Edison, CdM advance to Gold Bracket in Battle at the Beach
The return of high school football is inching closer, so passing tournaments like the Battle at the Beach provide valuable repetitions for those about to be thrown into the fire.
Corona del Mar and Edison will open the upcoming season on Aug. 11, each preparing to go into battle with a new starting quarterback.
For the record:
2:54 p.m. July 6, 2023In the July 6 edition, the Battle at the Beach story misstated that Corona del Mar tight end Zach Giuliano is a senior. He is heading into his junior year.
Edison, the host for Saturday’s passing tournament, fared well with Savelio Niumata flinging the ball around the yard. The Chargers went undefeated in pool play, before falling to finalist Rancho Cucamonga in Gold Bracket play.
Niumata, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior, worked largely with senior Mason York and juniors Aidan Brown and Jake Minter. The Chargers posted wins against Bellflower St. John Bosco, Temecula Chaparral, Poulsbo (Wash.) North Kitsap and Ventura St. Bonaventure.
After transferring from Mission Viejo prior to his sophomore year, Niumata watched an explosive offense put up 37.5 points per game with Parker Awad, last season’s Daily Pilot Football Dream Team Player of the Year, running the show.
“Parker is a very, very, very intelligent quarterback, and I feel like I really got a lot of help from him, really breaking down the mental part of the game,” Niumata said. “Coach [Jeff] Grady is a genius, in my eyes. I think Edison is a great home for me, and he’s teaching me a lot of things.”
Edison has had a penchant for playing receivers on both sides of the ball. Minter came away with an interception on North Kitsap’s first possession. York, who made a toe-tapping catch in the left corner of the end zone against North Kitsap, also registered an interception against St. Bonaventure.
The unforgiving secondary of the Chargers limited the opposition to 26 total points through its first four games of the tournament, including a 7-0 shutout of Chaparral.
Roughly five weeks from the opener, Edison will play its first two games in Hawaii against Wailuku Baldwin and Lahaina Lahainaluna.
“We got our first two games in Hawaii,” Niumata said when asked about the Chargers’ nonleague schedule. “We’re on Maui, which is pretty exciting.”
Edison will also take on Lawndale Leuzinger, Palos Verdes and San Clemente before the start of Sunset League play.
Corona del Mar experienced mixed results, albeit a day that new head coach Kevin Hettig felt had his team “on the right trajectory.” The Sea Kings went 2-2 in their pool, before being doubled up 28-14 by Mission Viejo in the Gold Bracket.
The Sea Kings’ offseason also included a runner-up showing in the Dana Hills Air Strike, in which Oxnard Pacifica edged CdM in overtime in the championship game.
Kaleb Annett, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound senior who saw some starts with David Rasor missing time due to injury last season, took the majority of the snaps. He is drawing interest from colleges, having been offered by Boise State and Princeton.
“He performed well,” Hettig said, who added the tournament brought a high level of speed to contend with. “He led the offense. He was getting everybody kind of right. His eyes, he’s seeing some funky coverages and some different things out here. His eyes weren’t always in the right spot, but that’s all fixable stuff with him. He’s such a great kid. He’s going to be good. He’s going to have a good year.”
Corona del Mar started the day against eventual tournament champion Mater Dei, before bouncing back with wins against Inglewood and Downey Warren. Annett had familiar targets in junior tight end Zach Giuliano and senior wide receiver Russell Weir. Giuliano, who stands at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, has a handful of Division 1 offers, including five from Pac-12 schools.
Annett showed trust in his receivers to take shots down the field on Saturday, even if a couple of the contested throws went for turnovers.
Also among his targets were sophomore Dorsett Stecker in the slot, as well as juniors Emori Davis and Cordell Cook.
“It was really good to get all of our guys, offense [and] defense, myself included, to play some teams like that,” Annett said. “Some teams that we normally wouldn’t see in the season, which is always good and compare yourself and always try to get better. It’s always really good.
“It was just good to see different speeds of things and different corners that we won’t always see on the offensive side of the ball, and receivers that the defense won’t always see. It was definitely a big day for us today.”
Senior linebacker Christian Brooks, who was the second-leading tackler for CdM last season, impressed Hettig in coverage.
“He’s got a pulse on our team,” Hettig said of Brooks. “He’s a leader in every sense of that word, and yes, he is a phenomenal cover [line]backer. That’s not even supposed to be what he does. He comes up and bangs, but he had a great day today.”
Corona del Mar opens at home against Tesoro on Aug. 11.
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