Oilers Start Hot but Fall Short In Season Opener (2021)

Huntington Beach – ‘Cap’ Sheue Field

Friday Night Lights was back in full force for the Fall 2021 season opening kickoff at HB’s Sheue Field. An engaged crowd saw the Oilers take a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter against Aliso Niguel but the Oilers learned the hard way that it takes 4 quarters to win a football game. Huntington Beach gave up 28 points in the fourth quarter as Aliso Niguel came back to defeat the Oilers 28-20 in the non-conference season opener.

Despite the W/L result, head coach Brett Brown found positives in the game. “I’m proud of the way our kids played.” Brown said. “I thought we were physical and played hard. They didn’t quit. We had some lapses in the fourth quarter that we wish we had back.”

After a slow start by both offenses, Oilers quarterback AJ Perez hit Tyler Moses for a 30-yard touchdown to give the Oilers a 7-0 lead with 12 seconds left in the first half. Huntington Beach extended the lead in the third quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Perez to AJ Vandermade, who finished the game with nine receptions for 96 yards.

“I thought he (Perez) played well,” Brown said. “He was getting a ton of pressure and was running around a little bit but he made some plays.”

The Wolverines forced a punt and on the ensuing drive, senior quarterback Shaun McCaghren found Cristian Aaberg in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown. After another Oiler punt, McCaghren and Aaberg connected again, this time on a 50-yard touchdown to give Aliso Niguel 28-14 lead with 3:04 left in the fourth quarter.

The Oilers added a touchdown on a 1-yard pass from Perez to Shea Vandergrift with 1:34 remaining in the game. The onside kick was recovered by the Wolverines.

“We just made too many mistakes,” Brown said. “We had momentum and we did dumb things to give it back to them. But we will fix it. It’s a great group of kids and we are getting better.”