Five Moments to Remember and Five More for Good Measure
EDISON vs. SERVITE
1981 Big Five Conference, first round
A banner on the Edison sideline read: “Edison lose? Let’s get serious.â€
Obviously, Servite did.
Edison came into the Big Five Conference first-round game on Nov. 21, 1981 at Orange Coast College with a 32-game winning streak. The Chargers were ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Servite had joined the 16-team playoffs as an at-large entry.
But somehow a team that had outscored its opponents, 357-98, during the regular season lost, 14-7, to a team that it had eliminated in the playoffs the previous two years.
Servite used two first-half scoring plays and then held off a last-minute Edison drive to earn one of the biggest upsets in Southern Section playoff history.
Edison lost the county’s back of the year, fullback Dave Geroux, with a broken arm late in the first half and never recovered.
Asked how the upset ranked among his victories as Servite coach, Ron Smeltzer, now coaching in the Canadian Football League, said, “It was definitely up there among the best I’ve experienced.â€
