Chargers leave no doubt, keep bell

FULLERTON — After Fountain Valley got its bell rung for much of the game, the Edison High football team stopped.

It was time to celebrate winning the actual bell for the fifth straight year.

“Lightning definitely does strike in the same place five times,” senior offensive lineman Calvin Hollingsworth said.

No one could argue that as the Chargers dominated their rival Friday night at Cal State Fullerton, 24-0, and have clinched their fourth straight Sunset League championship. All Edison (9-0, 4-0 in league) has to do is beat last-place Marina next Friday and the Chargers have it all to themselves for the first time since 1990.

They definitely earned the bell Friday night before a sellout crowd of 10,000, shutting out a Barons (8-1, 3-1) team that came into the game averaging over 39 points per game.

“I think our defense is like that because we all stick together,” said junior cornerback Davion Orphey. “There’s no individuals. We all stand out together, we all play together.”

But it was Orphey who made the biggest splash on the offensive end. He’s sometimes been a change of pace for senior running back Wade Houston, but this time Orphey set the pace, with a season-high 122 yards on 12 carries. He also scored the only two touchdowns of the game, from two and three yards out, respectively.

“I just wanted to play my game and not worry about what [Fountain Valley] was doing,” Orphey said. “I didn’t worry about anything. I just wanted to come out here and play our game, do what I can do best.”

Edison senior quarterback Matt Viles finished 10 of 20 for 154 yards. He injured his left shoulder on the last play of the third quarter, but got it wrapped up and Coach Dave White said after the game it appeared Viles would be fine.

Senior Markus Trujillo had three field goals for the Chargers, the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division and also ranked No. 5 in the state by CalHiSports.com. Two of those came in the first quarter as Edison built a 6-0 lead. The Chargers extended it after Orphey’s 29-yard run set up first-and-goal. Two more rushes from Orphey later and Edison had a 13-0 advantage with 5:06 left in the first half.

The Barons, ranked No. 6 in the Pac-5, went three-and-out on their first two series and senior running back Kyle Middlebrooks didn’t so much as touch the ball until the final play of the first quarter. Middlebrooks finished with a season-low 85 yards on 16 carries, just over half his average of 168 yards per game.

“We just were hoping he wasn’t going to break too many long runs, but he never got any long runs,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “Our defense played unbelievable. On offense, you know, [Fountain Valley’s] defense is good like Los Al’s but we ran the ball well tonight. We needed to. We blocked a little better, and you know it’s just a great win. I’m just proud of these kids. The senior class is something special. They deserve this league championship and they deserve to win the bell.”

Fountain Valley got the ball to start the second half but it was another three-and-out, as senior Sean McLaughlin and junior Josh Frost snuffed out a screen pass to Middlebrooks on third down. After the punt, it was Orphey time again. Running behind an offensive line including at times Kyle Finney, Sam Saultz, Roman Sapolu, Hollingsworth, Christian Magnusen and Luke Gane, Orphey exploded for a 39-yard run up the middle to the Fountain Valley six-yard line.

Two rushes later, he was again in the end zone, then Orphey made a two-point conversion run and Edison was rolling, 21-0.

“We wanted to show that we could run the ball,” said Sapolu, the center. “[Last week against Los Alamitos] our defense scored so quick that they never got off the field. When they scored, we never came on, we never got a chance to do our thing. We wanted to come back and play smash mouth.”

Charles Burks sacked Barons quarterback Dominic Ragland twice in the game, and Kris Bonham recovered a fumble. McLaughlin had a fourth-quarter interception that led to Trujillo’s final field goal.

Ragland finished six of 13 for 37 yards. Also the Barons’ punter, he was the victim of poor snaps throughout the game, a problem that led to two safeties last week in a narrow win over Newport Harbor.

“We did not play a very good football game offensively, and special teams hurt us again,” Fountain Valley Coach John Shipp said. “And if you don’t do those two things, your defense can only do so much. Our defense played a great game.

“[Edison] did a great job. Not taking anything away from them because they’re a great football team, but I didn’t think that we did the fundamental things that we needed to do to give ourselves a chance, to make it a better football game. That’s the frustrating thing, but we’re going to get better.”

Orphey brushed aside the rivalry after the game with just a bit of swagger, the kind you earn when you turn in a dominating performance against a big rival.

“It feels really, really good,” Orphey said. “But, at the same time, I feel like we just beat another team.”