Bill Haley

Mike Sciacca

He doesn’t play the glamour positions, but his is a name that has

echoed over public address systems throughout the season.

Such was the case Friday, when Sunset League rivals Edison and

Fountain Valley high schools went at it for the 32nd time. Bill Haley was

a name heard time and again.

“He just played a tremendous game,” Edison Coach Dave White said of

Haley’s performance against the Barons, which included seven solo

tackles, three assisted tackles and a pair of sacks. “He gave it his all

that game, as he’s done throughout the season. Billy’s got a great

attitude.”

What’s more, Haley never came out of the action in Friday’s game. Not

once, not for one play. He not only was in the trenches along the

defensive line, but the Independent’s Player of the Week also dug in

alongside best friends Chris Veneracion and Zach Nilsson on the O-line.

White also said Haley has “probably logged the most [playing] minutes

on the team.”

Forget the glamour. Haley likes doing the dirty work and wouldn’t want

things any other way.

“Once the game starts, I don’t ever want to stop,” Haley said. “I

don’t like being on the sideline. I just love being out on that field,

contributing any way that I can.”

Haley has provided stability for a Charger defensive front that

returned just one starter from last year: Haley himself. Although lacking

experience in certain defensive spots at the beginning of the season,

Haley said the team has grown into its own, its cohesiveness apparent on

the playing field.

“This team is extremely close. . . . We’re like brothers,” he added.

“We’re playing really well as a team, and that has made this year

different than the others. This [season] has been a blast.”