Huntington Beach falters, falls to La Habra on last-second field goal
Huntington Beach played a near-perfect first half on offense, but the Oilers could not ward off La Habra, which maximized its opportunities to stun the host after halftime on Friday night.
Kevika Martinez scored four rushing touchdowns, three in the second half, and La Habra needed all of it — and a bit more — to dig out of a 15-point deficit.
La Habra’s Christian Ramirez drilled a 40-yard field goal through the uprights with one second remaining to send Huntington Beach to a 37-35 defeat in an Epsilon League football game at ‘Cap’ Sheue Field.
“Our offense pushed forward, they were strong, they ran the ball hard,” Ramirez said of the Highlanders giving him a chance to kick a go-ahead field goal at the end of the game. “... We called our last timeout with a few seconds left on the clock. Our star [quarterback] Kenny [Saucedo], he told Coach [Frank] Mazzotta, ‘Good teams kick field goals.’ Coach [Mazzotta] listened to the whole team, they put me out there, and I put it away for them.”
The Highlanders’ rushing attack gashed the Oilers for 372 yards on the ground. Martinez, who had 131 rushing yards, scored on a 12-yard run up the middle with five minutes left. The scoring play gave La Habra its first lead at 34-28.
Huntington Beach (4-3, 1-1 in the Epsilon League) responded to falling behind for the first time with its only scoring drive of the second half, punctuated by a goal-line rushing touchdown from quarterback Brady Edmunds with 72 seconds remaining.
Huntington Beach coach Brett Brown said the coaching staff had told the team to expect the “most physical game of the year” during the week. He said he felt his team answered that call.
“We know we’re a good team,” Brown said. “We knew we were playing a good opponent. It was going to be a dogfight. I don’t know if we expected to be up two scores [at halftime], but we knew it was going to be a close game...and we knew being up two scores wasn’t the end of the game, too.
“They’re physical, they played really hard and controlled the clock. Our kids answered, too, though. It was back and forth and came up a little short.”
Edmunds threw for 294 yards and four touchdowns. The sophomore standout connected with each of Niko Lopez, Troy Foster, Steel Kurtz and Faris Shehadeh for scores in the first half, as the Oilers built a 28-13 lead heading into the break.
The Oilers utilized trickery on the opening kick-off, as Kurtz fielded the kick and threw a lateral across the field to Foster, who used the daylight found along the right sideline to advance the ball to the La Habra 20-yard line.
“Our special teams coach, Coach Alex Alagata, he saw that … they kind of moved them closer to the right hash, and the right side of the field was so open,” Foster said. “They would always kick it to the up guy, and he was like, ‘Steel, just once you get it, throw it back to Troy and we’re going to have an open lane.’ It worked out perfectly.”
Foster’s catch and run on a quick slant over the middle for a 59-yard score was also the longest play from scrimmage for the Oilers. Shehadeh made a contested catch in the end zone for the final score of the half.
Saucedo rushed for 121 yards, including a 22-yard scamper in which he spun out of a tackle to convert a fourth-and-4 late in the third quarter for La Habra (6-1, 2-0). Martinez scored on the next play to trim the Oilers’ lead to 28-26. DJ Mitchell, who provided the Highlanders’ only two completions in the passing game, also ran for 98 yards.
“Both our quarterbacks are tough,” Mazzotta said, referring to Saucedo and Mitchell. “They’re both wiry, and they’re fast, and they are tough. They are good runners.”
Huntington Beach travels to take on Foothill (4-3, 1-1) on Friday, Oct. 18, while La Habra will host Crean Lutheran (6-1, 2-0) in a battle for first place in the Epsilon League.
Epsilon League
La Habra 37, Huntington Beach 35
SCORE BY QUARTERS
La Habra 13 - 0 - 13 - 11 — 37
Huntington Beach 14 - 14 - 0 - 7 — 35
FIRST QUARTER
HB — Lopez 6 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 11:09.
LH — Saucedo 13 run (Saucedo pass failed), 7:05.
HB — Foster 59 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 6:01.
LH — Martinez 2 run (Ramirez kick), 1:39.
SECOND QUARTER
HB — Kurtz 15 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 9:48.
HB — Shehadeh 28 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 1:25.
THIRD QUARTER
LH — Martinez 1 run (Ramirez kick), 5:44.
LH — Martinez 5 run (Saucedo pass failed), 1:18.
FOURTH QUARTER
LH — Martinez 12 run (Mitchell run), 5:00.
HB — Edmunds 1 run (Zavala kick), 1:12.
LH — Ramirez 40 FG, 0:01.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
LH — Martinez, 23-131, 4 TDs; Saucedo, 10-121, 1 TD; Mitchell, 13-98.
HB — Riola, 6-24; Edmunds, 2-13, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
LH — Mitchell, 2-8-0, 56.
HB — Edmunds, 23-38-0, 294, 4 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
LH — Rogers, 1-54.
HB — Foster, 5-107, 1 TD; Kurtz, 9-86, 1 TD; Shehadeh, 5-69, 1 TD.
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