2 weeks Ago
HUNTINGTON BEACH — North Torrance took a big step up to Division 3 in its 12th successive CIF-Southern Section playoff appearance and quickly discovered how great the difference is. Longtime Orange County powerhouse Edison took command at the onset and never let go Thursday night, using big plays to build a comfortable lead and a massive, mobile defense to, for all intents, shut down the visiting Saxons en route to a 24-0 first-round romp at Huntington Beach High. The Chargers (7-4), who next week face Friday night’s Bonita-Cathedral winner, swarmed star sophomore quarterback Boogie Anetema all night and overwhelmed North’s running game, forcing punts on six of eight possessions, half of those in 3-and-outs, and collecting turnovers on the other two.
The Saxons (8-2), No. 4 in the Daily Breeze rankings, amassed minus-29 yards on the ground — most of the negative from an intentional-grounding call and a bad snap that killed the Pioneer League champions’ only red-zone incursion — and couldn’t concoct enough from its dynamic passing game to make much of a threat. “Their guys up front, they’re not getting moved by us .
..,” North coach Todd Croce, whose team dropped a Division 8 opener last season after playing in D6 the two previous years, said.
“[We had] no push up front, so the opportunities to run the ball were few and far between, and they sat back nicely on the pass. We had some nice drives where we moved the ball, but we never finished [and[ kicked ourselves here and there when we got a little bit to the red zone-ish. You can’t do that in this type of game.
” Anetema (14 of 30 for 175 yards) connected on two long passes with his brother Kingston (six catches for 120 yards). The first, a 40-yard bomb into Edison territory on the second half’s opening drive — down by just two touchdowns — led to a red-zone interception four plays later. The second, a 44-yarder on fourth-and-11 to the Chargers 19 about midway through the fourth quarter, came a tad late.
Another completion and an end-zone pass-interference call moved the Saxons to the 4, but Edison recovered the snap that sailed past Boogie Anetema to secure the shutout. “They had a good game plan. That’s a great team .
..,” Boogie Anetema said.
“They’re big up front. That’s one of the things that was eye-catching on film, that they’re dawgs down there. They’re huge, and they really caused problems.
” Edison scored touchdowns on its first drives in the first, second and third quarters. Sam Edmisten’s 3-yard run capped an opening drive fueled by Julius Gillick. It was 14-0 at halftime with Sam Thomson’s 60-yard completion to criminally open Aidan Brown.
And Gillick, who rushed for 105 yards — pushing his season total to 1,784 and career mark to 3,380 — while limited by an achilles injury, made it 21-0 on a 28-yard run, his 25th touchdown of the season. Nico Bammer added a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the third quarter. Croce was pleased with his team’s effort.
“Our kids don’t back down to anything,” he said. “They don’t play with fear. .
.. The resilience, the effort, the we’re-going-to-battle-no-matter-the situation [were big positives].
We didn’t look at the scoreboard, we just kept playing hard. You didn’t know the score by how hard we were going.”.
