Edison Holds Off Granite Hills to advance to CIF State Championship Game (2024)

Huntington Beach – ‘Cap’ Sheue Field

The Edison Chargers football team withstood a furious comeback from Granite Hills and won 34-28 on Saturday at Cap Sheue Field in the CIF SoCal Regional Division 1-A Final.

The Chargers (11-4) advance to the CIF Division 1-A State Championship game where they will face Central of Fresno at Saddleback College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Grizzlies (12-2) won the CIF NoCal Regional Final against St.Ignatius Prep 33-23.

The Eagles, winners of the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 Championship, struck first after forcing Edison to punt on its opening drive, as they rode the strong run game from Max Turner who muscled his way in for a two-yard touchdown run. After that score, they wouldn’t score again the rest of the half, as the Chargers’ defense held their opponent to under 50 offensive yards in the first half.

Edison on the other hand rode the momentum from running back Julius Gillick, who made his return after a one game suspension after receiving two unsportsmanlike penalties the game prior. He got the Chargers on the board on their third drive to tie the game up at 7-7.

Edison’s next drive saw them use an aerial attack to score, as Sam Thomson found Aidan Brown for a 35-yard touchdown pass to give it the lead at 14-7. The rest of the Chargers’ scores came courtesy of Gillick who finished with 230 rushing yards on 37 carries for three rushing touchdowns.

Trailing 27-7 entering the second half, Granite Hills went to its passing game a little more after mustering up only 23 passing yards in the first half, as Zachary Benitez posted 94 passing yards in the second half and only had two incompletions. The Eagles scored first on their opening drive of the second half as Turner found Tristan Diaz for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the Wildcat formation to trim Edison’s lead to 27-14.

But the Chargers answered right back, as they started their drive by recovering an onside kick, which nearly caught them off guard. Continuing to ride the momentum from Gillick, they eventually wound up scoring as Thomson found Jake Minter in the endzone for the score to make it 34-14.

Granite Hills wasted no time marching down the field, as their drive only took a minute and 42 seconds. It was eventually capped off with another short touchdown run from Turner to cut the lead to 34-21.

The Eagles forced the Chargers to punt to start the fourth quarter, but the snap was mishandled and the punt was one to forget. Granite Hills got the ball on the Edison 27 yard line, putting them in prime position to make it a one-score game,

But the Chargers’ defense answered by forcing a turnover on downs, as they were prepared for the Eagles’ run attack. On Edison’s next drive however, they fumbled the ball and Granite Hills recovered on the Edison 30 yard line.

After an amazing throw from Benitez finding Parker Vance on the two-yard line, Turner went in for his third rushing touchdown and fourth overall to make Edison’s lead 34-28.

Granite Hills forced Edison to punt, but this time the punt had gotten off without a hitch. The Eagles had the ball on their own 29 with a little over five minutes remaining.

The Eagles were faced with a fourth and six and attempted to throw, but Devyn Blake deflected the pass and Matt Lopez completed the interception for Edison, forcing the opposition’s first turnover. Eventually, the Chargers worked the clock to their advantage with great runs from Gillick, as he and his team eventually forced Granite Hills to use its time outs and force the clock down to zero, where at that point, it was all smiles for Edison Charger Nation.