Huntington Middle School’s varsity flag football team entered last weekend’s Southern California Municipal Athletic Federation (SCMAF) tournament fresh off an undefeated season, during which the Foxes won the 210 League championship. More importantly, HMS was looking to claim back-to-back state championships.
HMS opened the tournament by beating Pasadena—the team the Foxes bested in the 2018 title game—by a final score of 49-0. They moved on the face the Burbank Falcons, shutting down their fast-paced offense in a 28-8 win to claim the San Gabriel Valley Regional portion of the SCMAF tournament.
With that championship in hand, the Foxes advanced to the state tournament in Mission Viejo. HMS completely dominated the competition in its first three games, beating Oxnard 30-0, Mountain View 44-0, and San Clemente 34-0. The Foxes moved on to face an impressive Ollivier Middle School team from Bakersfield for the state title. Huntington’s defense struggled during Ollivier’s first drive, but the Foxes stuffed their opponent at the goal line to hand the ball back to the offense and the teams went into halftime tied at 8-8. Coming into the second half, Huntington went toe-to-toe with the first opponent of the season who was able to put both the offense the defense to the test.
But the Foxes were able to score two more touchdowns, while the defense was able to push back each advance Ollivier tried to make. HMS put the nail in the coffin when they were able to stop Ollivier’s last drive at the goal line to win the title.
For the entire season, the Foxes outscored their opponents by an astonishing combined total of 403–32, including the playoffs.
“This team has proved to be one of our best,” said Coaches Dika Firmansyah and Moises Arreola. “This year’s team was loaded with multiple weapons on the offense, an impressive zone defense, a relentless defensive line and backs and safeties who were able to read plays and contain.”
The Foxes are the first team in school history to win back-to-back state championships, according to the coaches.
