HUNTINGTON BEACH – It was a blockbuster that people will remember seeing for a long time.
This one had it all. Drama. Unexpected plot twists.
Stars performing like stars. An inspirational cameo. The final appearance of a hero.
And a heck of an ending, too, with a touch of melancholy.
That new Star Wars movie is probably pretty good, too.
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San Clemente and Edison played like the champions they are Saturday night. It will be San Clemente playing a 16th game, though, as the Tritons beat Edison, 39-35, in a back-and-forth battle in the CIF State Regional final at Huntington Beach High.
Both teams won CIF-Southern Section championships last week. Sometimes, post-section playoffs, no matter the sport, seem anti-climatic.
But this game was played like it was the most-important game of the coaches’ and players’ lives. The way these teams went at it, the effort they put into it, the near-capacity crowd and how the San Clemente students stormed the field after Edison quarterback Griffin O’Connor’s desperation heave went incomplete beyond the end zone, gave this a game-of-the-year feel.
San Clemente had a 10-point lead in the second quarter. Edison led at halftime by five points. San Clemente had an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Edison climbed back to take a 32-29 lead in the fourth quarter. And San Clemente got a touchdown with 48 seconds remaining to win it.
San Clemente quarterback Jack Sears threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns. The USC-bound senior completed passes to seven receivers and ran for 79 yards on 16 carries, plus he ran for a two-point conversion.
The inspirational cameo was also Sears’. In the game’s final minute, with San Clemente clutching a four-point lead and Edison driving, Sears went in to play safety. He broke up a pass to Edison’s Chad Fisser, laying a hit on Fisser just as the ball arrived.
Sear’s counterpart, O’Connor, threw for 370 yards. O’Connor and Sears, both of whom wore No. 16, met after the game and exchanged hugs. And San Clemente defensive lineman Austin Moore, who had three sacks, gave O’Connor a firm postgame handshake and consoling words of admiration.
The melancholy was for the end of the coaching career of Dave White at Edison. This was his final game of 31 years coaching the Chargers, the team he played for in his high school days. The kids on his team gave him a CIF-SS title last week, and on Saturday night they gave him everything they had.
The Regionals roundup:
• Yorba Linda had a heck of a run, before losing to St. Anthony’s of Long Beach in the 4-A regional. The Mustangs won their first CIF-SS championship, surely the biggest athletic achievement in the school’s young history.
• The scoreboard at Sheue Field had Edison spelled “Edsion.” It was corrected more than an hour before kickoff. It’s nice to see someone else’s misspellings put on public display.
• Orange County teams have won six state football titles. Orange Lutheran did it first, in 2006, followed by St. Margaret’s (2008), Servite (2009), Santa Margarita (2011), Corona del Mar (2013) and Mission Viejo (2015).
• Bill Workman was an honorary captain Saturday for Edison. He is White’s predecessor as Edison’s head coach. Workman coached the Chargers for 12 seasons during which they won three CIF-SS championships.
• Ticket prices for the San Clemente vs. Del Oro of Loomis in the CIF State 1-A championship game are $15 for adults and $10 for students and for children 13 and younger. The game is Saturday at 4 p.m. at Sacramento State.
• Edison did not play Servite this season, ending a longstanding nonleague rivalry. But Servite still is part of Edison football. The name of one Edison play has the word “Servite” in it, another includes “Credo” which is part of the Servite motto.
• Edison’s boys basketball team was missing a starting guard this week as it advanced to the Beach Bash tournament championship game at Corona del Mar High. David Atencio also is an outstanding receiver on the Edison football team. He was at Edison’s Beach Bash semifinals win over JSerra on Friday, sitting on the bench next to the Chargers coaches. “I miss not being able to play basketball,” Atencio said, “but I’m missing it for a pretty good reason.”
• Speaking of JSerra … Friday was the school’s deadline for applications for its varsity football head coaching position. JSerra spokesman Donald Evans said via email that the school had received around 20 applications as of Friday morning and JSerra assistant coach Pat Harlow is among the applicants.
• FYI … With the departures of Jim Hartigan at JSerra and Chuck Petersen at Orange Lutheran, Servite’s Scott Meyer is third in seniority among Trinity League football head coaches and he has been there for only two seasons (Bruce Rollinson has been head coach at Mater Dei since 1989, Jason Negro at St. John Bosco since 2010).
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
