EDISON came very close to making it to the state title game.

The CIF SoCal Regional 1-A football game was expected to be a good one, pitting two high-powered passing offenses against each other. Edison and San Clemente played a real barn-burner on Saturday night at Cap Sheue Field on the Huntington Beach High campus.

It went down to the final ticks. Trailing 35-32, the visiting Tritons scored with 45 seconds in the game to take a 38-36 lead. But that wasn’t all. The Chargers drove all the way to the San Clemente 33 when a last-gasp pass fell incomplete. Fans of Edison High might reasonably claim that their team didn’t so much lose as it simply ran out of time.

Considering how many lead switches took place in the game, especially in the final quarter, they may be right. In any case, many kudos to the Chargers, who went further – almost to the state title game – than any other of our local gridiron teams ever did.

Special kudos, too, to coach Dave White, who wound up a long coaching career with for the history books, even if the last chapter was a bit bittersweet.

UNBEATEN AND KEEPING PACE

League schedules are roughly a month away from starting for most area high school prep basketball teams, but a few teams are already standing out. Two schools are especially standing out as well.

The Pacifica High girls’ team started off its season 7-0, and the boys’ are 5-0, giving the Mariners hoops programs a combined 12-0 record through Saturday. Almost as good is Edison, which had a combined 6-0 record, with the boys’ and girls’ teams each posting 3-0 records.

Any early favorites? The M’s look like the team to beat in the Empire League on both sides. The Garden Grove League boys’ race should be a dogfight, with four of six teams with winning records so far. Among the girls, however, Los Amigos (7-1) looks the strongest.

Ocean View has the best mark among boys (4-2) and second-best girls (2-1) in the Golden West League. Segerstrom is off to a 6-0 start. In the San Joaquin League, the Orangewood Academy boys and girls are headed in different directions. The boys are 1-6 while the girls are 3-1.
And who are the names coming intro prominence this season? Among boys, the top scorers are Chris Robertson of Santiago (178 points in nine games for an average of 19.8 points per game) and Uriel Bautista of Orangewood (122 points in six games; 20.3 points a game).

For girls, Cheryl Cedera and Jennifer Murillo – both of Los Amigos – have 169 and 97 points. That works out to averages of 21.1 and 12.1 points a game.

RAMS ARE REALLY LAMBS

We know that’s not an original insulting nickname for our “new” NFL team, but in an area used to the successes of the Dodgers, the Kings, UCLA basketball, USC football and – sometimes – the Angels and Ducks – what’s been put on the field is simply unacceptable.

As we’ve said before, professional sports is entertainment. Fans aren’t entertained by seeing their get beat by a drum. Maybe Jeff Fisher is a very hard-working coach. There are probably a lot of hard-working comedians, but if no one laughs at their jokes, they’re not funny. If your football team can’t win, well. That’s not funny either.

Monday Morning Coach is here almost every Monday!