The second time around

Mike Sciacca

The Edison High football team is peaking at the right time.

The 10-0-1 Chargers, healthy and confident, will be looking to go the

distance this season when they take on the Mater Dei Monarchs Friday

night in the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division I

playoffs.

A victory at the Santa Ana Bowl would send Edison into next week’s

division championship game, set for Dec. 8 at, of all places, Edison

Field.

An Edison team has not reached a division title game since the 1985

Chargers and Long Beach Poly battled to a 14-14 Big Five Conference

final.

“We’re clicking on all cylinders right now,” Edison coach Dave White

said. “We’re passing well, we have great receivers, an offensive line

that really is blocking well, and a solid defense. We’ll need to be at

our best against a very good Mater Dei team.”

Friday’s 7:30 p.m. showdown marks the second time this season that the

teams have met in the Santa Ana Bowl. Back in the fourth week of the

season, Edison overcame a 13-7 halftime deficit and defeated the

Monarchs, 20-13.

Mater Dei is 8-4 following last week’s 44-28 quarterfinal upset of

second-seeded and previously unbeaten Redlands. In its two postseason

victories, Edison met two other Catholic schools and defeated St. John

Bosco, 56-34, before belting Bishop Amat, 47-14, last Friday.

Charger quarterback Tommy Grady keeps adding to his sensational junior

year. Against Bishop Amat, he was nearly perfect by connecting on 14 of

16 passes for 220 yards and five touchdowns. In beating St. John Bosco,

he was 10 of 12 for 349 yards and also had five touchdowns.

In two playoff games, Grady has completed 24 of 28 passes for 569

yards and 10 touchdowns.

He now holds Edison’s single-season record for touchdown passes with

27, breaking the previous mark of 23, held by Frank Seurer. Grady,

however, accomplished the feat in 11 games, while Seurer did it in 14.

Just as impressive as those numbers is the fact that he has only

thrown two interceptions this season.

He did it behind a cohesive offensive line consisting of Chris

Gonzales, Ryan Keating, Kevin Weissenback, Bryan Meers and Jon Simpson,

and a bevy of talented receivers in Denny Flanagan, Marcus McCutcheon,

A.J. Martinez and Patrick Campbell.

“Tommy’s having a phenomenal year and he just keeps adding to it,”

said White of Grady, who threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the

Sept. 28 win over Mater Dei. “He has the best touchdown

passes-to-interception ratio -- 27-2 -- this school has ever seen.”

White also acknowledged Mater Dei’s improvement since it began the

year 1-3, noting the Monarchs’ improvement on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback Colt Brennan threw for a career-best 318 yards on 23 or 30

passing in last week’s upset of Redlands.

Mater Dei also has defeated Long Beach Jordan, 12-7, in playoff action.

Edison and Mater Dei have three common opponents in 2001 -- Servite,

St. John Bosco and Bishop Amat, each going 3-0 against that trio.

Friday’s other Division I semifinal matchup pits top-ranked and

defending champion Long Beach Poly against Los Alamitos, which shared the

Sunset League title with Edison. The two semifinal winners will square

off on Dec. 8.

The Edison-Mater Dei Series

’76 - Monarchs 28, Chargers 20

’77 - Chargers 42, Monarchs 21

’78 - Chargers 14, Monarchs 6

’79 - Chargers 14, Monarchs 7

’80 - Chargers 35, Monarchs 7

’81 - Chargers 48, Monarchs 24

’82 - Chargers 7, Monarchs 7

’83 - Chargers 22, Monarchs 7

’86 - Chargers 34, Monarchs 17

’87 - Monarchs 20, Chargers 10

’88 - Chargers 21, Monarchs 9

’89 - Monarchs 21, Chargers 14

’00 - Monarchs 42, Chargers 10

’01 - Chargers 20, Monarchs 13