Edison’s Hot Hands Enough to Beat Marina

WESTMINSTER —  Friday night’s game between Edison and Marina high schools turned out to be a battle of hot hands versus cold ones.

The hottest hands on a chilly evening belonged to Edison split end Mike Cunningham, whose acrobatic catches included a twisting, six-yard, over-the-shoulder gem in the corner of the end zone to give Edison its first touchdown in a 20-8 Sunset League victory at Westminster High.

On the other side of the line of scrimmage, however, there were so many dropped passes that Marina’s quarterback--the normally accurate David Schultz--finished with the uncharacteristic passing line of seven completions in 33 attempts for a mere 84 yards.

Marina’s ball-dropping epidemic was so rampant that even Darren Fields couldn’t escape a measure of blame. Fields, a reliable flanker who has ranked among the county’s receiving leaders for most of the season, finished with only two catches for 27 yards.

And despite a solid Marina defense led by inside linebacker David McLeod, whose 15 tackles on the night gave him enough for a school-record of 282, there were still enough holes for Edison (5-3 overall, 2-1 in league) to roll up 426 yards of total offense.

Tailback Shane Sherman rushed for 236 yards in 32 carries, including a pair of touchdown runs. He slashed 12 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to give Edison a 14-0 lead and added another in the fourth quarter with a tackle-breaking 10-yard dash up the middle to cap off the scoring.

Edison quarterback Donnie Smith was on target more often than his Marina counterpart. Smith completed 13 of 18 passes for 169 yards, including four to Cunningham for 80 yards and three to tight end Brian Higgins for 80 more.

Marina fell to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the league.