HUNTINGTON BEACH – Before Friday’s game against rival Los Alamitos, Edison boys soccer coach Charlie Breneman told his players that this was the time for “special players to step up and do special things.”
The No. 4 Griffins are the only team to beat the No. 2 Chargers this season, and a victory in the rematch would give Edison a chance to exact revenge and clinch the Sunset League championship.
While the game was mostly a defensive battle with each team struggling to find any space in the final third, Connor Gordon was finally able to make that special play Breneman was looking for with one minute left. After taking a pass from Hunter Kelly, Gordon drew a foul in the box, setting up a penalty kick that he buried in the back of the net to deliver a 1-0 victory.
It gave the Chargers (21-1, 8-1) their third league championship in the past five years and their first since 2010-11.
“Connor has been that guy for us all year,” Breneman said. “He was able to step up and make a play for us.”
It was Gordon’s 26th goal of the season, which leads the county and extends the school record he set Wednesday when he scored twice in the Chargers’ victory against Newport Harbor.
“He (Gordon) has had a fantastic season, and I am extremely proud of him,” Breneman said. “This was an extremely emotional win. This was for league, and we were playing a very good team. We wanted to avenge that loss.”
Before Gordon’s game-winner, the Chargers’ best chance to score came in the sixth minute when Alec Lazar, the Griffins’ sophomore goalkeeper, tipped a Ty O’Connor shot just over the goal. That set up a corner kick that O’Connor headed into the face of the crossbar.
“I thought we did well defensively,” Los Alamitos coach Donovan Martinez said. “They didn’t get in behind us the entire game because of our tactics. But you have to give credit to Edison. They are a fabulous, very stacked team. They are phenomenal, and because of their talent, they were able to create that chance at the end.”
Twice in a two-minute span in the second half, though, the Griffins (15-6-6, 6-1-2) had a chance at a lead.
Charlie Ross took the first shot at the Chargers, knocking a rebound just wide of the right post. Joe Reinard followed a minute later, but his shot was just a bit off the mark, too.
Evan Bacani set up Reinard’s shot, stealing the ball in the midfield and sprinting into the box where Edison goalkeeper Brendan Fix knocked the ball away to Reinard.
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
