Varsity Head Coach- Fabian Luna
Coach Fabian Luna returns for his fourth year at the helm of the Oilers Boys Basketball Program. In three years, Coach Luna has compiled an impressive 60-24 record at Huntington Beach, and last year brought back a League Championship to the school for the first since 1993. "I was very proud of last year's team; it was really nice to see those seniors go out on top of a very tough league." Last year, going 23-6 Coach Luna had Huntington Beach back on the scene by producing one of the top programs in the county and C.I.F. again. The Oilers finished the regular season at 21-5 ranked #10 in Orange County and # 4 in C.I.F. Division IIAA. After a banner regular season the Oilers opened the playoffs at home against a strong El Dorado team in a first round game on February 18. The Oilers came out firing on all cylinders and cruised to a 70-52 victory. Huntington Beach then moved on to the second round of C.I.F. to host another talented and athletic team in Redondo Beach on February 20. The Oilers opened up several comfortable leads only to watch Redondo Beach fight back and make it close. Huntington Beach though proved to be too much and hung on for the 63-60 victory. The Oilers then moved on to a road match up in the quarterfinals of C.I.F. against a former Sunset League rival Marina on February 24. Unfortunately, for the Oilers the Vikings came out very motivated and scored the upset against Huntington Beach, which came up just short of moving onto the semifinals with a 71-70 defeat. "That was an incredible game for the city of Huntington Beach, the atmosphere was completely electric. They got off to an incredible start and that seemed to be the difference on top of not being able to capitalize on our opportunities to win that game. I have to take my hat off to them."
This year Coach Luna comes in with a young and talented group that has some big shoes to fill in order to duplicate the success of last years team. "We have a young team this year and we have scheduled a very challenging schedule to help us prepare for league and next year. We have the talent to beat anyone on any given night, but we lack experience and it will be interesting to see how consistent we can be." The Oilers graduated all five starters, but return seven lettermen from last year and added some key players to provide what Coach Luna calls; 'a very solid and balanced team.' He believes that this year's version of the Oilers does not have any super stars, but a strong cast of players who on any given night can see any one of them leading the way. "We have a lot of good solid players this year. Our guard play is strong and the post play is solid. We will grow and get better every game we hit the floor this year." Although Coach Luna acknowledges that this is a reloading year, he still is firm about defending their Seaview League Championship this year. He also expects that this years team will make a very good run in the C.I.F. playoffs as well. "By the time playoffs come around, our schedule will pay big dividends for us." The Oilers remain in Division IIAA and again look to be very competitive in that division.
Coach Luna graduated from St. John Bosco H.S. in Bellflower where he played basketball. He continued his playing career at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson where he graduated with a degree in Political Science. He also has a Masters Degree from National University in Teaching and Learning. Coach Luna after graduating coached at Kennedy H.S. in La Palma and then moved on to Paramount H.S. where he taught History for nine years and coached boys basketball and volleyball. Currently, Coach Luna is teaching Government and U.S. History here at HBHS.
