High School Football Player of the Week: Edison’s Brandon Moradian is an ice cream maker and a playmaker

Brandon Moradian’s days can run long, and he’s only a high school senior. One of the first people to see Moradian each morning at Edison is his football coach, Jeff Grady. They greet each other around 7, and they meet again in the afternoon for practice.

The day doesn’t end for Moradian as it begins to get dark outside and practice is about to wrap up on Monday. He has a job to get to at an ice cream shop two miles away. He makes ice cream, not the ordinary way.

“We make ice cream using liquid nitrogen,” Moradian said of the freezing agent that drops the temperature to minus 321 degrees. “It takes about a minute to make it.”

Moradian can handle the extreme cold, and it must be a reason why he never freezes under pressure during a football game.

The ice cream maker is also a playmaker. He showed it last week in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.

Moradian made key plays on defense during the Chargers’ 28-27 double-overtime win at La Habra. The strong safety finished with 11 tackles, one interception, one sack and one batted pass.

The batted pass, sack and interception came during a three-play sequence in the first overtime, preventing La Habra from scoring. Moradian’s pick in the end zone gave Edison a chance to win it.

“I was excited and everyone wanted to celebrate,” Moradian said, “but I just ran into the huddle because it was our turn on offense.”

There was no time for Moradian to rejoice. He had to get ready to play his other position, wide receiver.

The game was even at 21-21. All the Chargers needed were three points, and with kicker Jack Morrell, it seemed like they would get them easily and advance to the quarterfinals.

As Morrell lined up to take the 35-yard field goal, Moradian and his teammates took one knee near the sideline and prayed. Moradian said everyone felt confident in Morrell, who had converted 12 of 13 field-goal attempts on the year, but his kick fell short.

The best way for the Chargers to bounce back was to go back on offense. They started the second overtime with the ball, and they put the missed opportunity behind them. Edison took a 28-21 lead on quarterback Griffin O’Connor’s two-yard touchdown run and Morrell’s extra-point kick.

Edison senior Brandon Moradian (10) is in his second year starting at strong safety.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer )

Now, it was up to Moradian and the defense to stop the Freeway League champion Highlanders. The one player who Edison had a hard time slowing down was Skyler Taylor, and he rushed for an 18-yard touchdown. The run gave the senior 172 yards and two touchdowns, and more importantly, it cut the Chargers’ lead to one.

“We had him, but we didn’t wrap up the running back and he spun off [and ran to his left],” Moradian said. “I saw him at the last second, so I tried to run him down, but he dove into the end zone.

“They were going to kick the [extra point to tie the game], but they called a timeout. We’re like, ‘For sure they’re going to go for two.’”

Rick Justice, Edison’s longtime defensive coordinator, also reminded the defense that La Habra was going to go for the win. The Chargers were ready for the two-point try.

What they weren’t prepared for was the Highlanders’ backfield, which featured three running backs.

“We were kind of confused with the [formation],” Moradian said. “Everyone just lined up in a place, and we just read the play.”

The run play went to Taylor, to his right.

Moradian shot the gap between the center and right guard, jumping to avoid a lineman’s low block. When Moradian landed, he collided with linebacker Mateo Gallego, knocking them out of the play.

While they were away from the play, free safety David Atencio was not. Atencio met Taylor and brought him down just short of the goal line.

“I was like looking toward the running back, and I just see his knee hit the ground,” said Moradian, who immediately got up from the pile and sprinted toward his teammates to celebrate. “It was a really cool moment. It was such a big game. We lost [three] games … by a [combined 16] points and we couldn’t come back and win [those games]. We finally … won a [close] game.”

Moradian and the Chargers (8-3) have a chance to avenge one of their setbacks on Friday. Edison plays host to No. 4-seeded Westlake Village Oaks Christian (9-2) in the quarterfinals at Huntington Beach High at 7 p.m.

The first time Edison and Oaks Christian played, the Lions held on for a 24-19 win in a nonleague game on Sept. 1. The two teams will meet for a second time at Cap Sheue Field under different circumstances. The Lions will be without USC-bound linebacker Bo Calvert (broken leg) and the Chargers will have a healthy O’Connor, who is committed to Yale.

“He had like the flu,” Moradian said of O’Connor, who dealt with a 103-degree fever and threw up before facing Oaks Christian. “He came out and still played his [butt] off.”

O’Connor has been playing well since throwing three interceptions against Oaks Christian. In his last eight games, the senior has passed for 1,774 yards and 21 touchdowns, with only four interceptions.

Moradian has been on the receiving end of three of those O’Connor touchdowns. He also has 19 catches for 259 yards.

While he gets time on offense, defense is where Moradian is at his best. He impressed Grady with last week’s performance.

“He was just all over the place,” Grady said. “Every time you looked up, he was making a play.”

One of Moradian’s big plays at La Habra even got his younger brother, Cameron, a little choked up.

“When I made that interception, everyone that was in the stands said he started crying. I love that kid,” Moradian said of Cameron, a defensive lineman who played on Edison’s undefeated freshman team this year. “I actually confronted him about it [before I went to work on Monday]. I’m like, ‘So, I heard you cried?’ He’s like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ He denied it. It was funny.”

*

Brandon Moradian

Born: March 19, 1999

Hometown: Huntington Beach

Height: 5 feet 9

Weight: 185 pounds

Sport: Football

Year: Senior

Coach: Jeff Grady

Favorite food: Cheeseburger

Favorite movie: “I Am Legend”

Favorite athletic moment: “When we won CIF last year.”

Week in review: Moradian finished with 11 tackles, one interception, one sack and one batted pass in Edison’s 28-27 double-overtime win at La Habra in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.

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