Fountain Valley Rallies Back to Earn Overtime Win Over Marina

Huntington Beach – The Fountain Valley football team earned its second win of the season off a touchdown catch and run from Raymond Dillon Jr., beating Marina 27-21 in overtime on Friday at Cap Sheue Field off a touchdown.

In beating its former Sunset League rival for the first time since 2022, which was also the last time the Barons started league play 2-1. In addition, they’ve also surpassed its win total from the previous two seasons combined.

Fountain Valley scored first, as it faced a third and 19, but saw Isaac Combs find Nathan Gordon on a catch, where he made a move to eventually reach the endzone for the touchdown.

Marina found its first points early in the second quarter, as Ben Ramos ran it in for a touchdown from one yard out. But the extra point was blocked, as Drake Robinson made the play to keep the Barons up 7-6.

The next drive for Fountain Valley also saw it find paydirt, as Combs hit Dillon Jr. who made multiple players miss en route to scoring the touchdown from 29 yards out.

Late in the quarter, the Vikings added to their total, as Maverick Coverick found Carson Hunnicutt, who eventually dove for the endzone for the score. But after an unsportsman-like penalty, the longer two-point conversion failed, as Fountain Valley went into halftime up 14-12.

Neither team found any points in the third quarter, but the Barons’ best chance to do so was on its first drive of the second half. They got the ball all the way down to the Marina 15, but was picked off right at the goal line by Travis Glaser.

Marina eventually strung together a drive that saw them on the opponent’s one yard line, but was stopped on third and fourth down run stops.

The Barons tried to get out of their own territory, but on a quarterback keeper, Cameron Evans tackled Combs into the endzone for a safety, tying the game at 14-14.

Marina’s next drive saw them chew a lot of clock, as they ran the ball effectively with Lucas Delgado and Ramos. Eventually, Ramos ran it on a fourth down play from the opponent’s three-yard line, giving the Vikings their first lead at 21-14.

With 1:39 separating itself from overtime and defeat, Fountain Valley marched down the field and even completed a pass of fourth down to keep its drive going.

With three seconds left, Combs found Matthew Hunter in the endzone for the game-tying touchdown, as the game went into overtime after the extra point was made.

Marina got the ball first to start overtime, but on a third and one run, Keisyn Faletoi stripped the ball from the running back, as that eventually set up Combs’ eventually game-winner to Dillon Jr.

Fountain Valley returns to action Thursday when it plays at St.Margaret’s at 7 p.m. in search of its third win. For Marina, it will look to avoid going to 0-4 as they play at Cerritos on Friday at 7 p.m.