THE BIG GAME : City Eastern’s Main Event: Point Loma vs. Morse

How simple it would have been if these two teams had just played at the beginning of the season and the county had then gotten on with the playoffs. Everybody has predicted all along that the City Eastern League football championship would be decided by today’s 2:30 p.m. game between visiting Point Loma and Morse.

Of course, both Point Loma Coach Bennie Edens and Morse Coach John Shacklett said the typically cautious things coaches say at the start of a season. Such as: “There’s a lot of games to play.” And: “We just take one game at a time.”

Well, they played a lot of games and took them one at a time, and after all that, everything is the way it was supposed to be. Morse (7-2, 4-0) and Point Loma (6-3, 4-0) are tied for first. Today’s game will decide the league championship.

Even now, neither coach is willing to concede this was a two-team race.

“Well, Mira Mesa was tougher than we thought,” Edens said. “We probably could have been beaten by them.”

Said Shacklett, humbly: “I have to admit, I’m very pleased with the way things turned out.”

This figures to be quite a game if you consider that Point Loma and Morse each defeated the league’s third-best team, Mira Mesa, by four points.

In the past five meetings, each team has two victories and there has been one tie. Total score in those games? Morse 104, Point Loma 99.

Stopping Point Loma quarterback Danny White and his receivers, J.J. Stokes and Brett Callan, would be Morse’s ticket to victory. So far, no team has figured out just how to do that. White (126 for 208, 2,190 yards, 18 touchdowns) leads the county in passing, and Callan (51 catches, 936 yards, six touchdowns) and Stokes (47 catches, 984 yards, nine touchdowns) are first and second in receiving.

Morse has a strong pass rush led by down lineman Irwin Mendiola, but Point Loma’s offensive line is also strong and has given White ample time to throw. Morse will miss the services of tackle Salua Poutoa, who is out with a stress fracture in his right leg.

Shacklett said his team showed its best balance offensively last week in a 42-19 victory over Patrick Henry. Look for Morse quarterback Teddy Lawrence to run almost as much as he passes, and Utotofo Faime, a workhorse running back, to take the rest of the offensive responsibilities. Controlling the ball may be Morse’s best defense against White, who can’t throw from the sideline.

Time for a prediction.

Coach Edens?

“If I had to bet my life on it, I’d bet on us,” he said. “But I’m not out looking for bets.”