Yes, it was a defensive game

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There was a lot of good defense played in Servite’s 6-0 victory over Edison, a game pitting teams ranked Nos. 8 and 10 in The Times’ top 25. It was also a meeting of Pac-5 powers.

Servite hounded quarterback Nick Crissman all night. He was sacked five times -- by Jacob Romero, DJ Shoemate, Matt Kalil and twice by Austin Niklas, who was making his debut after missing the first two games with a thumb injury.

Crissman completed 11 of 25 passes for 139 yards with one interception, by Bijon Simoodi on the Chargers’ last offensive play of the game. In Crissman’s first game since an appendectomy on Sept. 4, he looked good -- when he wasn’t running for his life. He had six passes dropped, including one in the end zone. In addition to the sacks, he was hit several times -- hard.

‘Their defense kicked our offense’s butt, that’s the bottom line,’ said Dave White, Edison’s coach. And, to make sure there was no misunderstanding, he repeated it word for word.

‘Our defense played good enough to win. You’ve got to score to win.’

Servite (3-0) posted its second shutout of the season. Edison fell to 3-1.

‘I’m really proud of those guys,’ Servite Coach Troy Thomas said of his defense. ‘Our defensive coordinator, Ed Drzanek, is a first-time defensive coordinator. He’s been my offensive line coach, coached all those guys. I asked him to be defensive coordinator and he has two shutouts. I’m real proud of him.’

Offensive linemen, and their coaches, are a lot smarter than people think they are.

Thomas agreed: ‘They can do a lot of things.’

- Martin Henderson