Big game for Brethren

The chase for the 2015 Academy League football title has yet to begin for Brethren Christian, but the outcome of the Saturday showdown between the Warriors and rival St. Margaret’s Saturday, may be the biggest game of the league season.

BC hosts the Tartans at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ocean View High.

St. Margaret’s has stood in the way of BC’s bid to win the Academy League in recent years. The Tartans have handed the Warriors their only league loss in each of the first four years under Coach Pat McInally who is in his fifth year at BC.

The Tartans have won 12 consecutive league championships and have not lost a league game dating to the 2004 season (37 consecutive wins).

“They are a good team, once again, and I think it will be a very good matchup Saturday,” McInally said. “Hopefully, we can find a way to win it this year.”

Brethren Christian is 7-0 and has steadily climbed its way toward the top of the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division rankings. The Warriors were ranked second in the division last week but, despite winning big last Friday, are now No. 4.

BC last week was a 42-14 winner at Los Angeles Dymally. The Warriors had only three first-half possessions, and scored touchdowns on each (two by receiver Josh Gorrell, one by receiver Jason Fuga, all three on passes from Joey Gutierrez (seven of 12, 101 yards). Junior running back Justin Leonard exploded for 244 yards and a pair of scores on only nine carries. He scored on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, and scored on a 55-yard run two plays into BC’s second possession. A few plays into the Warriors’ third series of the half, Levon Lester scored on a 52-yard run.

Leonard is the leading rusher in Orange County with 1,404 yards (20 touchdowns).

He’s amassed his yardage despite carrying the ball 10 times or less in three of BC’s seven games.

“He’s been very efficient,” McInally said.

St. Margaret’s, the defending CIF-SS East Valley Division champion, had held down the top spot in the division rankings until two weeks ago. In their fifth game, the Tartans were outscored, 43-40, by Napa Valley Justin-Siena, a CIF Northern California champion last year.

Ranked fourth last week, the Tartans bounced back to win their Academy League opener comfortably last week by taking out Sage Hill, 52-7.

They traded spots with BC in the East Valley Division rankings and now reside in the No. 2 slot.

Saturday could turn into a shootout: St. Margaret’s, 6-1 overall, has scored no fewer than 42 points in a game this year; Brethren Christian, also no fewer than 42 points.

“They lost their only game to a very good team from Napa Valley,” McInally said. “They also were taken to overtime by a good team, [La Jolla The Bishop’s, 42-35 win], from San Diego. They have some really good players. They have a good quarterback [George Krantz], a very dynamic offensive player/kick returner player [wide receiver/running back Nick Shanks], a fast receiver [Auston Locke], and a very tough middle linebacker [Nick Amoukhteh].

Gutierrez, who came in to replace injured starter Bobbie Conklin two weeks ago against Rio Hondo Prep, started against Dymally. Conklin, still nursing a sore ankle, did play last week.

McInally said Gutierrez will get the start Saturday.

“For us, we’ve got to continue to run the ball well, stop their running game and contain their passing game because their quarterback [Krantz] can throw the ball,” McInally said. “Our defense will be tested.”

The St. Margaret’s-Brethren Christian showdown caps a four-game weekend involving local teams. Edison, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Marina and Ocean View, all play Friday games.

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Friday Games

Edison (4-3) vs. Huntington Beach (3-4)

(7 p.m., Huntington Beach High

Edison puts its 2-0 Sunset League record on the line against a Huntington team looking to bounce back from its first league loss.

The Chargers followed up their league-opening, 17-14 victory over Los Alamitos with a 70-3 rout of visiting Marina Oct. 15. Sophomore quarterback Griffin O’Connor threw touchdown passes to junior receiver Shaun Colamonico and sophomore receiver David Atencio Junior E.J. Ginnis scored on an interception return and 11-yard run, senior running back Jacob Marines scored on a 95-yard kickoff return and 22-yard pass from junior quarterback Blake Bowen, junior Nick Warren scored on a 39-yard interception return and Jonathan Moreida on a 13-yard fumble return, and sophomore Chad Pavlik rushed for a touchdown. Sophomores Shelby Burris and Brianna Boykin each kicked a point-after touchdown.

The Chargers are ranked No. 7 in the CIF-SS West Valley Division.

“Everybody got to play,” Edison Coach Dave White said as the Chargers extended their winning streak against Marina to 16 games. “We scored on offense, defense and special teams in the first quarter.”

The next night at Sheue Field, Huntington held a 27-13 halftime lead on visiting Newport Harbor but the Sailors rallied to tie the score late in the fourth quarter, then scored the winning touchdown in overtime on a one-yard keeper by quarterback Michael Bonds, to pull out a 33-27 victory.

Huntington senior running back Hunter Simmons again had a monstrous game, rushing for 323 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries. The Oilers’ other two scores came from its defense, as senior Bradley Partch opened the game’s scoring with a fumble return for a touchdown, and senior defensive back John Davis ran an interception back 95 yards for a touchdown.

The Oilers missed a 36-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation.

Simmons has gone over 1,000 yards rushing with 1,291 yards (13 touchdowns).

It was the second overtime loss this season for Huntington, which earlier in nonleague play fell in double-OT at Moorpark.

The Oilers, 1-1 in league play, need a victory Friday to stay in contention for the Sunset title.

“We’ve got to find a way to slow Hunter Simmons down,” White said. “He is just killing people. [The Oilers] don’t throw a lot but when they do, they get some big completions and big yardage.

“I feel that are continuing to get better each week, and we have to be at our best with some tough games coming up.”

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Marina (1-6) vs. Fountain Valley (5-2)

(7 p.m., Westminster High)

Fountain Valley has been on a tear in the past month and goes up against Marina at Bill Boswell Field.

The Barons went to Veterans Stadium Oct. 15 and shut down host Los Alamitos to score an important, 20-7 victory that kept them tied with Edison at 2-0 and in first place in the Sunset League standings. Junior running back George Sykes gave the Barons a 7-0 lead on a 10-yard touchdown run, senior quarterback Chad Olberding put the Barons in the lead for good (14-7) with a five-yard scoring run, and senior kicker Ben Filipek kicked two field goals in the second half.

Through seven games, Olberding has rushed for 1,011 yards and 14 touchdowns on 112 carries, and has thrown for 623 yards (44 of 91) and three touchdowns with five interceptions.

The Barons have won two of three against Los Alamitos in Ray Fenton’s tenure as head coach including a win two years ago at Veterans Stadium.

Their latest win in the series kept Los Alamitos reeling as the Griffins lost for the fifth-consecutive game.

Fountain Valley brings a five-game winning streak into the Marina game. Fenton attributes his team’s turnaround from an 0-2 start, to its self-imposed willingness to improve.

“The guys are just believing in each other,” he said. “I’ve really been impressed with their determination, and their preparation before games, especially these last two league games, has been so great to see. I’ve found them watching game film before school and at lunchtime, on their own. You want them to see them have success because of the hard work they have been putting in. They’ve been rewarded for that.

“It’s kind of cool to see them on this winning streak. When we started 0-2 and looked at the schedule coming up, games against Trabuco [Hills], Mira Mesa — a good team from San Diego, a Newport Harbor team we hadn’t beaten since 2008, and then Los Al, you think, ‘Uh-oh.’ But, these kids have done a tremendous job in turning things around.”

Fenton said students in the Fountain Valley freshman class will lead the Barons onto the field before the start of the game.

Marina (0-2 in league) has dropped five straight. In its 70-3 loss last week to Edison, junior Rand Keidel kicked a 33-yard field goal, to account for the Vikings’ scoring.

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Orange (3-4) vs. Ocean View (3-4)

(7 p.m., Ocean View High)

Ocean View is close to being undefeated in league play, but instead brings an 0-2 record into its homecoming game.

The Seahawks were edged in their league opener, 21-14, at defending champion Westminster two weeks ago and last Friday, led visiting and undefeated Santa Ana late before the visiting Saints (7-0, No. 7 CIF-SS Southern Division) scored a tying touchdown with just over two minutes left in regulation, and score the game-winning TD in overtime to emerge with a 28-21 win.

Junior running back Adel Holmes scored on a one-yard run for a 7-0 Ocean View lead, junior receiver Xavier Salgado on a 55-yard pass from senior receiver/quarterback Jason Bryan that put the Seahawks up, 14-7, in the third quarter, and junior running back Chase Foreman’s three-yard TD run with 3:18 left in regulation, gave the Seahawks a 21-14 lead.

Santa Ana converted a fourth-and-10 pass resulting in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Arellano to Pablo Aguirre with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the score (21-21). The Saints got the win in overtime on Ramiro Valdivias’ nine-yard TD run.

“I’m still running Friday night in my head, as we truly had one get away,” Ocean View Coach Luis Nunez said. “We didn’t play our best game but our kids’ relentlessness is special to watch. We just aren’t making the two-to-three plays to help us get over the hump.

“My kids know we are a few plays away from being 2-0 in league and we can play with the top-ranked teams in our division. We will continue to work and get better because we aren’t far off from building a program that will be competing with the best in the [CIF-SS] Southern Division. We won’t get it any easier this week with Orange as they are bigger and more physical than Santa Ana.”

Orange also is 0-2 in league play, also after playing both Santa Ana and Westminster. The Panthers dropped their opener to Santa Ana (42-21), and last week fell, 35-7, to Westminster.

“Orange head coach Robert Pedroso has done a amazing job with his team and they will be a program to watch in the near future,” Nunez said. “Our kids have been in three consecutive tough battles and this week won’t be any different.”

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CIF Weekly Rankings

East Valley Division: Brethren Christian, No. 4.

West Valley Division: Edison, No. 7.