League title on the line?

It is just one of several big games still left on the Sunset League schedule, but tonight’s showdown between Edison and Los Alamitos will have a big bearing on who could win the 2008 championship.

It might even determine the eventual Sunset winner.

“It’s a huge game,” said Edison Coach Dave White, whose Chargers are the homecoming opponent for the Griffins. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Veterans Stadium.

To put it into perspective, Los Alamitos is undefeated at 6-0 and Edison comes in at 5-1, its only loss coming in nonleague play to Servite. And both teams are highly ranked in the CIF Pac-5 Division poll: the Griffins are No. 3 and the Chargers come in at No. 5.

“The way I look at it, if you don’t win this game, you don’t win league,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. “I’m not saying that the next three weeks either team will win out because this is such a tough league, but whoever wins this game has a better chance of winning league than does the losing team.”

“I think that they are the team to beat, to be honest,” White said of Los Alamitos. “They have a lot of talent and really good skill players. Their quarterback and receivers have really done a great job this year, and they are sure making some big plays.”

The Griffins won their Sunset League opener last week at the expense of Marina, beating the Vikings, 42-7. Senior quarterback Clark Evans threw four touchdown passes in the win, three of which went to senior receiver Paul Richardson.

Evans, who has committed to Colorado, has accounted for 24 touchdowns this year, 19 of which have come through the air. He’s also had a terrific receiving tandem to throw to in Richardson and Darryl Jenkins, who combined have 13 touchdowns and nearly 1,110 yards.

“Those two receivers are big play-makers for them and their offense can really put points up on the board,” White said.

“That said, I think our defense has been playing really well. They’ve gone up against some tough teams this year and I think we’ll be up for the challenge Thursday.”

Edison’s defense has been sharp in five victories this year, holding opponents to 10 points or under three times. The Chargers also contained Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley and held the Monarchs to 14 points in a 24-14 win on Oct. 3 and shut down a high-scoring Dana Hills offense in a 48-20 win on Sept. 19 in a game that at one time was 48-6 at the end of the third quarter.

The Chargers began their bid for another league title Friday with a 14-7 win over Newport Harbor. Junior quarterback Matt Viles threw for 222 yards with a touchdown pass to Jeff Trojan, and Wade Houston ran for another score.

The 14 points were the fewest scored this year by the Chargers, who White felt looked “a bit” rusty coming off a bye week.

“It just wasn’t our best game,” he said. “We were a little out of sync, but Newport’s defense played a good game.”

Edison enters tonight’s game a bit banged up. Although the Chargers have two-way starter Michael Rivera back in the line-up — Rivera, a receiver/defensive back, suffered a concussion in the Mater Dei game three weeks ago — running back/linebacker Preston Spence (foot) and top receiver/defensive back Jeff Crissman (ankle) are big question marks for kickoff, White said.

Crissman injured his ankle in the third quarter of the Newport game, a game in which Spence didn’t play.

Houston, who was three yards shy of the 100-yard rushing mark last week, also is bouncing back from an ankle injury and White says the junior still is not at “100%.” Davion Orphey, another key running back, also is coming back from a concussion suffered in the Mater Dei game.

“I really think that the winner of this game has a strong shot at winning the league title,” said White, whose team will end a four-game swing tonight that had the Chargers previously go up against Servite, Mater Dei and Newport Harbor.

In other games involving local teams:

  TONIGHT

Newport Harbor (4-2, 0-1) vs. Fountain Valley (4-2, 0-1) at Newport Harbor High, 7 p.m.: Although played on Newport Harbor’s Davidson Field, the Sunset League game between the Sailors and Barons officially is a Fountain Valley home game.

In its Sunset opener last week against Esperanza, Kyle Middlebrooks turned in his fifth 100-yard rushing effort of the season by gaining 127 with a touchdown, but the Barons couldn’t overcome four turnovers and fell, 17-14. Ryan Steadman scored the other Barons touchdown when he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.

The loss ended Fountain Valley’s win streak at three games.

Newport’s two losses have been to Edison and the Pac-5 Division’s top-ranked team, Long Beach Poly.

Santa Ana (3-3, 0-1) at Ocean View (3-3, 0-1), 7 p.m.: Santa Ana bolted to three straight big wins to begin the season but since then, the Saints have struggled offensively and have lost three consecutive games. They averaged 39 points in the three wins, but have scored a total of 21 points in their three losses. Last week, Santa Ana dropped its league opener to Westminster, 35-7.

Ocean View found the going tough in its Golden West League opener last week against Segerstrom and came away with a 38-14 loss to the Jaguars. Seahawks sophomore quarterback Nolan Tippy did have a career night, however, as he threw for 278 yards with two touchdown passes to receiver Adam To, who finished with 159 yards.

Rancho Alamitos (2-4, 0-1) vs. Los Amigos (3-3, 1-0) at Bolsa Grande High, 7 p.m.: Los Amigos began Garden Grove League play last week and used a big second half — the Lobos scored 24 points — to overtake La Quinta, 31-14. Quarterback Jose Gonzalez threw touchdown passes to Antwon Castaneda, Fidel Mendoza and Francisco Pullido and also had a 42-yard field goal. Pullido also scored on the defensive end with a 50-yard interception return.

Rancho Alamitos couldn’t muster much offense last week and had its league debut ruined by Santiago, 35-7.

  FRIDAY

Huntington Beach (2-4, 0-1) at Trabuco Hills (3-3, 1-0), 7 p.m.): Huntington will look to get its offense untracked when it takes on defending Sea View League champion Trabuco Hills.

The Oilers took a 3-0 halftime lead last week on league rival Foothill behind Eric Chan’s 39-yard field goal but didn’t score again, while the Knights did all their scoring in the third quarter to pull away to a 27-3 win. Quarterback Sean Guite threw for 161 yards in the loss.

Trabuco Hills, which is on a three-game roll since losing its first three games of the season, began defense of its league title last week with a 16-10 win over El Toro.

Esperanza (5-1, 1-0) vs. Marina (2-4, 0-1) at Estancia High, 7 p.m.: Although not ranked in the Pac-5 Division poll, Esperanza has struggled offensively but also has quietly gone about beginning its season 5-1. In surviving Fountain Valley (17-14) last week, the Aztecs capitalized on four turnovers, including an interception for a touchdown, to get the win.

Marina began Sunset play last week with a 42-7 loss to Los Alamitos.

Quarterback Zach Couey and Mitch Huffman connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass for the Vikings’ lone score.

Brethren Christian (1-5) at Arrowhead Christian (5-1), 7 p.m.: After struggling in its first five games, Brethren Christian’s defense gave up a season-low 13 points last week as the Warriors picked up their first win by beating Hamilton, 30-13. Drew Fabrigas rushed for all four of his team’s touchdowns.

Arrowhead Christian of Redlands won its second straight game last week by defeating Salesian of Los Angeles, 35-28. The Eagles defense has two shutouts to its credit.