Anthony Fabian’s big night sends Marina to overtime win over Fountain Valley

WESTMINSTER —  More than two hours after the previous scoring play, Marina running back Anthony Fabian rumbled toward the right pylon and into the end zone.

His teammates soon followed him there, as a celebration broke out at the north end of Boswell Field.

Fabian rushed for 224 yards and two touchdowns, leading Marina to a 13-7 overtime victory over Fountain Valley on Friday in a nonleague football game.

“It felt amazing,” Fabian said of scoring the game-winning touchdown in the first overtime period. “Just pure adrenaline through me. My heart was racing. My eyes lit up. I had a little fire under [me]. I was just really hyped and determined to get that touchdown.”

Fullback Duk Caldwell and wide receiver Micah Rhoads delivered key blocks on the decisive score, which came on a third-and-6 play from the 17-yard line.

The Vikings had shown confidence in the run game throughout the contest. The bold play calls had included going for a fourth-and-1 from their own 12-yard line, which Fabian turned into a 14-yard gain in the third quarter.

Fabian’s career night began with a 57-yard scoring run on the third offensive play for Marina (1-1). He would ultimately carry the ball 31 times, adding one catch for 9 yards.

The work happened behind an offensive line of left tackle Adam Dekhili, left guard Zack Hanna, center Emitt Been, right guard Tyler Smith and right tackle Jacob Geloian.

“A round of applause to all of them,” Fabian said. “I think I’m going to take them to IHOP after this, you know. All-you-can-eat pancakes. I had 230 yards, but they had 230 yards. They blocked for me, they blocked for the quarterback. They did everything they could.”

After a lopsided loss to Sunny Hills in their opener, the Vikings looked within to reverse their fortunes.

“The one thing I told these kids when I first met them, I said, ‘If we can get Marina to be tough, we’re going to win a lot of football games,’” first-year Marina coach Charlie TeGantvoort said. “Tonight, we were tough, and we beat a team that, for all rights and purposes, they’re a Sunset League team. They beat the crap out of us last year, and we beat them because we were just tough tonight.”

Fountain Valley (1-1), which was coming off a 49-46 road win against Troy, appeared set to continue its offensive success. Quarterback Noa Banua turned three carries into 53 yards on the opening drive, capping it with a 23-yard score.

The lead would last just 30 seconds, with Fabian’s longest run of the season providing the answer.

Before the first quarter was up, Fountain Valley’s Aiden Trang and Marina’s Vance Hanson had each secured an interception, the start of a standout night for both defenses.

Landon Rittenhouse had 1½ sacks for Fountain Valley. Hayden Espinoza defended three passes in the secondary, and Nicholas Southern recovered a fumble. Nolan Olivares had six catches for 90 yards.

“Marina played really hard, and we got the best of them, and that’s what we expect from a local team,” Fountain Valley coach David Gutierrez said. “They know each other, so we expected that, and we have to execute. I thought we protected well. A couple bad plays and it stacks up, kind of snowballs and gets bigger and bigger. The kids, they’re resilient. They had a tough game last week. They had a tough game this week.”

Ty Green had four catches for 45 yards to lead Marina’s receivers. He added a 57-yard punt.

Marina plays at San Dimas (1-1) on Friday, while Fountain Valley plays host to Bellflower (1-1).

Nonleague

Marina 13, Fountain Valley 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Fountain Valley 7 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 7

Marina 7 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 6 - 13

FIRST QUARTER

FV - Banua 23 run (Olivares kick), 7:42.

M - Fabian 57 run (Scolfield kick), 7:12.

SECOND QUARTER

None.

THIRD QUARTER

None.

FOURTH QUARTER

None.

OVERTIME

M - Fabian 17 run.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

FV - Banua, 10-124, 1 TD.

M - Fabian, 31-224, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

FV - Banua, 13-28-1, 131.

M - Hunnicutt, 9-21-1, 86.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

FV - Olivares, 6-90.

M - Green, 4-45.