The Sunset rises

Mike Sciacca

They have toiled for five weeks now, toeing the line in hopes of

setting up bigger and better things down the road.

Well, consider the destination reached.

Through all the preparations, all the shuffling to find just the

right combinations on both sides of the ball, nothing, really, can

prepare a football team for the rigors of the Sunset League.

It is war -- and for five, eager and enthusiastic schools, what

each does over the course of the next five weeks, beginning tonight,

will determine just which team will wear the banner of champion.

“It’s the toughest league around,” Edison coach Dave White said at

the outset of the season. “Whichever team stays focused and survives

the schedule is the one who will win the championship.”

White should know. Last year, he guided Edison to a share of its

first league championship since 1990.

The 11-1-1 season included a trip to Edison Field for the 2001 CIF

Southern Section Division I championship game, the school’s first

title game appearance since 1985.

“Playing in the Sunset League had us ready for CIF,” White said.

“Having gone through our league only enabled us to be better prepared

for whatever teams we would face in the playoffs.”

Edison begins its title defense tonight, but at this point of the

season the Chargers aren’t considered the favorite for the 2002

crown.

That distinction belongs to two other schools long associated with

wearing the league’s preseason favorites’ tag: Esperanza, Edison’s

opponent tonight, and Los Alamitos, which played Edison to a 14-14

last year and shared the league crown with the Chargers, are

considered the favorites.

“Los Alamitos and Esperanza definitely have to be considered the

favorites for the Sunset League title, no doubt about it,” said

Huntington Beach coach Mike Groscost, who in his first year as head

coach gets his league feet wet tonight when his Oilers go to Veterans

Stadium in Long Beach to do battle with Los Alamitos. “Those two

teams have had great success in nonleague play.”

So have Groscost’s Oilers, who enter tonight’s game with a 4-1

record.

Huntington Beach’s victims this fall have been Los Amigos,

Capistrano Valley, Laguna Hills and Dana Hills.

The Oilers’ only loss this season was to the only ranked team on

their schedule, Charter Oak.

It’s the best nonleague record posted by a Huntington Beach team

in three years.

“We know that we didn’t play the same strength of schedule as some

of the other teams in our league but I still like our chances,”

Groscost said. “We had a very successful nonleague for the first time

in three or four years and the kids are aware of that. They also are

aware of the fact that what we did during nonleague doesn’t matter

now. It’s all about the Sunset League from here on out.”

Esperanza is the lone Sunset League team to go through nonleague

play unscathed. The Aztecs enter Friday’s game against Edison with a

5-0 record and have outscored their opponents, 215-82.

Los Alamitos went 4-0-1 against a competitive nonleague schedule.

Fountain Valley stumbles into league play with a 1-4 mark, although

the Barons played an extremely tough schedule against competition

that went a combined 19-7 in the first five weeks of the season.

Marina, which also had a stacked nonleague schedule, enters Sunset

play at 2-3 and, with its talent, may be the league dark horse.

Then there’s Edison, decimated by injury and 1-4 overall.

Still, no one had better overlook the Chargers.

Not by a long shot.

“Not in this league. Right now, it’s anybody’s game,” Groscost

said. “It’s the time of year when everyone’s hopes are high. I think

the key to winning the championship is for a team to stay healthy.

“I know for us, we need to stay injury-free, keep turnovers to a

minimal, and play ball-control on offense,” he said. “We’ll need to

be at our best against Los Alamitos.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.