Edison close to naming football coach

Only four men have led the Edison High football team, and now the job is between four men.

On the day Dave White received the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year honor in football, the attention turned to who would succeed him at Edison.

Rich Boyce, the school’s athletic director, said via text Thursday that there are four finalists to take over for White, who retired in December after 31 years at the helm. Boyce added that Edison would probably name a coach by the end of next week.

A report surfaced on latimes.com Thursday morning that Jeff Grady and Mike Ogas, two former Edison players, are in the running for the job. Grady was an assistant coach at Santa Margarita last season, and Ogas is the head coach at Canyon.

“Cannot say who the [four] finalists are,” Boyce said in a text. “Do not want to hurt [someone’s] position with their employer.”

Both Grady and Ogas were standouts for White, Grady as a quarterback and Ogas as a wide receiver. Grady, who graduated from Edison in 1998, went on to play at Fresno State, while Ogas, a 1995 Edison graduate, played at Cal State Northridge, which no longer has a program.

Ogas has been in charge of Canyon the last three years, going 19-20 overall. He has led Canyon to the CIF Southern Section playoffs every year, winning the Southern Division title in 2015.

Grady has never been a varsity head coach. The last five years he has served as an assistant at Santa Margarita, coaching the quarterbacks, receivers, offensive line and secondary. Before that, Grady was an assistant at Fresno State.

White honored as Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year

Twenty-six days after White coached his final Edison football game, Cal-Hi Sports named him the State Coach of the Year on Thursday.

White led the Chargers to a CIF Southern Section Division 3 title in his 31st and final season. He was one win away from guiding Edison to its first CIF State finals appearance in the program’s history.

The Chargers lost to San Clemente, 39-35, in the Southern California Regional Division 1-A Bowl Game at Cap Sheue Field on Dec. 10. A week later, a day before White turned 61, San Clemente went on to win the Division 1-A state crown, coming back to beat Loomis Del Oro, 22-17, at Sacramento State.

Under White, Edison went 238-119-3 overall and won two section titles and 13 Sunset League championships.

White is the second football coach from Edison to be named the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year. The other was White’s former coach, Bill Workman, who earned the honor in 1980. In 1980, White was in his second season as an assistant under Workman, who led the Chargers to a 14-0 record and a second straight CIF Southern Section Big-Five Conference championship.

Six years later, White took over for Workman, becoming Edison’s fourth coach. The school is close to naming White’s successor.

Coach Mike’s Long Shot Challenge

Rivals Costa Mesa and Estancia are teaming up again on the basketball court for a worthy cause on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The second annual Coach Mike’s Long Shot Challenge will be at Costa Mesa and Estancia on Jan. 16. Mike Molina, who played and coached at Costa Mesa, put together the event to honor his late friend, Jeff Long, who passed away from testicular cancer five years ago at the age of 22.

Molina, now an assistant coach with the Chapman University men’s basketball team, fought the same disease as Long and survived it.

Other local schools involved in the one-day event that benefits the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation in Irvine are Corona del Mar, Edison, Laguna Beach, Ocean View and Fountain Valley.

There are 24 teams participating this year, and six games will be at Costa Mesa and six at Estancia. The first game at Costa Mesa tips off at 11 a.m., and the first at Estancia is at noon.

Sailors end Sunset League drought

After going winless in Sunset League action last season, the Newport Harbor boys’ soccer team began league with a 2-1 win at Huntington Beach on Wednesday.

With a new coach in Ali Khosroshahin, the Sailors found success right away in league.

Dating back to the 2014-15 season, Newport Harbor had gone 0-11-1.

Sunset League boys’ basketball openers

Sunset League boys’ basketball action gets underway on Friday at 7 p.m.

League favorite Edison (11-3) opens at home with rival Fountain Valley (8-7). Things should be interesting for Edison’s Serven brothers, Matt and Spencer. They get to play their former school.

Newport Harbor (10-6) travels to Marina (2-14), while Huntington Beach (11-6) heads to defending champion Los Alamitos (9-5).