Chargers get defensive

HUNTINGTON BEACH — With the vaunted Edison High football team offense held in check for much of the game, the Chargers needed a spark.

They got not one, but several, from their defense and special teams in a 27-10 Sunset League victory over Los Alamitos on Friday night at Huntington Beach High.

There was Luke Eddy popping the receiver, Steven Malone scooping up the fumble and taking it to the house.

There was Jeff Trojan blocking a Los Alamitos field goal, and Eddy doing the honors this time and returning it for six.

There was Wade Houston not only tackling the quarterback in the end zone, but alertly stripping the ball, popping it into the air and recovering the fumble for another touchdown.

Game, set and match for Edison (8-0, 3-0 in league), which now gets to prepare for what should be an epic “Battle for the Bell” game against Fountain Valley (also 8-0, 3-0) Friday night at Cal State Fullerton.

“Defense wins championships,” senior linebacker Jordan Zumwalt said before leaving the field Friday night. “You know it. Defense wins championships.”

Edison Coach Dave White couldn’t argue after his Chargers, the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division, scored none of their three touchdowns on offense.

“It takes a team effort,” White said. “Offense has done well all year and this time, defense and special teams won us the game...For me, the exciting part was watching our defense fly around in the fourth quarter. We were swarming and we looked pretty fresh in that fourth quarter on defense.”

Los Alamitos (6-2, 1-2) spent nearly nine minutes on its opening drive, which featured 14 rushes by junior tailback Nick Richardson and ended with Twin Fernandez scoring from a yard out.

But, from there, the Griffins scored just three points.

“We worked hard the whole time,” said Malone, a senior linebacker. “The first drive was a little rough and they had a couple good plays, but we stuck it out and we had to pick it up for our offense.”

Edison had two first-half field goals from Markus Trujillo, the second coming after an interception by senior linebacker Shaun McLaughlin set the Chargers up with good field position. But they were behind 7-6 before Eddy hit Griffins receiver Josh Gasser in the open field, Malone scooped the ball up and returned it for the touchdown.

Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes ran onto the field furiously, apparently arguing that Gasser never had possession. But the call stood and the Chargers had a 13-10 halftime lead.

“They added to it in the second half, thanks to Trojan’s block and Houston’s heady play. The latter occured on a trick play deep in Los Alamitos territory. Richardson got the ball and threw it back in the end zone to sophomore quarterback Dylan Lagarde, a risky play that backfired.

Richardson finished with 36 carries for 139 yards, but had only 27 yards after halftime.

“They were hard to figure out at first,” Zumwalt said. “Their linemen are big and the kid’s really fast. I mean, I don’t want to say he’s small or underestimate him but he’s small [5-foot-6], he’s hard to find and very quick and elusive. In the second half, we just figured out their offense and it got easy from there. They got tired and we just had it figured out, to a T.”

Edison senior quarterback Matt Viles had a season-low 60 yards passing and the Chargers also didn’t do much on the ground, Viles having the longest run on a 28-yard gain in the first half. But White said he felt like his offense never got a chance to get in a grove, with Los Alamitos dominating the time of possession.