Oaks Christian beats Edison for a second time, ends Edison’s football season
The last time Edison High’s Griffin O’Connor faced Westlake Village Oaks Christian, he played with a 103-degree fever. That was at the start of September, the second game of the season for both football teams.
The quarterback saw the Lions again on Friday, and he felt the heat again. This time, Oaks Christian created it in the form of pressure during the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
And the senior was not the only Edison player who struggled in the second half.
A one-point game at halftime quickly turned into a 29-point Oaks Christian lead in the first nine minutes of the second half. The Lions picked off O’Connor, blocked a punt, and they recovered a mishandled snap by the punter, all leading to touchdowns in the third quarter.
Five points decided the last meeting between the two schools. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Lions produced their fifth touchdown in the second half, and they were on their way to a 42-13 blowout win on the road.
The No. 4-seeded Lions (10-2) made the 73-mile trip to play Edison at Huntington Beach High look much easier than the first one 11 weeks ago. Oaks Christian advanced to the semifinals for the first time in six years, and it will play host to No. 1 Upland (11-0) next week. Upland defeated Los Angeles Cathedral 59-20 on Friday.
As for Edison (8-4), there will not be another run at a section championship. The Chargers, who won the Division 3 title a year ago, fell apart in the third quarter, suffering their worst postseason loss in seven years.
“It just all snowballed, and it was obviously tough to recover from, and we didn’t recover from it,” said Jeff Grady, in his first season as Edison’s coach. “You find out a lot about yourself when you kind of get hit in the mouth, and we got hit in the mouth a little bit. Our kids did not quit. Things didn’t go our way and we didn’t play our best.”
Oaks Christian defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux and defensive back Robert Fletcher had a lot to do with how Edison performed on offense. In the second half, Thibodeaux sacked O’Connor twice and Fletcher picked off O’Connor twice.
The two also came up big on special teams. Thibodeaux was the reason why Oaks Christian had a 7-6 lead at halftime. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound junior blocked Jack Morrell’s extra-point kick midway through the second quarter.
Fletcher also got in the way of a Morrell kick in the third quarter, blocking a punt to set up the Lions on Edison’s doorstep. Zach Charbonnet would go on to rush for a two-yard touchdown, one of his four touchdowns on the ground. His longest was a 63-yarder.
Fletcher made it possible for Charbonnet, who had 15 carries for 164 yards, and Oaks Christian to score two touchdowns in a span of 1:38 in the third quarter. The Brown commit made momentum-swinging plays.
First, the senior intercepted O’Connor in Oaks Christian territory, and a 15-yard facemask penalty moved the Lions to Edison’s 41. Oaks Christian wasted little time, as Josh Calvert, on first down, threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bryce Farrell.
Two minutes into the second half, the Lions extended their lead to 14-6. They would score again.
Edison went three-and-out, as it lost six yards after Thibodeaux dropped O’Connor for a sack on first down, then it lost one of its top two-way players in Mateo Gallego on third down. Grady said Gallego, a wide receiver and linebacker, injured his knee.
On the following play, things turned ugly again for the Chargers. Fletcher came off the edge almost unblocked and blocked the punt.
The next time Edison tried to punt, it failed to get it off. Morrell bobbled the snap and lost the ball. David Walker recovered it for Oaks Christian at Edison’s 43. The Lions took advantage, going ahead 28-6 on Charbonnet’s three-yard touchdown run at the 5:12 mark in the third quarter.
“As a team, we came into the locker room and we knew we were better than how we played in the first half,” Fletcher said. “We rallied together. We were just a little jittery in the first half.”
The Chargers were the ones who looked frazzled in the second half.
You find out a lot about yourself when you kind of get hit in the mouth, and we got hit in the mouth a little bit.
— Edison coach Jeff Grady
Even though they played without receiver McCade Barrett, who reinjured his collarbone during Edison’s 28-27 double-overtime win at La Habra in the first round last week, the Chargers were in the game with the Lions going into the second half.
Jack Carmichael gave Edison its lone score in the first half, on a two-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. The problem was that the Chargers couldn’t run the ball against the Lions, or give O’Connor time to throw.
Edison averaged 3.2 yards per carry, and when it threw against man-to-man coverage, O’Connor only completed 16 of 33 passes for 219 yards. O’Connor, who is heading to Yale, did connect on a 27-yard touchdown with David Atencio (six receptions for 93 yards) late in the game.
“We knew [it was going to be] hard to beat a team twice,” Thibodeaux said. “We were able to come out with a win.”
Thibodeaux helped the Lions beat the Chargers again by harassing and forcing O’Connor to throw the ball early.
The first time around, Oaks Christian picked off O’Connor three times in its 24-19 win. Almost half of O’Connor’s 11 interceptions on the season came against the Lions.
“They’re very good up front,” Grady said of the Lions. “They ran a couple of … twists. [Thibodeaux is] the real deal. There’s a reason he’s the No. 1 [junior] recruit in the country. He plays like it.”
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CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs
Quarterfinals
Oaks Christian 42, Edison 13
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Oaks Christian 7 – 0 – 28 – 7 — 42
Edison 0 – 6 – 0 – 7 — 13
FIRST QUARTER
OC – J. Calvert 1 run (Culhane kick), 4:05.
SECOND QUARTER
E – Carmichael 2 run (kick blocked), 5:53.
THIRD QUARTER
OC – Farrell 41 pass from J. Calvert (Culhane kick), 10:03.
OC – Charbonnet 2 run (Culhane kick), 8:25.
OC – Charbonnet 3 run (Culhane kick), 5:12.
OC – Charbonnet 63 run (Culhane kick), 3:00.
FOURTH QUARTER
OC – Charbonnet 32 run (Culhane kick), 11:33.
E – Atencio 27 pass from O’Connor (J. Morrell kick), 3:12.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OC – Charbonnet, 15-164, 4 TDs.
E – Carmichael, 19-55, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OC – J. Calvert, 6-9-0, 124, 1 TD.
E – O’Connor, 16-33-2, 219, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OC – Farrell, 3-84, 1 TD.
E – Atencio, 6-93, 1 TD.
Get more of David Carrillo Peñaloza’s work and follow him on Twitter @ByDCP
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