Edison football shuts out North Torrance in CIF Division 3 opener

Edison received key contributions on offense from an unlikely source, a sophomore running back with nine career touches putting a charge into the home team with his first playoff carry.

Sam Edmisten carried the ball across the goal line on a 4-yard run on the opening drive, and Edison went on to shut out visiting North Torrance 24-0 on Thursday to open the CIF Southern Section Division 3 football playoffs at ‘Cap’ Sheue Field.

Quarterback Sam Thomson, starting his first playoff game as a sophomore, went to Edmisten early and often as an outlet out of the backfield. Edmisten provided 102 yards of total offense, including seven catches for 63 yards.

Edison quarterback Sam Thomson throws a pass against North Torrance on Thursday in a CIF Division 3 playoff game.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“He’s an excellent pass catcher,” Thomson said of Edmisten. “That’s something that he excels at…and I think we’re going to be able to use him a lot in the passing game going forward.”

Thomson took time to settle into the contest, throwing an interception on his second attempt. His fifth throw was his first completion, a toss to Edmisten that went for 15 yards during the fourth drive of the game for Edison (7-4).

Two plays later, Thomson saw Aidan Brown running wide open over the middle of the field, the connection going for a 60-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead five minutes into the second quarter.

“I thought he played well,” Edison coach Jeff Grady said of Thomson. “I think we need to be sharper as a group on offense because the teams are going to get better and better, so we need to be sharper and sharper. I’m proud of him.”

Edison’s Aidan Brown runs into the end zone untouched after a pass from quarterback Sam Thomson against North Torrance.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Julius Gillick, who said he is nursing an Achilles injury, did not see his usual heavy workload. The Montana-bound running back had a 28-yard touchdown on his final carry of the night, which extended the lead to 21-0 midway through the third quarter.

“I’m so confident in my guys this year that I’m not expecting a last game,” said Gillick, who finished with 104 rushing yards on 10 carries. “I’m expecting to go all the way with every bone in my body, so there’s really nothing about me that’s been worried. There’s nothing about me that’s like, ‘This is it,’ because it’s not it.

“It’s not it for us. It’s not it for this program. This is a team that is going to win a state championship. There’s not an ‘if,’ ‘and,’ or ‘but’ in that statement. This is a team that is going all the way, and I’ve never been more confident about something in my life than I am with saying these boys are taking us.”

Edison’s Julius Gillick runs through the defense against North Torrance on Thursday in a CIF Division 3 playoff game.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Edison did well to stymie Pioneer League champion North Torrance (9-2), which came in averaging 32.8 points per game. Grady said a rotation of players on the defensive front helped set the tone. A defensive secondary featuring Jacob Martin, Gavin Slaughter, Will Harrison and Jake Minter, among others, limited the Saxons to 35 passing yards before halftime — and 177 for the game.

North Torrance quarterback Boogie Anetema found his brother Kingston Anetema twice for big gains — of 40 and 44 yards — in the second half. The latter put the Saxons in the red zone, but Minter and Martin made plays on throws to the end zone to preserve the shutout, before Jack Knudtson recovered a fumble that ended the final drive.

Edison’s Matt Lopez (31) and Carter Cirillo (58) tackle North Torrance’s Jaydan Andrade on Thursday in a CIF Division 3 playoff game.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Carson Schmidt also had a second-half interception for Edison, which will play the winner of La Verne Bonita at Los Angeles Cathedral. The rest of the Division 3 bracket was scheduled to play Friday.

“Whenever big plays occur, our coaches drill this in to ‘let us line up again, let us play one more down,’ so that we can get that stop,” Minter said. “After that, it’s just execute on what we do. They could not run the ball on us. We stopped that, and in the secondary, we were [a] lock-down [pass defense].”

Edison receiver Ayden DeGiacomo makes a finger-tip catch against North Torrance on Thursday at Huntington Beach High.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs

Edison 24, North Torrance 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

North Torrance 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 — 0

Edison 7 - 7 - 10 - 0 — 24

FIRST QUARTER

E — Edmisten 4 run (Bammer kick), 8:45.

SECOND QUARTER

E — Brown 60 pass from Thomson (Bammer kick), 6:50.

THIRD QUARTER

E — Gillick 28 run (Bammer kick), 5:30.

E — Bammer 34 FG, 0:00.

FOURTH QUARTER

None.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

NT — Andrade, 6-11.

E — Gillick, 10-104, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

NT — B. Anetema, 14-31-1, 177.

E — Thomson, 11-23-1, 147, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

NT — K. Anetema, 6-122.

E — Edmisten, 7-63; Brown, 1-60, 1 TD.