Grady, Edison Are Enjoying a Dream Season
In its 66-19 victory over Huntington Beach High last Thursday, Huntington Beach Edison gained 299 yards in the first half. Tommy Grady, quarterback for The Times’ No. 4-ranked team, passed for 207 and didn’t play in the second half. He also threw for three touchdowns.
“He’s been like this for seven weeks,” said Dave White, Edison’s coach. “That’s what he does every week. He’s unbelievable.”
Grady has 14 touchdown passes and hasn’t been intercepted. After completing 10 of 15 passes, his percentage actually dropped to 67%. And he’s only a junior for the 6-0 Chargers.
Grady said this season has exceeded his expectations.
“It’s a dream come true the way the season has gone so far,” he said. “Guys are getting open and they’re doing their job, and I’m doing mine, and we’re clicking right now. We’re playing well together. The offensive line is doing really good, the defense, the receivers, everyone’s been working really hard.”
Edison will need to click tonight to get past No. 15 Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach High.
The Edison victory last week provided White with his school-record 110th victory as coach of the Chargers, one more than Bill Workman, who was 109-33-5 from 1973-85.
Workman was White’s coach during his senior season, 1973, and White succeeded Workman as coach. White is 110-58-2.
“He was like a second father to me, and we remained real close in college,” said White, a quarterback who went on to play at Oregon State. “He even went up there one summer and helped me one day with my mechanics in college. The honor is to be associated with him in the same breath.”
Workman, who later coached at Orange Coast College, is retired. Edison won three section titles and seven Sunset League championships during his tenure.
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Angelus angst: Los Angeles Loyola lost to Santa Margarita, 21-14, on Friday, the day after the Southern Section voted to combine the parochial powers of the Serra and Del Rey leagues into a new Angelus League beginning next season.
Santa Margarita, Bellflower St. John Bosco, Anaheim Servite and Santa Ana Mater Dei of the Serra League will combine with Loyola and La Puente Bishop Amat of the Del Rey.
One advantage is that it eliminates the four-team leagues that currently exist, Loyola Coach Steve Grady said.
“Four-team leagues [are terrible],” said Grady, 238-65-6 in 26 seasons at Loyola. “The only thing worse is having a super league like they will next year.
“That’s been [the case], kind of, in the Sunset League with Esperanza, Los Alamitos, Edison and Fountain Valley. But six top teams like we’re going to have--that’s gonna be rock ‘em, sock ‘em.”
Santa Margarita is fourth in the Southern Section Division I poll, with Loyola at No. 5, Bishop Amat at No. 6, Mater Dei at No. 8 and St. John Bosco at No. 12.
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Winning numbers: In the last two seasons, Santa Margarita has beaten Mater Dei, Los Alamitos and Loyola, all by scores of 21-14.
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Prolific pass receiving: Santa Maria St. Joseph senior Drew Bernier had 20 receptions for 391 yards going into last week’s game against Santa Ynez. But Bernier nearly matched that in a single night, catching 11 passes for 297 yards, placing him 10th on the all-time single-game receiving yardage list in California, according to Cal-Hi Sports.
Dustin Kelly, who had passed for 943 yards in six games, completed 25 of 45 passes for 436 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, and broke the school record held by NFL quarterback Mark Brunell, who passed for 405 yards against Santa Paula in 1987.
Santa Maria (3-4, 1-1) won, 29-25, on Bernier’s 80-yard scoring reception with less than two minutes left on a fourth-and-29 play. Bernier broke the school record of 226 yards set last season by Ryan Smith.
According to Cal-Hi Sports, the state’s single-game receiving yardage record was set by Ramon Navarez of Garden Grove Bolsa Grande in 1996 with 377 yards in eight catches against Garden Grove La Quinta.
In that game, quarterback Doug Baughman set a state record with 564 yards passing, which was exceeded twice by David Koral of Palisades, including a national record 764 last season against Van Nuys Grant.
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A matter of time: Lorenzo Booker’s three touchdowns Saturday gave him 692 points in his career at Ventura St. Bonaventure, and it did move him past Ventura’s Tyler Ebell (680 points) on the Southern Section list, but it is not a state record as previously reported.
According to Cal-Hi Sports, Dominique Dorsey of Tulare, with 710 points in a career that ended last season, is the state’s scoring leader.
Dorsey also rushed for 7,761 yards, the state record that Booker is also pursuing. Booker has 6,839 in his career.