Granite Hills falls just short to Edison

2024 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
CIF South Regional – Division 1-A Championship

 

Huntington Beach-Edison 34, Granite Hills 28

 

ECS staff report

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Granite Hills displayed a furious rally from a 20-point deficit, earning one last drive to pull out a victory, but Edison High of Huntington Beach held on as down the Eagles, 34-28, in Saturday’s (Dec. 7) CIF Division 1-A South Regional championship.

Instead of Granite Hills returning to Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, the site of their 2022 state championship, it will be Edison’s Chargers heading to Mission Viejo to face Fresno-Central for the state tile next Saturday (Dec. 14). The Grizzlies (12-2) upset St. Ignatius College Prep of San Francisco, 33-23.

Except for the first drive in each half, each resulting in touchdowns, the Granite Hills run game was deeply short-circuited by the Edison defense.

Thus, Granite Hills coaches elected to fire a curveball, as senior running back Max Turner began the comeback by firing a 44-yard TD pass to junior Tristan Diaz.

The basketball-like jump pass was the first of three Granite Hills TDs over the final 8:30 of play.

Edison answered for a 34-14 cushion, then the ballgame went wild when a pair of quick Eagles drives results in a pair of Turner scoring dives of 1-yard each.

The later scored came on third down after Turner seemingly each the end zone on the first two tries, but the officials ruled him short, taking a full minute of the clock.

The drive wa set up on a Parker Vance fumble recovery. Turner then caught a Benitez pass for 26 yards to set-up Turner’s thir score of the ballgame

Granite Hills regained possession with just over three minutes remaining with a chance for victory.

Eagles quarterback zac Benitez scrambked out of the pocket to convert a short fourth-down pass to move the ball to midfield. However, an ensuing fourth-down, must-throw pass was intercepted with 2:24 remaining.

Granite Hills (11-3) has posted a 36-6 record over the past three seasons; the 36 victories is an East County ad Grossmont Conference The agles own one state crecord.

The Eagles owns one state title (2022), a pair of CIF South Region title game appearances, and three CIF-San Diego Section championships.

 

Sunnary

Sat., Dec. 7
CIF SDouthland Final
Division 1-AA
At Huntington Beach HS
VIDEO (Clean version)

CHARGERS 34, EAGLES 28
Granite Hills (11-3)    7  0 14 7 - 28
Edison Chargers (11-4)  7 20  7 0 - 34

First Quarter
GH -Max Turner 2 run (tTrent Whillock kick), 4:56
Ed – Julius Gillick 1 run (Nico Bammer kick), 10:06

Second Quarter
Ed – Julius Gillick 40 run (Nico Bammer kick), 4:08
Ed – Julius Gillick 9 run (kick blocked), 7:49
Ed – Aidan Brown 9 pass from Sam Thomson ((Nico Bammer kick), 10:03

Third Quarter
GH – Tristan Diaz 40 pass from Zac Benitez (Trent Whillock kick), 3:30
Ed – Jake Minter 19 pass from Sam Thomsn (Nico Bammer kick), 8:06
GH – Max Turner 1 run (Trent Whillock kick), 9:48

Fourth Quarter
GH – Max Turner 1 run (Trent Whillock kick), 3:21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING – Granite Hills: Zac Benitez 9-20-1, 128 yards, 1 TD; Max Turner 1-1-0, 44 yards. Edison: Sam Thomson 6-23-0, 110 yards, 2 RD.

RUSHING – Granite Hills: Max Turner 26-108, Zac Benitez 3-14, Gage Spalding 3-3, Brenden Lewis 1-1, Lathan Fry 10(mijus 8), Total 34-118. Edison: Julius Gillick 38-253, Sam EDdminsten 2-5, Sam Thomson 3-(minus 3). Total 43-255.

RECEIVING – Granite Hills (incomplete): Tristan Diz 3-74, Parker Vance 2-39, Gage Spalding 1-33, Nathan Fry 1-14, Brenden Lewis 1-4. Edison: Aiden Brown 2-38, Julius Gillick 1-18, Jake Minter 1-9/16.

LEADING TACKLERS – Granite Hills: Parker Vance 14, Jayden Proctor 10, Trevor Smith 7. Edison: Matt Lopez 22, Jake Minter 10, Caeson Schmidt 10.

SACKS BY – Granite Hills: Alex Castaneda 1.0, Brayden Wells 1.0.

PUNTS – Granite Hills: Brenden Lewis 3-31,3, long 44.

CIF State Championship
Division 1-AA
Huntington Beach-Edison 21, Fresno-Central 14