Edison’s Mistakes Help Esperanza Win
Edison went into Friday’s game against second-ranked Esperanza needing to do a lot of things to win. Foremost was believing it could be done.
“We focused this week on believing we could do it,” Coach Dave White said. “If you don’t, it’s not going to happen.”
White did a masterful job of selling the notion to his team because Edison could have beaten the Aztecs.
Could have.
Six turnovers--three fumbles (two unforced) and three interceptions (all at the 10-yard line or deeper)--were too much to overcome as Edison lost to Esperanza, 17-6, in front of 1,500 at Orange Coast College.
Esperanza, which lost one fumble, improved to 6-1, 2-0 in the Sunset League. Unranked Edison dropped to 5-2, 1-1.
Just how close was Edison to upsetting Esperanza a week after the Aztecs’ emotional victory over rival Los Alamitos?
The Chargers, buoyed by Josh Kogler’s 23 carries for 138 yards, outgained Esperanza, 261-173.
The Charger defense limited David Parrish--whose 1,089 yards rank him among the county’s top 10--to 110 yards on six of 13 completions. Fifty yards came in the final four minutes on a pass to Bryan Moore that set up Nathan Fiske’s 31-yard field goal to finish the scoring. In fairness to Parrish, two passes were dropped.
“We really did everything we wanted to do,” White said. “Our defense did great, but [the offense] gave them bad field position. We self-destructed.”
Field position was crucial. Esperanza began its first scoring drive at its 50-yard line on its first series of the game, and at the Edison 36 midway in the third quarter.
The first, aided by a personal foul that advanced the ball 15 yards, ended with Jamaal Footman (21 carries for 72 yards) running 10 yards and Fiske adding the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The second came as Brent Garrison scored from 14 yards on a counter trap after Footman had carried four consecutive times. They were sandwiched around Edison’s lone touchdown.
Though neither of Esperanza’s touchdowns were the result of an Edison turnover, the Chargers’ score came after a muffed kickoff return was recovered by Manuel Adams at the Esperanza 29. Three plays later, Kogler ran through a wall of tacklers at the line of scrimmage and scored from 17 yards. Jeff Hall’s point-after was wide, making it 7-6 less than two minutes into the third quarter.