Edison to face Bishop Amat Friday

For the second consecutive year, the Edison High football team has

advanced to the second round in the CIF Southern Section Division I

playoffs. For the second consecutive year they will do so against a

parochial school power, this time, Bishop Amat High of La Puente.

A look at Friday’s matchup:

Bishop Amat (9-1)

Edison (9-0-1)

(at Orange Coast College, 7:30 p.m.)

Bishop Amat and Edison came up with prolific offensive showings in

last week’s first round as the Lancers defeated Long Beach Wilson, 47-20,

while the Chargers eliminated St. John Bosco, 56-34.

Del Rey League champion Bishop Amat is averaging nearly 30 points per

contest, with last week’s 47-point output its best of the season. A trio

of seniors key the Lancers on offense: tailback Johnnie McCluskey,

quarterback Michael Lange and receiver Adam Simon. The 5-10, 185 pound

McCluskey burned Long Beach Wilson for 271 yards and four touchdowns on

just 15 carries and now has 2,071 rushing yards this season. Lange, 5-11

and 177, threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns against Wilson and now

has 1,753 yards and 17 touchdowns. Just last week, Lange signed a

baseball scholarship and will attend Santa Clara University. His favorite

target has been the 5-11 Simon who, with 128 yards and a touchdown on

just two receptions against Wilson, stands at 765 yards and 11

touchdowns. He has 27 receptions for the year. Like Lange, Simon, a

talented pitcher/outfielder on the Amat baseball team, has signed a

letter of intent to play baseball at UCLA. One defensive standout for the

Lancers is Division I prospect Wesley Walker, a 6-2, 250 pound linebacker

who is the team leader in tackles with 101.

Edison also had its highest scoring game of the season (56 points)

last Friday in defeating St. John Bosco. The Chargers did it behind

spectacular performances from quarterback Tom Grady and receiver Denny

Flanagan. Grady, a junior, completed 10 of 12 passes for a whopping 349

yards and five touchdowns. Flanagan, a senior, came up with a 34-yard

reception average against the Braves with seven catches accounting for

239 yards and four touchdowns. The scoring plays covered 76, 28, 38 and

52 yards.

Bishop Amat and Edison have common opponents this season in Mater Dei

and St. John Bosco. Edison defeated both while Amat lost to Mater Dei on

Oct. 12 but the next week defeated St. John Bosco, 34-23, in Del Rey

League play. It was the start of a current five game win streak for the

Lancers.

Both schools have illustrious histories, but Friday’s showdown is just

the second meeting between the two and the first in 17 years -- in the

first round of the 1984 Big Five Conference playoffs, Bishop Amat edged

Edison, 21-20.

Edison was eliminated in the second round of last year’s Division I

playoffs by 2000 Del Rey League champion, Loyola, which went on to a

runner-up finish. A win Friday against Amat would put the Chargers into

the semifinal round for the first time since the 1989 season.