Huntington Beach Tops Orange 35-18 Behind Edmunds, Foster, and Kurtz (2025)

Orange – Fred Kelly Stadium (EMHS)

The Huntington Beach Oilers opened their 2025 season with a statement win, defeating Orange High 35-18 on Thursday night at El Modena High School. The night featured a familiar trio for Huntington Beach, as junior quarterback Brady Edmunds connected with receivers Troy Foster and Steel Kurtz for all three of his touchdown passes.

Edmunds, a 6-foot-5 Ohio State commit, looked sharp in his season debut, completing 19 passes for 213 yards. In the process, he officially surpassed 6,000 career passing yards at Huntington Beach, further cementing his place as one of the program’s all-time greats. He threw two scores to Foster, who is committed to Colorado State, and another to Kurtz, picking up right where the Oilers’ offense left off a season ago. Huntington Beach also found success on the ground behind sophomore running back Nathan Villanueva, a transfer from St. Paul who made a big impression in his first game with the Oilers by scoring two rushing touchdowns.

“I thought we played hard,” Edmunds said after the win. “We responded in the second half a lot better and we were physical throughout the whole game.”

While the offense put points on the board, the Oilers’ defense made its presence felt as well. Senior defensive end Gavin Seguin, a returning All-Epsilon League selection, tallied two sacks, and senior linebacker Owen Bone came up with a crucial interception in the fourth quarter.

The game wasn’t without its blemishes, as both teams combined for over 200 penalty yards, several on personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct calls. Edmunds acknowledged it was an area that needed immediate attention: “We need to clean up the extracurricular penalties. We had a lot of penalties that weren’t needed … just clean up that and I think that would have changed the scoreboard a lot.”

Orange, meanwhile, showed signs of promise behind sophomore quarterback Star Thomas. The left-handed signal-caller threw for 273 yards, completing 22 of 39 passes, and accounted for all three of the Panthers’ touchdowns. His top target was junior Adam Maldonado, who hauled in two touchdowns, including a 45-yard strike just before halftime that cut Huntington’s lead to 14-6. Thomas capped off the game with a 5-yard rushing score on the final play.

Ultimately, the Oilers’ balance on offense and timely defensive stops gave them control throughout the second half, pulling away after a 14-6 halftime lead. With a new head coach in former NFL receiver Matthew Hatchette, Huntington Beach starts the season 1-0 and looks poised to build off last year’s 7-5 finish.

For Orange, the loss drops them to 0-1, but the playmaking ability of Thomas and Maldonado gives the Panthers optimism moving forward.