These Champions Have to Be Convinced After Tying

Beneath the concrete stairs and pillars of Anaheim Stadium Friday night, Edison High School coaches tried to convince their players that they had won the Big Five Conference championship. This was a true test of the coaches’ power of persuasion.

The Chargers led Long Beach Poly, 14-0, with less than five minutes to play, only to leave the field with a 14-14 tie and a co-championship.

Afterward, Coach Bill Workman and his staff tried to pick up the pieces of a stunned and tearful Edison locker room.

“See this thing?” Workman asked his players as he raised the championship plaque overhead. “It’s blue. It’s in the record books. “You’re champions. We’re winners.”

Said assistant coach Harry Schmidt: “You won a championship. It’s a helluva deal.”

Even Moe Chavez, president of the Southern Section Executive Council, felt the need to make a sales pitch as he presented the championship plaque. “You’re champions, OK?” he said.

But it was clear that the Edison players were not entirely convinced. These players were consoling--not congratulating--each other. This championship was theirs, until things suddenly fell apart in a five-minute span. Sharing it was no fun.

Edison took a 14-0 lead with 13 seconds left in the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mike Angelovic to Rick Justice. The pair teamed on a 51-yard pass play two plays earlier to set up the score.

The Chargers needed only to get through the fourth quarter to claim their first outright championship since 1980. The Edison defense, which had read all the rave reviews of their counterparts from Long Beach Poly in the days leading to the game, had held the Jackrabbits scoreless. The Chargers had sacked Long Beach Poly quarterback Mike Herring seven times for losses totaling 46 yards. They had forced two turnovers.

But when Angelovic threw a pass into the arms of Jackrabbit defensive lineman Stacey Elliot with 4:37 left, it was time to start worrying. The play gave Long Beach Poly the ball on the Edison 15. Two plays later, the Jackrabbits scored to cut the lead to 14-7 with 3:43 to play.

An ensuing onside kick attempt failed, but so did some critical plays in Edison’s attempt to run out the clock. Workman and his staff elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-one at the Long Beach Poly 43, and Angelovic was stopped for no gain. The Jackrabbits got the ball with 1:43 to play.

Moments later, Herring teamed with Andre Hill on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 59 seconds to play. Adam Scholaro’s conversion kick tied the score at 14-14.

And that, much to the disappointment of the Edison players, was the way it ended.

As time expired, Justice threw his helmet into the air in frustration. Angelovic stood stunned near the 30, helmet at his feet. Workman was surrounded by reporters who wanted to know why he went for it on fourth down.

“Because it was over if we got it,” he said. “Believe me, there was a long discussion.

“This is not that big of thrill, but when you really step back and look at it, you still won the CIF (title). We can’t feel too bad about the way things went. But we would like to have a couple of plays over again.”

Said Long Beach Poly safety Mike Carrier, amid a much happier group of players: “I’ll take this. I’ll take 14-14 after we were down, 14-0, with three minutes left.”

The Edison players slowly left the field and filed into the locker room. Workman did his best to make them proud of the championship plaque he held before them, but he had to hurry.

A group of Southern Section officials stood near the back of the room. One of them stepped forward and took the plaque from Workman’s hands.

There was a victory celebration on hold in the Long Beach Poly locker room. They needed the blue plaque over there, too.