Nerves of Steel: Kurtz leads Huntington Beach in win over Mayfair
BELLFLOWER — A jack of all trades is often referred to as a master of none.
Neither phrase applies to what Steel Kurtz did to get the Huntington Beach football team back in the win column on Friday.
Kurtz was everywhere in a 31-21 win for the Oilers over host Lakewood Mayfair in a nonleague game at Ron Yary Stadium.
The junior receiver made a pair of key catches on fourth downs, one for a 3-yard touchdown on a double move on the Oilers’ first trip into the red zone. Huntington Beach (3-2) failed to score in three visits to the red zone in a 21-0 defeat at Redondo Union on Sept. 13.
“I think the ship was already steady, to be honest with you,” said Brady Edmunds, the Oilers’ sophomore quarterback. “Last week was not us. We come out and we finish in the red zone, we’re winning, or if not, it’s a tight game throughout.”
Mayfair (3-2) had just come up with a defensive stop after cutting the Huntington Beach lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter when Kurtz made his presence felt again. The free safety intercepted a pass on the first play after the change of possession, setting the Oilers up on the edge of the red zone. It turned into a short field goal for Mattheo Zavala.
“We were in our little pregame [meeting], where we call out special teams, offense, defense and stuff,” Huntington Beach coach Brett Brown said. “I tell them to stand up if you’re on kickoff or punt or punt return or whatever. Steel stands up the whole time — like he’s on every special teams [unit], he’s on defense the whole game, and he played offense almost the whole game, too, especially with Niko [Lopez] going down with a shoulder injury tonight, so Steel, we couldn’t really get him too many breaks on offense.”
The Oilers seemingly landed an early knockout punch in the last minute of the first half. Facing fourth-and-25 from the 26-yard line, Huntington Beach kept its offense on the field. Edmunds threw the ball underneath the coverage, and Kurtz weaved through the defense to pick up the first down inside the 1-yard line. Edmunds scored on a keeper on the next play, lifting Huntington Beach to a 24-7 advantage going into the break.
“It’s a lot of work,” Kurtz said. “It’s tiring not coming off the field, but you got to do what you got to do. You watch film. You know what they’re going to do, you execute correctly, you make catches, you run after the catch. Brady is a great quarterback. He’s throwing it on the spot, and he’s letting you do your thing.”
Down three offensive linemen, the Huntington Beach coaching staff figured the game plan would include getting the ball out quick. The Oilers could not have envisioned a better start, striking like lightning with a 49-yard catch and run from Troy Foster with just 29 seconds off the clock.
“It was a play that we put in this week that we put him in motion to see what they would do to it,” Brown said. “It looked good in practice all week, and it kind of set up exactly how we thought it would with him coming straight across the field. It’s always nice when we can hit him in stride. He’s a big-time player.”
Foster, who had six catches for 157 yards, concluded his night with a 25-yard touchdown, as Edmunds again hit his leading target in stride up the right sideline.
Edmunds rebounded from a scoreless outing to produce 275 passing yards and four total touchdowns (one rushing).
Mayfair entered with momentum on its side. The Monsoons had won three in a row and edged crosstown rival Lakewood 38-31 in overtime in their most recent contest.
Jeremiah Calvin finished with 152 passing yards and three touchdowns, one to each of Aidan Sullivan, Louis Johnson and Justyn Smith.
Huntington Beach took advantage of the Monsoons’ miscues, though, including two possessions when Charles Stubin and Maxx Hopkins recovered pooch kicks following first-half scoring drives for the Oilers.
“We were able to steal possessions, and I think that’s what kind of gave us the edge in this game,” Edmunds said.
An eventful first half did not go without incident for the Oilers. Rudy Rojas jumped on a fumbled snap, Jeromy Powell had an interception, and the Monsoons also forced a turnover on downs when Kashton Foreman came up with a sack on fourth down.
Trent Clark had a sack and three tackles for a loss. Owen Bone, Ian Reed and Brody Rutherford-Livingston each had one sack.
Left tackle Andrew Losoya, left guard Enzo Luciano, center Caden McNiven, right guard Leo Caggiano and right tackle Giovanni Truong received praise after the turnaround performance. The makeshift offensive line limited the Monsoons to two sacks.
“It was just dudes stepping up,” Edmunds said of the offensive line. “That’s really all it is.”
Nonleague
Huntington Beach 31, Mayfair 21
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntington Beach 14 - 10 - 0 - 7 — 31
Mayfair 0 - 7 - 7 - 7 — 21
FIRST QUARTER
HB — Foster 49 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 11:31.
HB — Kurtz 3 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 1:59.
SECOND QUARTER
M — Sullivan 47 pass from Calvin (Arreola kick), 8:01.
HB — Zavala 24 FG, 3:32.
HB — Edmunds 1 run (Zavala kick), 0:25.
THIRD QUARTER
M — Johnson 12 pass from Calvin (Arreola kick), 7:21.
FOURTH QUARTER
HB — Foster 25 pass from Edmunds (Zavala kick), 9:07.
M — Smith 14 pass from Calvin (Arreola kick), 0:18.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
HB — Riola, 10-22.
M — Johnson, 14-56.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
HB — Edmunds, 18-32-1, 275, 3 TDs.
M — Calvin, 11-16-1, 152, 3 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
HB — Foster, 6-157, 2 TDs; Kurtz, 6-48, 1 TD.
M — Sullivan, 1-47, 1 TD; Mitchell, 3-40.
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