Marina retains trophy; The Bell belongs to Edison
Mike Sciacca
For a fifth consecutive year, the Perpetual Trophy will don the
colors of Marina High.
And for the third time in the past four years, The Bell will ring
sweetly on the Edison High campus.
That’s because the Vikings and Chargers stepped it up in their
respective rivalry games against Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley
last Friday, enough so to retain important prizes each of the four
schools had sought to claim.
Marina defeated Huntington Beach for the fifth-straight time,
27-7, at Westminster High’s Boswell Field, putting Vikings head coach
Mike Dodd at 4-0 against his former school.
Dodd is a former assistant and head coach at Huntington.
The Vikings got an all-around outstanding performance from senior
quarterback Matt Brennan, who threw for two touchdowns and rushed for
two more.
Marina had taken a 21-0 halftime lead, thanks to Brennan and the
play of a stingy defense, and then went on to record its first win in
Sunset League play.
The seven points were the fewest given up by the Vikings defense
since it shutout Paramount in the first game of the season.
As the Marina-Huntington Beach clash was unfolding at Westminster
High, Edison took on Fountain Valley under the lights and glamour of
Edison International Field of Anaheim.
With The Bell sitting silently but prominently in back of the west
end zone, Edison took care of business on the playing field as it
handed Fountain Valley its first league loss, 22-8, before a
boisterous crowd estimated at 8,000.
In doing so, the Chargers, whose fans deliriously chanted, “We
want The Bell!,” moved into a first-place tie with the Barons and Los
Alamitos heading into the final week of regular season.
“There was a lot riding on this game, like winning The Bell and
playing for a league championship,” said Edison quarterback Brian
Shrock, a sophomore who figures to give the Barons fits the next two
years.
Shrock got his first taste of action in the big rivalry and played
big: he threw for 117 yards and two touchdowns on six of seven
passing.
He was supported by a defense that shutdown a Fountain Valley
offense that came into the game with a 26 points per game scoring
average in its last four games -- all victories.
Shrock was one of the Edison players to head to the end zone after
the final gun to ring The Bell.
The Edison-Fountain Valley game had played before
standing-room-only crowds at Orange Coast College the past 17 years
before moving back to Edison International Field, the annual site of
the big game between 1975 and 1985.
You could pit the Chargers against the Barons in a dirt lot, and
it would still be an all-out war that would draw a massive crowd.
“It’s a big game, no matter where it’s played, but it was awesome
to play it at Edison Field,” Charger senior wide receiver and
defensive back Matt White said. “Right when we stepped off the bus,
walked through the tunnel and got onto the field with the bright
lights shining, it was a great feeling that got us fired up.
“As part of the senior class, we wanted to go out by winning The
Bell and show the underclassmen how to do it, with class and dignity.
It’s just a great, intense rivalry.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.