A bell-ringing

FULLERTON — After Fountain Valley got its bell rung for much of the game, the Edison High football team stopped.

It was time to celebrate winning the actual bell for the fifth straight year.

“Lightning definitely does strike in the same place five times,” senior offensive lineman Calvin Hollingsworth said.

No one could argue that as the Chargers dominated their rival Friday night at Cal State Fullerton, 24-0, and have clinched their fourth straight Sunset League championship. All Edison (9-0, 4-0 in league) has to do is beat last-place Marina Friday night at Huntington Beach High and the Chargers also have it all to themselves, for the first time since 1990.

They definitely earned the bell before a sellout crowd of 10,000, shutting out a Barons (8-1, 3-1) team that came into the game averaging more than 39 points per game.

“I think our defense is like that because we all stick together,” said junior cornerback Davion Orphey. “There’s no individuals. We all stand out together, we all play together.”

But it was Orphey who made the biggest splash on the offensive end. He’s sometimes been a change of pace for senior running back Wade Houston, but this time Orphey set the pace, with a season-high 122 yards on 12 carries. He also scored the only two touchdowns of the game, from two and three yards out, respectively.

“I just wanted to play my game and not worry about what [Fountain Valley] was doing,” Orphey said. “I didn’t worry about anything. I just wanted to come out here and play our game, do what I can do best.”

Edison senior quarterback Matt Viles finished 10 of 20 for 154 yards. He suffered a hyper-extended left elbow on the last play of the third quarter, and is not expected to play against the Vikings on Friday.

Senior Markus Trujillo had three field goals for the Chargers, the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division and also ranked No. 5 in the state by CalHiSports.com, against the Barons. Two of those came in the first quarter as Edison built a 6-0 lead. The Chargers extended it after Orphey’s 29-yard run set up first-and-goal. Two more rushes from Orphey later and Edison had a 13-0 advantage with 5:06 left in the first half.

The Barons, ranked No. 6 in the Pac-5, went three-and-out on their first two series and senior running back Kyle Middlebrooks didn’t so much as touch the ball until the final play of the first quarter. Middlebrooks finished with a season-low 85 yards on 16 carries, just over half his average of 168 yards per game.

“We just were hoping he wasn’t going to break too many long runs, but he never got any long runs,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “Our defense played unbelievable. On offense, you know, [Fountain Valley’s] defense is good like Los Al’s but we ran the ball well tonight. We needed to. We blocked a little better, and you know it’s just a great win. I’m just proud of these kids. The senior class is something special. They deserve this league championship and they deserve to win the bell.”

Fountain Valley got the ball to start the second half but it was another three-and-out, as senior Sean McLaughlin and junior Josh Frost snuffed out a screen pass to Middlebrooks on third down. After the punt, it was Orphey time again. Running behind an offensive line including at times Kyle Finney, Sam Saultz, Roman Sapolu, Hollingsworth, Christian Magnusen and Luke Gane, Orphey exploded for a 39-yard run up the middle to the Fountain Valley six-yard line.

Two rushes later, he was again in the end zone, then Orphey made a two-point conversion run and Edison was rolling, 21-0.

“We wanted to show that we could run the ball,” said Sapolu, the center. “[Last week against Los Alamitos] our defense scored so quick that they never got off the field. When they scored, we never came on, we never got a chance to do our thing. We wanted to come back and play smash mouth.”

Charles Burks sacked Barons quarterback Dominic Ragland twice in the game, and Kris Bonham recovered a fumble. McLaughlin had a fourth-quarter interception that led to Trujillo’s final field goal.

Ragland finished six of 13 for 37 yards. Also the Barons’ punter, he was the victim of poor snaps throughout the game, a problem that led to two safeties last week in a narrow win over Newport Harbor.

“We did not play a very good football game offensively, and special teams hurt us again,” Fountain Valley Coach John Shipp said. “And if you don’t do those two things, your defense can only do so much. Our defense played a great game.

“[Edison] did a great job. Not taking anything away from them because they’re a great football team, but I didn’t think that we did the fundamental things that we needed to do to give ourselves a chance, to make it a better football game. That’s the frustrating thing, but we’re going to get better.”

The Barons will need to regroup as they face Los Alamitos (7-2, 2-2) at 7 tonight at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach. A loss, combined with a Newport Harbor victory over Esperanza on Friday, would create a three-way tie between the Barons, Griffins and Sailors for second place in the Sunset League.

Only two of those teams would be guaranteed Pac-5 Division playoff berths, although Fountain Valley could try to get the division’s lone at-large berth. But the Barons can take away all the guesswork if they win tonight.

Orphey brushed aside the rivalry after the bell game with just a bit of swagger, the kind you earn when you turn in a dominating performance against a big rival.

“It feels really, really good,” Orphey said. “But, at the same time, I feel like we just beat another team.”

In other Week 10 action around the area:

 

TONIGHT

Huntington Beach (5-4, 2-2) vs. Woodbridge (2-6-1, 1-3), 7 p.m. at Irvine High: The Oilers, coming off a 31-22 loss to El Toro, also have a huge game tonight.

Huntington Beach can clinch a CIF Southern Section Southeast Division playoff berth with a win over the Warriors, since the Oilers have a tiebreaker over Foothill (also 2-2 in league). If the Oilers lose to Woodbridge, they would still clinch a playoff berth if Foothill loses to El Toro. A combination of a Huntington loss and a Foothill win would mean the Oilers would have to hope they receive the division’s lone at-large berth.

The Oilers, ranked No. 10 in the Southwest Division, fell to No. 6 El Toro last week despite big games from senior quarterback Sean Guite (281 yards and a TD) and receiver Kaller Roemer (184 yards and a TD).

Huntington Beach was down by two at the end of the game after Tyler Bertrand recovered an onside kick. But a pass was intercepted by El Toro and returned 65 yards for a score.

Ocean View (3-6, 0-4) vs. Saddleback (2-7, 0-4), 7 p.m. at Santa Ana Bowl: The Seahawks, eliminated from playoff contention, will look for their first Golden West League win against Saddleback.

Timmy Robinson scored two rushing touchdowns and had 117 yards in last week’s 38-21 loss to Orange.

But after quarterback Nolan Tippy scored on a two-yard run in the first quarter, Ocean View gave up 28 straight points.

Los Amigos (0-9, 0-4) at Bolsa Grande (0-9, 0-4), 7 p.m.: Nobody wants a winless season, and one of these teams should get their first — and only — victory of the season Friday night. Los Amigos is coming off a 60-7 loss to Garden Grove; Daniel Hernandez scored the lone touchdown on a 26-yard run.

 

FRIDAY

Crean Lutheran South (0-6, 0-2) at Brethren Christian (4-5, 0-2), 6:30 p.m.: The Warriors fell to top-ranked St. Margaret’s, 62-14, last week. Although they can no longer finish top-two in the Academy League, they could apply for an at-large berth for the CIF playoffs if they can take care of winless Crean Lutheran South.

Week 9 Top Performers

Passing

 Sean Guite, Huntington Beach – 281 yards, 1 TD.

Rushing

 Davion Orphey, Edison – 122 yards, 2 TDs.

Receiving

 Kaller Roemer, Huntington Beach – 184 yards, 1 TD.