Slow start hurts Huntington Beach football in season-ending loss
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INGLEWOOD — Brady Edmunds was not surprised that the Huntington Beach High football team rallied in the second half against Inglewood on Friday night in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
For Edmunds, a four-year starter for the Oilers at quarterback bound for Ohio State, this was something he saw throughout his high school career.
“We’re not as big as every team we line up in front of, but I would take my guys 10 times out of 10,” he said after the final whistle. “I think we’ve got the most heart. We’re probably not a Division 2 football team, but we just play with so much heart. We just don’t fall down, don’t give up and things work out in our favor.”
The Oilers ultimately were not able to extend their undefeated regular season into a lengthy playoff run, as Inglewood won 44-35 at Caroline Coleman Stadium to end Huntington Beach’s season.
Huntington Beach (10-1) fell behind 24-0 in the first half against the No. 3-seeded Sentinels (10-1), who used their speed on offense and a stout defense led by Oklahoma commit Elijah Harmon and Texas A&M commit Myels Smith on the line.
Junior quarterback Lincoln Jahn had four touchdown passes for Inglewood, while senior running back Marlon Watson had nearly 200 yards rushing and a pair of scores.
Inglewood’s speedy junior receiver Andre Williams, who caught two touchdown passes for the winners, said the first-half blitz was not unexpected.
“They tried to run a lot of man [defense],” Williams said of the Oilers. “We’re not a team that you can really run man against, you’ve got to really stay in a zone. We beat man a lot, and we just exploited it today. It was great on all ends, the run game and the passing game.”
Huntington Beach’s lone first-half touchdown came after a botched punt attempt gave the visitors excellent field position. They scored on a 5-yard keeper by Edmunds.
The Oilers trailed 30-9 at halftime, with Edmunds passing for just 80 yards and an interception on a tipped ball prior to intermission. He finished 26 of 45 passing for 379 yards and three scores.
“We said all week that we had to withstand the first blow,” said second-year Oilers head coach Matthew Hatchette, a former NFL receiver. “That first blow was 24-0, so we didn’t withstand it, right? We didn’t panic, it just put us in a hole. We had to kind of settle down, and we just settled down a little bit too late. But that’s what big games are. Big playoff games in a hostile environment, you have to go through it. We went through it tonight … and our guys are going to grow from it.
“I’m so proud of our guys, man. We fought, we didn’t give up. We could have left at halftime, we could have shut it down at halftime, and we didn’t. They showed a lot of resilience, and I just love these guys for fighting how they fought tonight.”
Delta League champion Huntington Beach, which both won a league title and went 10-0 in the regular season for the first time since the Tony Gonzalez-led team of 1993, did try to rally, even after Inglewood scored on its opening drive of the second half.
Dylin Bruce caught a 35-yard touchdown pass, then Edmunds scored on a 3-yard keeper to cut the deficit to 36-22 with 4:10 left in the game. Inglewood responded with a 24-yard touchdown run to Watson, but the ensuing play from scrimmage was a 63-yard bomb from Edmunds to Skylar Robinson for a score.
Blake Smith recovered the ensuing onside kick for the Oilers, and Edmunds hit Kye Crump on a 14-yard touchdown pass to bring the Oilers within 44-35 with 1:50 left. But the extra point was blocked by Inglewood’s Jediah Cabs, keeping it a two-score game.
Edmunds credited both of his head coaches during his tenure, Brett Brown and Hatchette, for shaping him as a football player and as a man.
Hatchette, in turn, said that Edmunds “gave me his heart.”
“He’s as tough as nails,” he said.
The Oilers will also be losing Bruce, an Arizona State commit as a cornerback, and Robinson. But Hatchette said the goal, as always, is to continue to get better.
“It’s fun,” he said of the buzz the team created this season. “The community, hopefully they love it and appreciate it. I appreciate the community for backing us during this time, but we want to still set our sights higher next year, go deeper in the playoffs hopefully. We’ll continue to get better either way.”
Inglewood plays at Bay League rival Palos Verdes in a Division 2 quarterfinal game on Friday night.
CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs
First round
Inglewood 44, Huntington Beach 35
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntington 0 - 9 - 6 - 20 — 35
Inglewood 12 - 18 - 6 - 8 — 44
FIRST QUARTER
I — Williams 44 pass from Jahn (kick blocked), 6:26.
I — Nickerson 43 pass from Jahn (kick blocked), 2:37.
SECOND QUARTER
I — Wilson 16 pass from Jahn (pass failed), 11:29.
I — Welch 3 run (kick failed), 10:52.
HB — Edmunds 5 run (pass failed), 6:22.
HB — Newmaster 27 FG, 3:06.
I — Williams 22 pass from Jahn (run failed), 2:05.
THIRD QUARTER
I — Watson 16 run (run failed), 9:21.
HB — Bruce 35 pass from Edmunds (run failed), 4:31.
FOURTH QUARTER
HB — Edmunds 3 run (Newmaster kick), 4:10.
I — Watson 24 run (Crawford pass from Jahn), 3:02.
HB — Robinson 63 pass from Edmunds (Newmaster kick), 2:43.
HB — Crump 14 pass from Edmunds (kick blocked), 1:50.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
HB — Bruce, 1-28; Edmunds, 10-(minus 4), 2 TDs.
I —Watson, 26-197, 2 TDs; Welch, 4-43, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
HB — Edmunds, 26-45-1, 379, 3 TDs.
I — Jahn, 13-19-0, 255, 4 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
HB — Robinson, 9-178, 1 TD; Bruce, 6-94, 1 TD; Crump, 7-81, 1 TD.
I —Williams, 6-149, 2 TDs; Wilson, 4-49, 1 TD.
