By Matthew Nguyen, Staff Writer
On Friday, Fountain Valley suffered a devastating loss to Corona Del Mar High School with a score of 21-49.
The first quarter started off rough for the Barons. A quick fumble on their first offensive drive set the Sea King’s up in an excellent position to score. Corona Del Mar capitalized on Fountain Valley’s mistake and quickly took the lead, however, the Barons rallied back. On their next offensive possession, junior quarterback Josh Stupin handed it off to senior wide receiver Kishaun Sykes off of a quick screen for a long touchdown. A series of terrible pass defense and abysmal protection would leave the Barons down 28-7 after the first quarter.
To open the second quarter the Barons took their shot. With the ball on their 30-yard line, Stupin faked a handoff to Sykes before floating an incredible pass into the awaiting arms of Senior wide receiver Tristan Bettinghausen for a gain of 40 yards. The Barons would not capitalize on the big play and they gave the ball over on downs. Fountain Valley’s passing defense struggled to keep up with the receivers and couldn’t stop the torrent of touchdowns from the Sea Kings. The Barons faced a 35-point deficit heading into halftime.
The Barons adjusted their defensive strategies during halftime and started the third quarter strong. Corona del Mar continued their solid defense. Tough tackles and a multitude of sacks kept both team’s offenses at bay. Eventually, the Sea Kings moved to the Barons 5-yard line and looked primed for another touchdown. A big hit on the ensuing play led to an interception by junior cornerback Dillon Kerrigan, who took the ball 100 yards for the Barons’ second touchdown of the night. The score stood at 14-49 to end the quarter.
In the fourth quarter both teams played at a much slower pace. The Barons’ offense struggled to move the ball while the Sea Kings spent a majority of their possessions running time off of the clock. With about five minutes left in the game, Sykes returned a punt for an electrifying touchdown, which turned out to be the only score by either team during the quarter. But the Sea Kings kept possession for the rest of the game, which concluded with a final score of 21-49.
Even with the tough defeat, the Barons are still optimistic about the rest of the season, hoping to win their final three games and enter C.I.F with a positive record.
“We got three hard games coming up, but I think we could win all of them. Then we got playoffs, where we gotta keep winning all of them in order to keep going,” said junior quarterback Josh Stupin.
