HUNTINGTON BEACH – Huntington Beach’s Hunter Simmons ran for four touchdowns and the Oilers’ defense held Marina off the scoreboard in a 32-0 victory in both teams’ Sunset League opener at Huntington Beach High on Friday.
“This is really going to push us,” Simmons said. “We’ve had a hard schedule, and we’re going to come back on top and kill it in league.”
Following an interception by Alfonso Paez in the first quarter, Huntington Beach (3-3, 1-0) opened the scoring in the second quarter with a 31-yard field goal by Fletcher Wilson.
From there it was Simmons, Simmons and more Simmons.
After pinning Marina (1-5, 0-1) inside its own five-yard line, the Oilers took advantage of short field position as Simmons ran 20 yards for his first score of the night and a 10-0 lead.
Kobee Lagarde’s 80-yard pass to John Davis set up a 1-yard Simmons touchdown run on Huntington Beach’s next drive.
Paez pulled in a second interception with 46 seconds remaining in the half, and Simmons finished the drive with a 6-yard run for his third touchdown and a 24-0 halftime lead.
Late in a sloppy third quarter, Simmons ran 36 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game. Payton Marlow ran in the two-point conversion for a 32-0 lead.
Simmons carried the ball on 28 of the Oilers’ 54 plays for 280 yards rushing.
“Yes, I do,” Simmons said when asked if he liked his workload. “And I love running hard.”
On defense, Huntington Beach reeled in three interceptions and a fumble recovery and held Marina to 82 yards gained.
“We stopped the run and made a bunch of turnovers,” Oilers’ coach Eric Lo said. “So that’s good to see.”
The Oilers committed 15 penalties for 170 yards.
