Big Five Conference : Second Time, It’s Edison Who Gains the Win
The defense that had carried Westminster High School to its first playoff appearence since 1976--and beyond any reasonable expectations--could only watch from the sideline. In the end, it was an opponent’s defense that brought a close to Westminster’s season, albeit a few weeks later than expected.
Westminster was five yards from victory with less than a minute to play in Friday night’s Big Five Conference semifinal in LeBard Stadium. Moments later, Dean Butler and Bruce Dubois threw Lion quarterback Steve Gulley to the turf, preserving a 7-3 win in front of a capacity crowd of 7,600.
The win puts the Chargers in the next week’s Big Five Conference championship game against Long Beach Poly, a 7-6 winner over Marina.
For the first time in a season that has seen the Chargers win seven straight games since a 24-14 loss to Westminster in the Sunset League opener, Edison’s defense was called upon to win a game. The Chargers had rolled up some big numbers in a 10-2 season, most of them on the scoreboard. They scored 51 points to rout Marina and gain a share of the league championship. Entering the semifinal, they had scored an average of 25.6 points per game.
But all the Chargers could manage against Westminster was a 42-yard touchdown pass from Mike Angelovic to tight end Ken Griggs with 45 seconds left in the first half.
Said Edison Coach Bill Workman, “I sure didn’t think seven points would hold up.”
It nearly didn’t. Edison stopped the Lions three times inside the Charger 10-yard line in the fourth quarter, including a frantic stand in the closing seconds.
Westminster got the ball with 3:06 to play, following an Edison punt that put the ball at the Charger 48. On a third-down play, Gulley threw to Danny Saldana for a 16-yard gain at the Edison 28. Two plays later, Gulley hit running back James Solley along the left sideline for an 18-yard gain to the 8.
Mike Cover carried to the five, then again to the three. But on Cover’s second carry, Westminster was penalized for holding, moving the ball back to the 15. Gulley dropped back to pass from there, but was sacked by Butler. Westminster, out of timeouts, hastily tried to get off a play, but Butler and Dubois wrapped up Gulley at the 24, and time expired.
Westminster had an opportunity to take the lead with 7:40 to play, when linebacker Dean Eddy intercepted an Angelovic pass at the Charger 12 and returned it to the 8. Cover took the ball over from one-yard out, but the touchdown was nullified by an illegal-motion penalty. Gulley’s fourth-down pass intended for Saldana in the back of the end zone was overthrown.
“The two penalties at the end hurt us,” Westminster co-coach Jack Bowman said. “But anybody who thought that us beating them in that first game was a fluke was a little surprised tonight. We’re disappointed that we’re not in the finals, but when you get down to the final four, you can’t make mistakes. And we made major mistakes.”
Angelovic completed 13 of 24 passes for 152 yards to set a school record for single-season passing yardage. The old mark was set by Frank Seuer in 1979.
Westminster (8-4) got its only score on a 37-yard field goal by Todd Weaver at the end of the first half. Weaver’s kick was set up by Gulley’s scramble for a 40-yard gain to the Edison 26.
The Chargers had taken a 7-0 lead moments earlier on the long pass to Griggs. The score was set up when Gulley threw an errant pass that was intercepted by Casey Jones. The ball appeared to slip out of Gulley’s hand as he released. Griggs’ touchdown came two plays later.