Caleb Bey of Crean Lutheran picks up a gain as Owen Bone of Huntington Beach gets ready to make a tackle. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano, Ted Rigoni and Wendy Rueter).
After falling behind by three touchdowns in the first half, Crean Lutheran’s football team stormed back and scored 31 unanswered points and then held on to defeat Huntington Beach 31-28 in a wild Epsilon League game Friday night on Senior Night at Crean Lutheran.
The win helped clinched at least a share of the league title for Crean Lutheran (9-0, 4-0) with one more league game left Thursday at Laguna Hills. The two teams came into the game undefeated in league and tied for first place.
Saints running back Caleb Bey, quarterback Caden Jones and a resurgent Crean Lutheran defense sparked the comeback and gave the Saints their second 9-0 record to start a season in school’s history.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I trust our talent and our coaches,” said Saints Coach Rick Curtis. “The kids were shell shocked, and we were flat when the game started, but we stayed focused on the process, made some adjustments and we cleaned it up. Caleb Bey is amazing and our Oline did a great job tonight.”
Early in the second quarter, Huntington Beach quarterback Brady Edmunds stunned the home crowd with a picture-perfect 42-yard TD pass to Troy Foster, increasing Huntington Beach’s lead to 21-0.
Crean Lutheran then started to show life and turned the tide of the game.
The Saints, aided by several Oilers’ penalties, got on the board at the 7:37 mark of the quarter when Bey scored on a seven-yard TD run to cap a six-play, 81-yard scoring drive and trim the lead to 21-7.
“We stayed focused and played hard-nosed football,” said Bey, who rushed 26 times for 167 yards and scored three touchdowns. “He also caught eight passes for 59 yards, including a 10-yard TD Pass from Jones to tie the game at 21-21 just before halftime. “We trained all summer for this and it’s an amazing win.”
Crean Lutheran’s defense, led by James Carrington, Anthony Jones, Ryder Barnes and Evan Mack, stepped up and shut down the Oilers offense on their final three drives of the second quarter. Huntington Beach (7-2, 3-1) repeatedly hurt themselves with offsides, procedure and personal foul penalties in the quarter.
“We came together as a team and did not panic,” said Carrington, an Oklahoma-commit. “We rose to the occasion.”
His defensive teammate and UCLA-commit Anthony Jones agreed with Carrington.
“We made some necessary adjustments, and we knew what we had to do, and we did not panic or worry,” said Jones.
Caden Jones took advantage of the Oilers miscues and guided the Saints on two scoring drives in the final 3:15 of the second quarter. Dillon Booth scored on a 1-yard TD run and Bey caught a short pass from Jones, made a sharp cut, and barreled into the end zone to tie the score at 21-21 with 24 seconds left in the half.
Jones completed 26 passes for 172 yards and a TD pass. He also rushed seven times for 40 yards. His poise and leadership were a key to the Saints comeback.
“We trusted our process and made adjustments,” said Jones, who has thrown for 2,403 yards and 25 TD passes this season. He has not thrown an interception this season. “Caleb was unbelievable and I’m so proud of our guys. We just need to continue to stay focused and humble.”
The Saints (9-0, 4-0) opened the second half with a 15-play drive capped off by a 37-yard field goal by Eric Miao, giving Crean Lutheran its first lead – 24-21 – of the game.
“I felt extra pressure when I ran onto the field to attempt the field goal,” said Miao, a junior. “I was a little nervous, but I knew I had to put the ball through the posts, and I was fortunate to do so.”
Bey added a five-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter to increase the Saints lead to 31-21 with 9:14 to play.
Edmunds capped a long Oilers scoring drive with a one-yard TD run with 3:51 to play to cut the lead to 31-28. However, Huntington Beach was unable to get the ball back. Bey rushed for a couple of first downs down the stretch allowing the Saints to run out the clock and secure the victory. Edmunds completed 16 passes and three TDs in the game and has thrown for 2,344 yards this season, along with 29 TD passes.
Huntington Beach jumped out to a fast start.
On the third play of the game, Edmunds connected with Foster on a slant pass over the middle. Foster caught the ball and turned on the speed, breaking away from the secondary and scoring on a 63-yard TD paly to give the Oilers 7-0 lead. Foster caught seven passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.
Late in the quarter, Edmunds completed a swing pass to running back Nathan Villanueva who cruised 14 yards into the end zone for a touchdown to up Huntington Beach’s lead to 14-0.
Early in the second quarter, Edmunds tossed a perfect 42-yard TD pass to Foster, increasing Huntington Beach’s lead to 21-0.
“Our hats are off to Crean Lutheran,” said Oilers Coach Matthew Hatchette. “They’re a good football team. We had a couple of things that didn’t bounce our way and the penalties, let’s just say I hope in the playoffs we get better refereeing. It seems like week after week many of the calls are going against us.”
Notes:
—Prior to the game, Crean Lutheran honored its 11 football seniors (Dillon Booth, Bryce Coleman, Cole Ocana, Javari Nash, Taiga Takada, Ryder Barnes, Mark Ricks, Luke Kyser, Anthony Jones, James Carrington, and Sione Kaihau) in a on field ceremony.
Also honored were senior cheerleaders, and Dance and Spirit Team (Caris Rabbitt/Varsity Song, Jasmine Petronis/Saints Sweets Shop Club, Tatum Bailey/Cheerleader, Haydon Chew and Adi Minor, Song Team. Crean Lutheran Senior Ashlyn Tolmasso sang a moving rendition of the National Anthem.
—-Huntington Beach first year head coach Matthew Hatchette played wide receiver in the NFL for seven seasons with four teams (Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars). He caught 60 passes in his career and scored six TDs. Hatchette played his college ball for Langston University in Oklahoma.
—-Oilers junior quarterback, Brady Edmunds, is being highly recruited. He has verbally committed to play at Ohio State. Ohio State coaches attended Friday’s game.
—-Crean Lutheran plays its final regular season game next week at Laguna Hills while the Oilers finish their regular season schedule on the road at El Dorado.
—-The Saints are 6-0 at home this season.
—-Crean Lutheran has several players committed to play college football next season: Javari Nash, Free Safety (San Diego State), Bryce Coleman, wide receiver (Columbia), Dillon Booth, Wide Receiver (Hawaii), Anthony Jones, Defensive End (leaning towards UCLA), and James Carrington, Defensive Tackle (Oklahoma).
—Prior to the Friday’s game, Crean Lutheran’s coach Rick Curtis gave props to his son and head coach of Capo Valley, Sean Curtis, for their 30-14 victory over El Modena on Thursday night. The Cougars improved to 8-1 and 4-0 and are tied for first place in the Delta League with Tustin. Capo Valley hosts Tustin next Thursday night for the league title. The Cougars only loss this season was to Crean Lutheran (23-6) on September 5.
—Huntington Beach, currently ranked No. 2 in Division 5 according to MaxPreps, had their six-game winning streak snapped. Their only other loss this season was a one-point setback to Trabuco Hills on August 29.
—The Saints are ranked No. 3 in Division 3, according to MaxPreps.
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