Ocean View players and coaches celebrate after securing the league title. (PHOTOS: Jake Rhodes, For OC Sports Zone).
BY JAKE RHODES
For OC Sports Zone
There has been a lot of hype surrounding high school football leading into the final week of the regular season, with many teams looking to either punch their tickets into the CIF playoffs next week or teams trying to win their respective league titles.
The battle to win the Sigma League was no different, and Ocean View rose to the occasion, and then some. The Seahawks secured their first league crown since 2021 in dominating fashion, defeating previously undefeated Rancho Alamitos 33-0 at home Friday night.
A consistent ground game, timely passes and an extremely active defense led the way for Ocean View (9-1, 5-0) finishing league play undefeated. Seahawks Coach Daniel Hernandez was so excited about what his seniors were able to accomplish on their senior night.
“I’m extremely proud of them, we’ve been working at this for four years. These guys came to me as freshmen,” Hernandez said. “They’ve had some setbacks and some other things go wrong in their high school careers, but they stuck through and they stuck it out and I’m proud of where they’re at.”
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The star of the night was Seahawks running back Trevor Vaivao. The junior set the tone early, scoring on the second play from scrimmage. He took a sweep around the left end 75 yards to the house. Ocean View had its PAT blocked but took a 6-0 lead 20 seconds into the game.
After forcing Rancho Alamitos (9-1, 4-1) into a three and out on its first possession, the Seahawks scored again. This time it was a nine play, 57-yard drive that ended with senior running back Dylan Morales punching it in from five yards out.
In less than six minutes, Ocean View was up 12-0 in this league championship bout.
The very next Vaquero drive, Vaivao made his presence felt on the defensive side of the ball, intercepting Rancho Alamitos senior quarterback Osvaldo Ramos deep in Vaquero territory.
Ramos came into this game without throwing an interception. The Seahawks defense, however, had other plans, picking him off three times in this game.
A few plays into their next drive, senior quarterback Isaac Young got in on the scoring action for Ocean View, tossing a 26-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Gregory Gates. It looked like busted coverage from the Vaqueros, as Gates was standing alone wide open in the back of the end zone towards the middle of the field.
Rancho Alamitos did have some success in a few of its drives. Down 19-0, Ramos completed three passes to move the Vaqueros down the field. However, two sacks from none other than Vaivao and senior linebacker Aidan Bond crushed any chance of Rancho getting back into this game.
Ocean View put on a real masterclass in clock control on their fourth drive of the game, keeping the ball for over seven minutes, using 12 plays to cover 66 yards. It was a steady diet of runs from Viavao, Gates and Morales before Young found the end zone, this time with his legs from three yards out.
The 6-5 quarterback, who also stars on the Ocean View basketball team, used a nice spin move to break the plane of the goal line.
Young spoke highly of his head coach, and credits him for helping the Seahawks soar to new heights.
“I think coming in as a freshman, seeing what Coach Hernandez has built it to now, it’s just astonishing,” said Young. “Obviously, winning a league title is awesome, but I think we win it all, and that is going to be even better.”
The second half went by quickly, but not before Viavao secured his bookending scores. He rushed in the first and last touchdowns of the game, as the junior running back powered his way up the middle from six yards out making it 33-0.
Viavao finished with 17 carries, 208 yards with two touchdowns on offense. On defense he chipped in multiple tackles, an interception and a sack. He was all over the field Friday night.
Hernandez raved about the team win, and the contributions of Viavao in the biggest game of the season so far.
“Rev [Trevor Viavao] had more carries tonight than he’s had over the last couple of weeks,” said Hernandez. “That’s just so good for our offense. So many different guys can touch the ball.”
Despite becoming a league champion and having a monster game, Viavao echoed Young, as he said the goals for this team do not stop at winning their league.
“{A record of} 5-0 is good, but that’s not what we’re aiming for. We are aiming for running through the playoffs and getting us a ring,” said Viavao.
Junior wide receiver Andre Zeferino had four catches for 41 yards for Rancho Alamitos while Ramos completed 6 of 14 for 78 yards.
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