Los Alamitos Recovers Onside Kick to Close Out Game Against Edison (2021)

Westminster – Boswell Field

The two best teams in the Sunset League faced off on Thursday.

A dog fight was expected, and a dog fight was delivered.

The Los Alamitos Griffins (6-1 / 2-0) stand alone at the top of the standings, after defeating the Edison Chargers (4-3 / 1-1)  35-28 at Boswell Field at Westminster High School.

On the game’s opening drive, the Chargers forced and recovered a fumble at the Los Alamitos 40 yard line.

The Griffins quickly gave Edison a taste of their own medicine after Los Al’s Gavin Porch intercepted a Parker Awad pass in the end zone to get the football back for his team.

Los Al would go on to take a 7-0 lead by way of a 1-yard carry from Sinn Brennan for a touchdown with 6:24 left in the first.

Edison countered in the second quarter with a 5-yard rushing touchdown from Troy Fletcher with 3:38 left in the first half to even up the score, 7-7.

The tie was short-lived, as Los Al’s Malachi Nelson went to work. After the kickoff, from his own 30, Nelson was a perfect 4-4 hitting Lemon, Ethan O’Connor, Alec Wills and then connected wit O’ Connor again for a 41-yard touchdown strike to regain the lead at 14-7, with 2:23 left in the second quarter.

The Chargers fell 1 yard short of the equalizer to end the first half.  The Chargers looked like they might go into halftime tied when Awad hit Hampton for a 33-yard pass that got Edison to the one yard line with 30 seconds left.  But the Griffins held a goal line stand by stopping two runs and ultimately forced an incompletion as the seconds wound down towards halftime.  Two-way sensation Deandre Moore broke up the last play of the half.

Halftime score was 14-7 in favor of Los Al.  Edison won the game opening toss and deferred and was set to get the ball to start the second half.

Los Al’s defense did its job to open the third quarter, forcing an Edison punt.  Then Nelson seemed to take control of the game in the second half. The Oklahoma commit connected a 7-yard scoring pass to Deandre Moore Jr. to make it 21-7.

Edison muffed the ensuing kickoff and Los Al countered with a heavy heavy dose of running by Moore and Nygel Osborne behind a surging offensive line.  Yes, the running was impressive, but so was the Griffin’s Offensive Line combining for several “pancake blocks” on the field.  Nelson capped the drive by connecting a 6-yard touchdown pass to Makai Lemon to give his team a 28-7 lead with less than four minutes to play in the third and the game started to feel like it might get away from the Chargers.

But Edison fought back.  Coach Grady, down by three scores, called on Senior Captain and QB Tyler Gioia to give the Chargers a spark.  Gioia marched the ball downfield capping the drive with an impressive play featuring backward pass to Tyler Hampton, who then tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Tripp to trim the lead to 28-14 with 1:56 left in the third.

Edison’s defense did their job and got the ball back to start the fourth quarter, but Gioia’s pass was intercepted by Los Al’s Lemon to set up an eventual 3-yard touchdown run courtesy of Moore Jr, that would give the Griffins a 35-14 lead with nine minutes to go in the game.

Fletcher would go on to score twice in the last quarter. Fletcher’s 3-yard touchdown run put the score at 35-21, then the Chargers immediately recovered the football following a successful onside kick, setting up a 40-yard carry from the star running back into the end zone with just over two minutes left in the game to make the score 35-28.

The Griffins would not give Edison a chance to recover the football.

Malachi Nelson continued to show why he is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, he completed 16 of his 21 passes, and three for a touchdown.

Makai Lemon and Ethan O’ Connor each had five receptions. Lemon for 96 yards and O’Connor for 60.

The Griffins’ run game was led by Nygel Osborne. He carried the ball ten times for 118 yards.

The Los Al defense applied heavy loads of pressure on Parker Awad, and they continuously made crucial stops throughout the game to swing the momentum their way. Brian Jurado had two sacks for a loss of ten yards, and Jeremy Gutierrez had one for a loss of 12.

Awad still managed to complete 14 of his 22 passes for 215 yards, though he did not have any scoring passes and was intercepted twice.

Hampton had a big game for the Chargers, he tallied seven receptions for 82 yards.

Perhaps the biggest performance of the night belonged to none other than Troy Fletcher. Fletcher was the leading force on offense for his team. He carried the ball 21 times for 225 yards and three touchdowns. Absolutely incredible numbers.

The Griffins are set to face Fountain Valley at Huntington Beach High School on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Edison will host Corona Del Mar at Huntington Beach High School on Friday at 7 p.m.