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HUNTINGTON BEACH — As Huntington Beach center Ethan Spoon headed to the bench with two fouls late in the first period Wednesday, Laguna Beach saw a potential opportunity to seize the momentum in the Surf League boys water polo opener.

“I was ready for them to mentally break a little bit,” Laguna Beach coach Camron Hauer said of the Oilers, “and they just didn’t.”

Huntington Beach, ranked sixth in Orange County, held tough without its standout senior and posted a second major victory in as many days by defeating No. 7 Laguna Beach 12-8 at Huntington Beach High.

The Oilers (9-4, 1-0) beat No. 5 Santa Margarita 15-13 on Tuesday, avenging a loss at the recent South Coast Tournament. Huntington Beach finished 13th at the tournament by defeating Laguna Beach 12-8 in its final match.

“They came in super-hot,” Hauer said of Oilers. “We came in a just a little soft on offense. We got the looks we wanted … (but) when you hit the frame as many times as we did, it’s really hard to win.”

Spoon, a 2-meter man committed to UC Irvine, scored twice from center before picking up his second foul with about 20 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

Huntington Beach led 4-2 after the first period and maintained the advantage with the combination of strong goalie play and opportunistic offense.

Jay Pyle and Ben O’Brien each played one half in goal and combined for 14 saves. O’Brien made nine in the final two periods, including one late against a 7-on-6 chance.

The Oilers netted the first goal of the second quarter off a perimeter strike by JD Johnson with 42 seconds left in the half.

In the third, Logan Garwick scored on a counterattack to extend the lead to 6-3.

Huntington Beach re-inserted Spoon after Laguna Beach’s Oliver Peltzner scored on a counterattack to trim the advantage to 6-4.

But the Oilers finished the third period strong with perimeter goals from Dusan Djordjevic and Garwick.

The push proved vital as each team scored four goals in the final period.

The Breakers (8-6, 1-1) twice trimmed their deficit to two goals but Huntington Beach responded each time.

Spoon and Mikey Trujillo led seven Oilers in scoring with three goals apiece. Garwick added two goals.

Defender Cade Anderton netter two of his match-high four goals in the fourth period. Eli Taub added two.

Senior goalie Tyler Swensen dueled with Pyle and O’Brien by making eight saves, including one against a breakaway in the first period.

“I would love to come out (at the start) as we did in the fourth quarter,” Hauer said.

Spoon scored all three of his goals from center and added three saves.

Check the quick, finishing skills of Huntington Beach center Ethan Spoon, and how the UC Irvine commit holds position well v pretty good defense, nice entry pass, too ⁦@ocvarsity⁩ pic.twitter.com/InwFjv2y3H

— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) September 21, 2023

Don’t count Hauer among those caught off guard by Spoon’s rise as a county standout.

“He was awesome last year,” he said. “We played them four times last year so I was very well-aware that he was legit.”

“I thought he was senior last year, so when they told me he was coming back, I was ‘Oh, no,’ ” the coach added. “(But) this league is not a league where you can really get real sad about a loss because next week it’s Newport, week after it’s Los Al. We watch film and take notes for next time.”

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