Fountain Valley Puts On Good Show

An overflow crowd of more than 8,000 jammed the football stadium at Orange Coast College to watch Fountain Valley and Edison meet Friday in a Sunset League game.

But there was no trouble getting out of the stands on Edison’s side after the game because many spectators had started to leave midway through the third quarter of Fountain Valley’s 35-12 victory.

Actually, those in attendance hardly had time to find a seat before Fountain Valley (5-3, 2-1) took a 14-0 lead.

Junior John Sanders took the opening kickoff 71 yards to the Edison 14 and Andrew Medley carried three times, the third time for a four-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes 28 seconds left in the first quarter.

Fountain Valley then got the first of two gift-wrapped touchdowns. A high snap on a punt gave the Barons the ball at the Edison one. Quarterback Mike Lamar went up the middle for the touchdown on the next play.

The second of Nathan Hanson’s five conversion kicks made it 14-0 with 8:23 left in the quarter.

The other generous touchdown came when Edison quarterback Jeff Grady took a two-step drop and threw a quick pass from his 28 that went right to defensive end Mike Wilcox, who raced 30 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead with 7:46 left in the half.

“I dropped back two steps,” said Wilcox, “then, just ran it back as hard as I could.”

It was the first of three interceptions for Fountain Valley.

David Thompson intercepted a Grady pass in the Fountain Valley end zone that was deflected by teammate Aaron Carter on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The final interception was by Andrew Harper, also in the Fountain Valley end zone, with 41 seconds left.

Edison (5-3, 1-2) got to within 28-12 when Grady completed a nine-yard scoring pass to Mike Buckingham on fourth down with 34 seconds left in the first half.

Edison got the ball to start the second half but Fountain Valley’s defense stopped the Chargers in three plays. The Barons then drove 31 yards in six plays with the touchdown coming on a four-yard pass from Lamar to Wray Watkins.

“This is the biggest game in Orange County,” Fountain Valley Coach George Berg said. “Now, our kids can go out in the community and strick their chests out a little.”