HUNTINGTON BEACH – Edison doesn’t lose season-opening games often – the last time it happened before last week’s loss to Tesoro was in 2002 against Iolani of Honolulu.
But when the Chargers do drop their first game of the season, their next opponent is typically in for a long evening.
“We were out for blood this week,” said Edison defensive lineman Shane Fullbright.
Based on the final score, Fullbright and his Chargers teammates did exactly what they intended to do, defeating Buena Park, 38-0, in a nonleague game Friday night at Huntington Beach High.
Edison coach Dave White said his team’s performance was indicative of the different approach it took going into this week.
“We got humbled last week by a good Tesoro team,” White said. “Maybe we thought we were too good, but we got back to the basics and the kids worked hard.”
Edison (1-1) got off to a strong start behind senior quarterback Grant Lowary and senior running back Jacob Marines.
Lowary, the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder, threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter, connecting with Jacob Price for a 26-yard score at the 10:05 mark and finding Garrett White on a 2-yard strike at the three-minute mark.
The time between Lowary’s touchdown passes was spent handing the ball off to Marines, whose 1-yard touchdown run midway through the first helped the Chargers take a 21-0 lead over Buena Park (1-1) after the first 12 minutes.
And while the Chargers offense cruised the rest of the way, it wasn’t all about putting points on the board, as the defense – the front four in particular – was on its game from start to finish.
The Chargers were swarming to the Buena Park ballcarriers, wrapping up their tackles and picking up six sacks, three coming from Fullbright, two from Joel Steele and the other from Turner Maza.
“We knew their quarterback was a great player,” Fullbright said. “Our goal was to stop him and contain the run-game.”
Edison held Buena Park dual-threat quarterback Zach Taylor to 61 yards on 19 of 29 passing and 38 yards on 15 carries.
The Chargers also held the Coyotes’ electric running back, Elijah Bynum, to 84 yards on 15 carries.
Lowary completed 9 of his 21 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns, his last TD pass a 77-yard pass up the left sideline to Price late in the third quarter to put the game away.
Marines ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
