Edison Just Plays the Breaks

Call it the revenge of the surfer dudes.

While Long Beach Poly, Mission Viejo, Lakewood and Santa Ana Mater Dei are drawing a steady flow of college recruiters seeking NCAA Division I-A football prospects, Huntington Beach Edison (4-0) keeps shutting down opponents with a defense whose top player earned a letter for varsity surfing before he received one for football.

Defensive end Adam Goodman was a member of Edison’s surfing team his first two years of high school. Now, he tutors linebacker Josh Gage in surfing etiquette.

“He’s a bit rusty,” Goodman said. “I gave him some of my boards and have been trying to teach him.”

Together, Goodman and Gage attack ballcarriers like a wave, plotting strategy, then going full steam ahead.

Edison’s defense is designed to rely on not just a single player but all 11 defenders. It’s a buddy system, with someone always nearby to provide support.

“In two games we scouted them, we saw them blitz three times,” Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley Coach Chi Chi Biehn said. “What they say is, ‘Bring it on.’ ”

In eight of 12 games last season, Edison held opponents to eight or fewer points en route to reaching the Southern Section Division I quarterfinals. Eight defensive starters return this season, and the third-ranked Chargers have recorded two shutouts in four games.

“There’s nothing spectacular,” Anaheim Servite Coach Larry Toner said. “What sticks out is their teamwork.”

Dave White, in his 26th year of coaching at Edison, has convinced his players that if they want to win, playing as one unit is what matters.

“I feel we have a lot of tough, hard-nosed kids who give up their bodies for high school football,” he said.

Gage, 6 feet and 190 pounds, played half of last season with torn cartilage in his right knee.

“It’s not too bad when you’re playing,” he said, “but after the game, it gets real sore.”

He had two arthroscopic surgeries after the season but still isn’t 100%.

“I don’t like pain, but I guess I have to accept it,” he said.

Gage is the prototypical Edison defender -- a fast, fearless senior who follows instructions and knows how to make plays.

“We have a bunch of kids like him,” White said.

Gage also plays running back and probably has the biggest cheering section at games, considering his mother is one of 11 siblings and his father comes from a family of six brothers and sisters.

Goodman, 6-2 and 218 pounds, plays defensive end and tight end. He’s strong and versatile, with good hands and a surfer’s positive outlook.

“We’re all good friends and it carries over on the field,” Goodman said. “Everyone is backing each other up.”

As much as he appreciates surfing, football has become Goodman’s passion.

“I love it,” he said. “You get to unleash everything inside of you, all your emotions.”

There are other players who make Edison’s defense succeed. Nose guard Logan Galitski, 5-10 and 218 pounds, was an all-league pick last season. Then White “begged” him to play offensive guard. Suddenly, he’s a two-way starter.

Lineman Christian Bonsall, 6-3 and 220 pounds, is a dependable pass rusher. Ryan Davis, a two-way starter at safety and receiver, has speed and toughness.

On offense, the Chargers have one of the area’s best junior quarterbacks in Brian Shrock, a Division I prospect. Running back Abel Cardona is listed at 5-9 but looks 5-5 and fits the mold of an over- achiever.

Don’t look for USC Coach Pete Carroll or UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell to be dropping by Edison on a scouting mission, but the Chargers don’t seem to mind.

“They just want to win,” White said.

Mater Dei will present a strong challenge Friday in a nonleague game at Orange Coast College, and tough Sunset League games are ahead against Los Alamitos and Anaheim Esperanza. In the Division I playoffs, Poly and Los Angeles Loyola could be waiting for the Chargers.

Are they worried?

“We’re not scared at all,” Goodman said. “You don’t go into the game [thinking], ‘They’re bigger than me, they’re faster than me.’ They’re just high school kids like me.”

And when it comes to surfer dudes who play football, Edison is stoked and ready.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.