Belief grows as Marina football mashes Valencia, marches on to 7-0 start

Marina got another dominant performance from its defense, found the end zone every possession almost to the finish, and did so with all the adornments — a pick-six, a blocked punt inside the 5-yard line, a sack leading to a fumble recovery — while pummeling Valencia to start their campaign at 7-0 for the first time since ... ever?

Shane Cassidy caught two touchdown passes and returned an interception for another score. Gabe Carles again topped 100 rushing yards and twice found the end zone, and the Vikings shut down the home team’s Wing-T attack in a 49-6 Lambda League romp.

It was 28-0 just 1:49 into the second quarter — yardage was 163-8 — after Cassidy, alone in the end zone, hauled in his second touchdown from Garrett Hunnicutt on the quarter’s third play and returned the interception three plays later, both covering 27 yards. Hunnicutt capped the next drive, one requiring two fourth-down conversions from Carles, with a darting 23-yard run, and the second half was played with a running clock.

“We’ve done things right for seven weeks in a row,” Marina coach Charlie TeGantvoort said. “Now we’ve just got to focus and do them right for one more week and then a couple more after that. And then maybe a few more after that.”

Marina (2-0 in the Lambda League), hardly a traditional football power, appears headed to a last-week, title-deciding showdown with unbeaten Beckman and then aims to match the 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 11 championship-winning team. The belief is growing.

“I think we can take it the distance. I really think we can,” said linebacker Gunnar Mickelson, who collected a fumble caused by defensive end Troy Atkins to close Valencia’s lone first-half advancement and blocked a third-quarter punt to set up the final touchdown, a 3-yard Logan Fulford run, as the second team took over. “I think we can go all the way.”

Cassidy, who took a swing pass 60 yards on the Vikings’ second play from scrimmage for a quick lead, said, “[We can do] way more than I thought the team could do.”

Marina began 6-0 in 1979, before a tie with Newport Harbor, the Vikings unbeaten streak ending after an 8-0-1 start that year.

The victory was built upon those who rarely see much game action but, as part of the “scout” team, serve a vital role emulating opponents in practice. The Wing-T offense, an increasingly rare, run-heavy plan built on deception, can be difficult to stop, but Marina had no problems, limiting Valencia (3-4, 0-2) to minus-7 rushing and 37 total yards through the first three quarters.

“Football’s a team sport,” TeGantvoort said. “Our scout team took it serious, just tried to learn [the Wing-T] so they could give us a look. There’s no way we would have been prepared like that without our scout offense.”

Was it the Vikings’ best performance of the year?

“On keeping our feet on their throat, as you would say, yeah,” said Cassidy. “We dominated through the game, didn’t let off at halftime, and it was a day we could get everybody on the field. It was a good day.”

Valencia ended the shutout at the end, with Louis Galvan scoring on the game’s final play — with no PAT attempt to follow — on a 79-yard march, all on the ground, against the second-teamers.

Lambda League

Marina 49, Valencia 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Marina 14 - 21 - 14 - 0 — 49

Valencia 0 - 0 - 0 - 6 — 6

FIRST QUARTER

M — Cassidy 60 pass from Hunnicutt (Scolfield kick), 9:27.

M — Carles 2 run (Scolfield kick), 3:35.

SECOND QUARTER

M — Cassidy 27 pass from Hunnicutt (Scolfield kick), 11:02.

M — Cassidy 27 interception return (Scolfield kick), 10:11.

M — Hunnicutt 23 run (Scolfield kick), 4:20.

THIRD QUARTER

M — Carles 9 run (Scolfield kick), 8:12.

M — Fulford 3 run (Scolfield kick), 4:15.

FOURTH QUARTER

V — Galvan 2 run (clock expired), 0:09.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

M — Carles, 15-106, 2 TDs.

V — Ghibaudo, 8-43.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

M — Hunnicutt, 8-14-0, 124, 2 TDs.

V — Hurtado, 3-15-1, 40.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

M — Cassidy, 4-98, 2 TDs.

V — Dias, 3-33.