Huntington Beach football off to first 3-0 start since 2006
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LONG BEACH — AJ Vandermade backflipped into the postgame huddle Thursday night, then did another backflip afterward for effect as a teammate recorded on his phone.
“It’s a reward,” the Huntington Beach High senior receiver/safety explained. “Something to get the team going after a big win, get us hyped.”
Coach Brett Brown just smiled when asked about Vandermade’s athletics.
“I don’t know how somebody can have that much energy,” he said. “But he does.”
Winning can energize anyone, and the Oilers now find themselves in a position they haven’t been in since some of the players on the team were born.
Huntington Beach routed Long Beach Wilson 43-7 on the road Thursday night. The Oilers are off to their first 3-0 start since 2006.
Senior quarterback Daunte Bell threw three touchdown passes, two to Vandermade and one to Musashi Ray. Junior running back Jack Geracitano ran hard all night, finishing with 22 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown.
The Oilers actually got production from all three of their quarterbacks. Senior Vaughn Popp threw a screen touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Tyler Young, and then senior Andrew Verdone capped the scoring late with a 42-yard scramble for a score.
“We knew what we were going against, knew it was going to be good competition,” said Vandermade, who now has four receiving touchdowns this season. “It was a good chance to go 3-0 this week. Really [we have] a good chance to go 5-0 on the preseason. We’re going to stay locked in, go week by week, get the job done and get our roles straight.”
The Oilers led Wilson (0-2), coached by former Corona del Mar head man Scott Meyer, by two touchdowns at halftime. But they left points on the table in the first half with three turnovers — a muffed punt and an interception and fumble, both in the red zone.
Huntington Beach came out with a power offense to start the third quarter, running the ball 11 straight times, 10 of those by Geracitano. The 10th carry found the end zone from 5 yards out, giving the visitors a 21-0 advantage.
“We wanted to see if we were physical enough to just run the ball a little bit,” Brown said. “We knew that if we could come out in the third quarter and dominate the line of scrimmage a little bit, it would be good for the game.”
Vandermade, who plays safety on defense, then provided a standout play on the Bruins’ first drive of the second half. Cameron Chapman burst up the middle and seemed to be gone on a 79-yard touchdown run.
But Vandermade, fast charging, caught up to Chapman and poked the ball free at the 2-yard-line before recovering it. It was his second strip fumble of the season.
“He’s one of the fastest kids I’ve coached, and that effort to not give up was unbelievable,” Brown said. “Pure heart.”
Wilson, which was shut out last week against Redondo Union, managed to get on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter Friday after a 47-yard scramble by quarterback Ian Bond.
Senior defensive tackle Dylan Weber contributed 2½ quarterback sacks for the winners, also recovering a fumble. He said the Oilers expect to be ready to go when they host El Toro (0-3) next Thursday night.
Last year, the Oilers couldn’t hold onto a fourth-quarter lead and lost on the road to the Chargers.
“The scoreboard says they only scored seven, but we have a lot of things to patch up and fix if we’re going to defeat the teams in front of us,” Weber said of the team’s defensive effort against Wilson. “We’re not focusing on Wilson, El Toro, none of the teams in front of us. It’s just about us, and how we play.”
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Nonleague
Huntington Beach 43, Long Beach Wilson 7
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntington Beach 14 – 0 – 14 – 15 – 43
Long Beach Wilson 0 – 0 – 0 – 7 – 7
FIRST QUARTER
HB – Vandermade 30 pass from Bell (Othman kick), 9:17.
HB – Vandermade 9 pass from Bell (Othman kick), 1:46.
THIRD QUARTER
HB – Geracitano 5 run (Othman kick), 6:32.
HB – Ray 15 pass from Bell (Othman kick), 1:54.
FOURTH QUARTER
W – I. Bond 47 run (I. Bond kick), 6:36.
HB – Young 52 pass from Popp (Vandermade run), 4:16.
HB – Verdone 42 run (Othman kick), 1:41.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
HB – Geracitano, 22-153, 1 TD.
W – Chapman, 8-121.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
HB – Bell, 9-15-1, 217, 3 TDs.
W – I. Bond, 11-18-0, 93.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
HB – Vandermade, 5-117, 2 TDs.
W – A. Bond, 4-46.
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