High School Football: Marina breaks the streak

WESTMINSTER — Heading into its final Sunset League contest of the season against Fountain Valley High on Friday, Marina hadn’t won a league game since Nov. 5, 2004, a 24-14 victory over Huntington Beach.

But all streaks eventually come to an end, even undesirable ones.

Marina’s 35-7 Sunset League victory over the Barons on Thursday at Westminster High School snapped the Vikings 60-game losing streak in league play.

The Vikings finished 5-6 overall and 1-4 in league play.

Fountain Valley, meanwhile, is on a losing streak of its own, finishing 1-9 and 0-5 in league play.

“Honestly, as a team, we felt we should have won some other games,” Marina Coach Jeff Turley said. “We’d have games where we had great defense and our offense couldn’t move the ball. We’d have games where our offense would move the ball but we couldn’t stop anybody. We just had to bring it all together.”

Turley said the victory was the most emotional one of his career, but not because the Vikings ended the losing streak.

Solo Tafua, Marina’s defensive line coach, died suddenly a week ago.

When the game ended, the Vikings’ players, coaches, cheerleaders and fans stood along the sidelines on the home side of the field and released balloons into the sky in honor of Tafua, who had been with the Vikings for three years.

“He had a big impact on a lot of their lives,” Turley said. “For us to be able to pull this off a week after coach dying is awesome.”

Several players turned in standout performances for the Vikings.

Quarterback Ian Green completed 10 of 19 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns.

Running back Cooper Malerstein rushed for 164 yards on 23 carries and Blane Reiderich had four receptions for 41 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 50-yard score.

Even offensive tackle Jake Arnold got into the act, scoring from one yard out after being inserted into the backfield.

“We played so hard man,” Green said. “We all just did our jobs. To be the team to break a 12-year losing streak feels great.”

Tafua’s death came as a huge shock for the team, Green said.

But heading into Friday’s contest, the Vikings were fueled by the emotions. He said

“When we started thinking about it, it was honestly a big boost for us,” Green said. “We already had momentum in this game because we had an angel over us.”

With the exception of Fountain Valley’s 80-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, Marina’s defense shut down the Barons.

Noah Homles had two interceptions, one which he returned 42 yards that set up a touchdown.

The Vikings also sacked quarterback Andrew Ross four times and the Barons went three-and-out on six of 10 possessions.

Ross wound up going 11 for 25 for 153 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Sunset League

Marina 35, Fountain Valley 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Fountain Valley 0 - 7 - 0 - 0 - 7

Marina 0 - 21 - 7 - 7 – 35

SECOND QUARTER

Mar – Riederich 25 pass from Green (Kiedel kick), 10:46.

Mar – Holmes 34 pass from Green (Kiedel kick), 5:57.

FV – Sykes 42 pass from Ross (Swain kick), 3:14.

Mar – Arnold 1 run (Kiedel kick), :08.

THIRD QUARTER

Mar – Riederich 40 run (Kiedel kick), 0:00.

FOURTH QUARTER

Mar – Riederich 1 pass from Green (Kiedel kick), 4:19.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

FV – Sykes, 3-5.

Mar – Malerstein, 23-164.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

FV – Ross 11-25-2-153, TD.

Mar - Green 11-19-0-167, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

FV – Sykes, 2-43, TD.

Mar – Holmes 3-61, TD.