By Tyler Sonderholzer
In their first home game of the season, the varsity football team blew out the El Toro Chargers by a score of 38-0. The Barons improved their record to 2-1, with all three games being non-league matchups.
“Our goal going into this game was for our team to compete and they did so we did well,” head coach David Gutierrez.
To start the game, the Barons kicked the ball off to the Chargers and on the first play of the game, the Chargers got a nine-yard run play but the Baron defense managed to stop the Charger offense on the next two plays. On Fourth and One, however, the Charger offense was able to get a first down to keep their drive going. Just like the last set of downs, the Barons were able to make two consecutive defensive stops but the Chargers got a 22-yard pass to get the first down. The Baron defense was able to break up a deep pass that would have led to a Chargers touchdown, however, the Barons were flagged for defensive pass interference to bring the ball to their 19-yard line. After the penalty, the Baron defense held firm, preventing the Chargers from scoring and getting the ball on a turnover on downs.
Senior running back Abdel Habibeh got a nine-yard rush on the first offensive play for the Barons and he followed up with a two-yard rush to get the first down. The next couple of plays were plagued with penalties as there was a personal foul penalty on the Chargers and two holding penalties on the Barons. After a five-yard pass on third down, the Barons were forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Chargers.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Chargers got the ball to start the second quarter and were able to get a 26-yard gain on a screen pass. The Baron defense held firm as senior defensive lineman Fernando Garcia sacked the quarterback for a loss of five yards and the Chargers were flagged for holding, bringing them back five yards. On the following play, senior linebacker Caine Elroy made a great tackle and he blocked the punt on the next play to give the Baron offensive excellent field position.
Following the blocked punt, the Barons got their third holding penalty of the game but a 12-yard rush by senior running back Max Smith got the Barons a first down. Junior quarterback Noa Banua and Habibeh both got five-yard runs to get the Barons a first down. On the next play, Banua threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring and sophomore kicker Nolan Olivares kicked the extra point to make it 7-0 Barons.
Following the touchdown, the Baron defense was dominant by sacking the quarterback for 19 yards and making two great stops, forcing the Charger offense to punt the ball back to the Barons.
The first two plays on offense were pass incompletions but Banua was able to rush for six yards and a penalty on the Chargers gave the Barons a first down. On the next play, the Baron offense got a huge passing play of 32 yards to put them in excellent field position. On that play, however, the Barons got a bench warning penalty and the Chargers got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, meaning the penalties were offset. Following two incompletions, Banua threw a six-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Scott Peshke and Olivares kicked the extra point to extend the Baron lead to 14-0.
After the touchdown, the Chargers offense did very little with a minute left in the second quarter and the first half ended with the Barons leading 14-0.
On the kickoff, Olivares got to the Barons’ 40-yard line, a kickoff return of around 30 yards, however, there was a penalty on the Barons which brought the ball back to their 25-yard line. The Barons got another holding penalty on the next play, their fourth of the game. After two short plays, Banua threw a tremendous pass to senior wide receiver Luke Crosby for a 70-yard touchdown pass and Olivares made another extra point to make it 21-0 in favor of the Barons.
The Baron defense continued their dominance as senior linebacker Isaiah Burney made a great stop to prevent a good play from the Chargers. On the next play, the Charger quarterback dropped the snap but he was able to recover the ball and a deep pass was thrown incomplete to make it fourth down. On the punt, however, the Barons got a roughing the kicker penalty for making contact with the punter, giving the Chargers a free first down. Garcia made two great stops at the line of scrimmage, preventing the Chargers from getting any offense going and senior defensive lineman Michael Rocha sacked the quarterback to make it fourth down, forcing the Chargers to punt.
Immediately after the punt, Banua threw another great touchdown pass to senior running back Max Smith for 51 yards and Olivares kicked his fourth extra point, making the game 28-0.
The Baron defense was able to stop the Charger offense yet again as the defense forced the Chargers to punt for the third time.
After the punt, the Baron offense continued with players like senior Ben Pham and Smith getting big plays, pushing the Barons downfield. On the next play, Habibeh got an 11-yard rushing touchdown to expand their lead to 35-0.
The Charger offense fumbled the ball with Elroy recovering the fumble and giving the Barons the ball back.
Following the fumble, the Baron offense had great position as they were less than 20 yards away from the endzone, however, they were unable to get a touchdown as senior running back Adrian Esquivel could not get into the endzone after two rushes. As a result, the Baron offense had to settle with a field goal kicked by Olivares expanding the Baron lead yet again to 38-0.
The game ended shortly after with the Chargers doing little in the last minute of the game and time expired, signaling a 38-0 win for the Barons.
“We’re just happy to see all the community out are our barons from school and, and the families that support these young men,” Gutierrez said.
The Barons next play Sept. 9th against Marina, whose record is 0-2 at Huntington Beach High School with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
