Edison, Mater Dei set to clash on football field

Perennial prep football powers Mater Dei High and Edison recently

signed a two-year home-and-away contract to meet on the football field

during the next two seasons, Edison Coach Dave White said Wednesday.

The Chargers will host the Monarchs at Orange Coast College in the fourth

week of the 2000 season, and Mater Dei will entertain Edison in 2001 at

Santa Ana Bowl, in an agreement made by Edison Athletic Director Bruce

Belcher, and Mater Dei AD Gary McKnight.

“We’re excited about playing such a great program,” White said. “Mater

Dei is always right there at the top, and we’re trying to work our way

back up there. It should be a great series.”

Mater Dei, the defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion, is in

preparations for Friday’s second-round playoff game at Alemany.

Edison, which finished 3-6-1 in 1998, rebounded this year to go 7-3, but

the Chargers finished in fifth-place in the Sunset League standings (2-3)

and failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

The two schools are no strangers to one another, although the Monarchs

and Chargers last meet on the gridiron 11 years ago.

Seven of the 12 meetings between the two schools have been held in the

fourth week of the season (the other five came during the fifth and final

week of nonleague play.

Below is a closer look at outcome of the previous 12 meetings between

Mater Dei and Edison in a series the Chargers lead, 8-3-1:

1976 - Mater Dei 28, Edison 20

In the first meeting between the two schools, Edison, in just its fifth

year of playing varsity football, gave the Monarchs all they could

handle. It would be just one of three losses suffered by Bill Workman’s

Chargers en route to a 7-3 season, which included a Sunset League

championship and a first-round playoff loss to Pius X.

1977 - Edison 42, Mater Dei 21

The Chargers went just 5-5 that season, but doubled the score on the

Monarchs. The win started Edison’s streak of success in the series.

1978 - Edison 14, Mater Dei 6

The Chargers finished the year 9-2, reaching the second round of the CIF

playoffs before being eliminated by Chaffey.

1979 - Edison 14, Mater Dei 7

In a hard-fought contest, the Chargers beat the Monarchs prior to their

final nonleague game against Newport Harbor. However, they went on to

rout their four Sunset League opponents, outscoring them, 120-19 en route

to the league crown, and a 12-2 season that culminated with the school’s

first CIF Southern Section championship. The Chargers destroyed Redlands,

55-0, in a game that still stands as the largest margin of victory in a

Major Division title game.

1980 - Edison 35, Mater Dei 7

This time, it was no contest for the Chargers, who whipped everybody on

their schedule. Edison’s defense posted three shutouts and held eight

other foes to a touchdown or less. The landmark season included a 14-0

record and another Big Five Conference title. It was during the ’80

season that the Chargers twice defeated archrival Fountain Valley, the

final time in the Big Five Conference title game, 14-0. Coach Bill Workman, however, recalled the regular-season meeting between the two

teams, a 15-14 Edison victory in which the Chargers scored two late

touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the closing seconds, as his

favorite win in his 13 years as head coach.

1981 - Edison 48, Mater Dei 24

Again the Chargers doubled up on the Monarchs, with the win prepping

Edison for another Sunset League title run - the school’s fourth in a

row. By the 10-0 Chargers were denied a third consecutive Big Five

championship when Servite pulled off a stunning 14-7 victory in the

opening round of the playoffs.

1982 - Edison 7, Mater Dei 7

The tie during the final week of nonleague play left the Chargers with a

2-2-1 record, but Edison (8-4-1) went on to win another, ho-hum, Sunset

League championship, and reach the playoff semifinals before being

eliminated by Long Beach Poly.

1983 - Edison 22, Mater Dei 7

In what would be the final meeting between the schools for the next three

years, the Chargers scored a big victory in a season that saw them

struggle to a 4-4-2 finish. It marked the first time in six years that

Edison had not worn the Sunset League crown.

1986 - Edison 34, Mater Dei 17

Dave White took over the reins from Workman, and picked up where his

predecessor left off - with an easy win over the Monarchs. White’s first

team went 8-3, and dropped a first-round playoff game to Crespi.

1987 - Mater Dei 20, Edison 10

There was plenty of cheering in Santa Ana following this Monarch victory,

which ended Mater Dei’s eight-game winless streak to Edison. The Chargers

were just 2-8 that year.

1988 - Edison 21, Mater Dei 9

Edison’s comeback season included a big win over the Monarchs. The

Chargers went 9-2 that year, one of the two losses coming in a

first-round playoff game with Fontana.

1989 - Mater Dei 21, Edison 14

In what was to be the last game between the two schools until the 2000

season, the Monarchs pulled out a seven-point victory. Edison, however,

went on to win its first Sunset League title in four years, went 10-3,

and lost in the semifinal round to Fontana.