When push comes to shove, Edison runs

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Edison Coach Dave White said that junior quarterback Garrett Heckel didn’t have to do anything he wasn’t capable of doing in his varsity debut as a starter against No. 24 San Clemente, but that his Chargers teammates had to step up. In the fourth quarter, they did just that.

No. 12 Edison, which had trailed, 17-7, in the second quarter and went into halftime down, 17-10, scored three times in the fourth quarter -- twice on touchdown runs by Areseo Lakey and once on a safety as Shawn Higginbotham sacked San Clemente QB Brad Curtis in the end zone with 17 seconds left.

The safety was purely cosmetic, because the money plays came earlier.

On its final two drives, Edison ran a total of 16 plays, 15 of them running plays -- an about-face for a team that had passed 24 times going into the fourth quarter.

Lakey scored from the five with 6:14 left in the game to complete a 40-yard drive, and with 36 seconds left, scored from the one-yard line to complete an 11-play, 68-yard drive -- all on the ground.

“We kind of struggled working on our passing,” Lakey said. “Me and [Ceasare Nieto] had to step it up, fourth-quarter crunch-time running game.”

Edison won, 26-17. Lakey rushed 14 times for 67 yards, Nieto 15 times for 87; they had combined for 52 yards in the first half.

- Martin Henderson