Huntington Beach uses familiar formula to beat Orange in football opener

ORANGE – The Huntington Beach football team looks much like it did last year.

Junior quarterback Brady Edmunds threw three touchdown passes, and Huntington Beach’s two leading receivers  last season, Troy Foster and Steel Kurtz, caught them as the Oilers opened the season with a 35-18 win over Orange on Thursday at El Modena High.

Edmunds (6-5, 215), who committed to Ohio State, completed 19 passes for 213 yards. He threw two touchdown passes to Foster, a Colorado State commit, and one to Kurtz.

Oilers senior defensive end Gavin Seguin, All-Epsilon League first team last season, had two sacks. All-league linebacker Owen Bone contributed a fourth-quarter interception.

Edmunds’s evaluation of his team’s performance was a positive one.

“I thought we played hard,” he said. “We responded in the second half a lot better and we were physical throughout the whole game.”

The teams combined for more than 200 yards in penalties, some of them personal fouls and unsportsmanlike penalty infractions. Edmunds said that must cease.

“We need to clean up the extracurricular penalties,” Edmunds said. “We had a lot of penalties that weren’t needed, holdings that weren’t needed. Just clean up that and I think that would have changed the scoreboard a lot.”

Huntington Beach finished 7-5 overall last year and was third in the Epsilon League with a 3-2 league record. The Oilers have a new coach, Matthew Hatchette, who was a receiver in the NFL.

Orange last year was 2-8 overall and 2-3 in the Foxtrot League.

The Panthers missed some tackles and had difficulty running the football. But they also had strong efforts from sophomore quarterback Star Thomas and junior receiver Adam Maldonado.

Thomas threw two touchdown passes, both to the quick and sure-handed Maldonado. Thomas ran for a 5-yard touchdown on the final snap of the game.

Thomas, who throws left-handed, was busy. He completed 22 of 39 passes for 273 yards.

After two tentative offensive series, Huntington Beach got it going on its third possession. The drive ended with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Edmunds to Foster for a 7-0 lead.

The Oilers made it 14-0 in the second quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Nathan Villanueva.

Orange scored with 12 seconds to go in the second quarter, on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Maldonado. The run attempt for two points was stopped, leaving the score at 14-6 at halftime.

The Oilers stretched their lead to 21-6 midway through the third quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Edmunds to Kurtz. A 5-yard scoring run by Villanueva made it 28-6 late in the third quarter.

Thomas threw a 5-yard touchdown to Maldonado early in the fourth quarter. The point-after kick attempt was unsuccessful.

Huntington Beach pushed its lead to 35-12 on Edmunds’ 32-yard touchdown pass to Foster.

Thomas’ final-snap touchdown run accounted for the 35-18 final.

Huntington Beach plays at Trabuco Hills on Friday, Aug. 29. Orange plays Laguna Hills on Aug. 29 at El Modena High.