 PUTTING UP A FIGHT: Mater Dei's AJ Roth is taken down by Edison's Luke Eddy shortly after receiving a pass from quarterback Matt Barkley during a game at Orange Coast College Friday night. CHRISTINA HOUSE, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
Edison's pressure too much for Mater Dei
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The Chargers pick off two Barkley passes and sack him four times.
COSTA MESA - The Edison Chargers entered Friday's nonleague game against Mater Dei faced with the unenviable task of having to try and slow down the Monarchs offense.
Through their first four games of the season, Mater Dei and quarterback Matt Barkley averaged 44.7 points a game.
All of that ended against fifth-ranked Edison.
The Chargers (4-1) swarmed and harassed Barkley all night long, sacking him four times and intercepting him twice in a 24-14 home victory overthe third-ranked Monarchs (3-2) at Orange Coast College in front of a crowd of approximately 7,500. (Click here for full game stats.)
"We knew that we were going to be in a battle tonight," Edison coach Dave White said. "We put some pressure on him, and we had some picks … The defense was unbelievable all night long."
Edison took its defensive cue from some of Mater Dei's other opponents this season, most noticeably Centennial of Corona.
"We watched the Corona Centennial game, and we saw them (Monarchs) get pressured," linebacker Preston Spencesaid. "And that's what we tried to do. We wanted to shut down the (receiver) routes and get good coverage."
As the pressure mounted on the Mater Dei offensive line, the penalties started to mount. Mater Dei committed 15 penalties.
"We challenged the kids to execute, but you can't execute when you're committing that many penalties," Rollinson said. "Right now, we've got to get this thing dialed in. We killed ourselves."
Even with Barkley throwing his 10th and 11th interceptions of the season, Rollinson didn't place the blame on him.
"Barkley doesn't make the offensive line jump offsides," Rollinson said. "Barkley doesn't make the offensive line hold. … Barkley doesn't commit pass interference. We have to do a better job of coaching our athletes, and we have to execute better."
Despite its troubles, Mater Dei found still found itself with as hot at winning the game. Dylan Price scored on a 25-yard run with 6:59 left in the game to cut the score to 17-14.
Edison quarterback Matt Viles, who sat out a play on the previous drive after being sacked, then returned to lead the Chargers on the winning drive.
Viles connected with Matt Reza on a 21-yard pass. On the next play, Spence went 57 yards around left end for his third touchdown of the game and a 24-14 lead.
"The coach told me that it was crunch time," Spence said. "All of our running backs were out, so they relied on me and I had to do it for them."
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
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