touchdowns, while Malik Peah (65 yards) absorbed contact to average more than five yards per carry.

Pacelli’s second touchdown tied the score at 21-21 with 1:34 on the clock in the third quarter.

Marina responded in just four plays to retake the lead, Garrett Hunnicutt releasing the ball near the line of scrimmage on a broken play for a 4-yard touchdown to Shane Cassidy in the back of the end zone.

“My route is just like a hitch,” Cassidy said of the touchdown. “I just go and get in the zone. I ran my route, I see the quarterback rolled out. That’s not part of the play. It was a run play, so I moved out, once I moved out, it was just open. The quarterback made the read again, and we just had that connection tonight.”

Garden Grove had just one possession after that, a 12-play drive ending with a red-zone interception by Jackson Farmer.

“We just got to stick to our jobs,” Farmer said. “That’s the thing is when one person messes up and people start trying to take over other people’s jobs, that’s when we fall apart. As long as we know our roles and know what we have to do, then we get stuff done.”

Big 4 League

Marina 28, Garden Grove 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Garden Grove 7 - 7 - 7 - 0 — 21

Marina 0 - 14 - 14 - 0 — 28

FIRST QUARTER

GG — Pacelli 5 run (Rodriguez kick), 5:44.

SECOND QUARTER

M — Fabian 5 run (Scolfield kick), 11:48.

M — Fabian 7 run (Scolfield kick), 2:25.

GG — Beatty 25 pass from Roth (Rodriguez kick), 0:17.

THIRD QUARTER

M — Green 4 run (Scolfield kick), 8:49.

GG — Pacelli 7 run (Rodriguez kick), 1:34.

M — Cassidy 4 pass from Hunnicutt (Scolfield kick), 0:30.

FOURTH QUARTER

None.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

GG — Peah, 12-65; Reyes, 10-57; Pacelli, 9-44.

M — Fabian, 22-183, 2 TDs; Green 3-18, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

GG — Roth, 3-6-1, 57, 1 TD.

M — Hunnicutt, 9-11-1, 93, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

GG — Fernandez, 2-26; Beatty, 1-25, 1 TD.

M — Cassidy, 2-27, 1 TD; Rhoads, 2-27.