Edison falls to Los Alamitos in Sunset League football battle for first

Edison High’s football reign in the Sunset League is over.

The Chargers’ 12-game winning streak in league ended in a 24-16 loss to Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach High on Thursday.

The Griffins improved to 3-0 in league, and they will most likely win their final two games and claim their first undefeated title in three years. They overcame a 13-point deficit at halftime and scored 21 points in the second half to stun the two-time defending champion Chargers.

The second-half performance by Los Alamitos (5-3 overall) was dominant on the defensive side. The Griffins blanked Edison (5-3, 2-1 in league), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 poll, in the final two quarters. It took until the 7:19 mark in the fourth quarter for the Chargers to move the chains for the first time in the second half.

Los Alamitos unleashed its linebackers — Alex Miskela, Issaiah Johnson and Nathan Hartman — on Edison’s Griffin O’Connor, helping the defense sack the Yale-bound quarterback six times. Miskela finished with 3½ sacks, and the last time he took down O’Connor, it sealed the Griffins’ first win against Edison in three years.

Despite the offensive struggles in the second half, O’Connor and the Chargers had chances late. In their final attempt, coming on fourth-and-10 on Los Alamitos’ 37, O’Connor couldn’t even get the pass off. Miskela sacked him, and with 1:16 left, it was over.

The defense gave Ray Fenton his first league win over Edison. He lost to the Chargers three times when he was in charge at Fountain Valley from 2013-15, and last year, his first at Los Alamitos.

“We just played … and put guys in different positions,” Fenton said of rushing Miskela, who has an offer from BYU, Johnson, a University of Arizona commit, and Hartman, who is heading to the University of San Diego. “They’re so skilled. They can play [on the] line and linebacker.”

The pressure overwhelmed O’Connor, who completed only 13 of 41 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions. In the second half, the senior was four-of-19 passing, and Haven Rosas intercepted O’Connor, returning it 51 yards for a touchdown to help put Los Alamitos up eight in the fourth quarter.

O’Connor almost had his third touchdown, and he targeted his favorite receiver, David Atencio, who had six receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns. But John Newman stood in Atencio’s way of finding the end zone with less than four minutes remaining. Newman delivered a big hit on Atencio near the pylon, jarring the ball loose and the fourth-down pass fell incomplete. Edison turned the ball over on downs on Los Alamitos’ 15-yard line.

“We really had a hard time finding our rhythm,” said Edison coach Jeff Grady, whose team had a 16-3 lead at halftime. “I got to do a better job of finding a way to get our guys in a rhythm. We struggled running the ball, but we still got to find a way.”

Edison managed 10 rushing yards, and the lack of a running game made it difficult to keep drives alive and hold onto the lead in the second half.

The Chargers played well on special teams. They blocked two first-half punts, which set up touchdowns, and blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter.

Special teams allowed Edison to strike first. Mateo Gallego blocked a Los Alamitos punt, and Kaleo Helekahi picked up the ball, returning it 10 yards to the Griffins’ eight. After Los Alamitos stuffed a run for a two-yard loss, O’Connor threw a 10-yard touchdown to Atencio.

The only issue came on the extra-point kick, as Jack Morrell missed it. There would be more mistakes, for both teams, in the rest of the opening quarter.

Penalties ruined drives. Edison committed three penalties for 47 yards in the first 12 minutes, and Los Alamitos four for 42 yards. One 15-yard penalty by Edison, coming on fourth-and-one, gave the Griffins a new set of downs on the Chargers’ 32.

The very next play saw Los Alamitos get flagged, and it was a costly one. A holding call nullified Grant Caraway’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Zack Wagoner. The Griffins wound up turning the ball over on downs.

Los Alamitos found itself back in Edison territory 2½ minutes into the second quarter. A defensive lineman, Richard Yukihiro, intercepted a pass right at him, and the 250-pounder ran with it. Yukihiro went 19 yards, setting up the Griffins just inside the opponent’s 15-yard line. They had to settle for Nicholas Valenzuela’s 30-yard field goal, which cut the deficit to 6-3.

Another special team’s miscue hurt Los Alamitos. Punter Dylan Ramirez bobbled the snap, and Jacob Olaerts got a piece of the ball and it went out of bounds for a nine-yard punt. Edison quickly capitalized.

O’Connor went to Atencio, hitting him with a pass near the three, and Atencio avoided tacklers by stepping to his right and walking into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown. Edison took a 13-3 lead with 4:33 left in the first half.

Atencio got his hands on the ball 59 seconds later.

Los Alamitos, facing a third-and-one on its 29, went to a goal-line formation, and it tried to fool the defense with an option run. But Caraway’s pitch to his left to running back Keanu Norman was low and hit the turf, and Atencio dove on it.

The Chargers took advantage of the turnover. Morrell converted a 32-yard field goal, as Edison went ahead 16-3 with about 2½ minutes remaining before halftime.

Edison had one last chance with the ball before the first half expired, thanks to Atencio intercepting a pass inside the Chargers’ 20-yard line. That was the only turnover in which the Chargers did not score any points off in the first half.

They wouldn’t score the rest of the way.

“The best teams, they last the longest in the third and fourth quarter, and they can keep their foot on the gas,” Miskela said. “I don’t feel like Edison could.”

*

Los Alamitos 24, Edison 16

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Los Alamitos 0 – 3 – 14 – 7 — 24

Edison 6 – 10 – 0 – 0 — 16

FIRST QUARTER

E – Atencio 10 pass from O’Connor (kick failed), 6:53.

SECOND QUARTER

LA – Valenzuela 30 FG, 8:45.

E – Atencio 16 pass from O’Connor (J. Morrell kick), 4:33.

E – J. Morrell 32 FG, 2:27.

THIRD QUARTER

LA – Huey 25 pass from Caraway (Valenzuela kick), 8:54.

LA – Hartman 8 run (Valenzuela kick), 4:02.

FOURTH QUARTER

LA – Rosas 51 INT return (Valenzuela kick), 8:23.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LA – Norman, 19-64.

E – Walters, 7-9.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LA – Caraway, 14-31-1, 219, 1 TD.

E – O’Connor, 13-41-2, 172, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LA – Huey, 5-81, 1 TD.

E – Atencio, 6-100, 2 TDs.

[email protected]

Twitter: @ByDCP