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From the pen of Hugh "Pearl" Watts,
Class of 1971 Edison Current Sports Editor:
It doesn't happen often, but one of
Edison's most successful seasons ever has ended with a loss as they were
defeated by Phoebus 34-25 in the Division 5 state championship game this
past Saturday, December 9, 2006 at Todd Stadium in Newport News. The Eagles,
who actually did not even win the National District title and qualified for
the playoffs as essentially a wild card through the VHSL power points system
after a 6-1 district and 8-2 overall record, had made it to the championship
game by winning three games in the playoffs.
They had first dispatched National District champ Yorktown to avenge one of
their regular season losses in their region semifinal game before then
upsetting the highly regarded, undefeated team from Stone Bridge to win the
Northern Region Division V championship in what had been a rematch for the
regional title from the previous year. Edison then set up the title tilt
against Phoebus of the Eastern Region with their methodical 20-3 victory
over then undefeated Deep Run, from the Richmond area, in the state
semifinals.
The title game saw great, late autumn football weather, with temperatures in
the mid 40's amid mostly sunny skies and a very light breeze on natural
grass with good footing at Todd. Edison took an early 3-0 advantage just two
minutes and twenty two seconds into the game on Paul Bergstrom's 37 yard
field goal, which had just enough oomph to barely clear the cross bar and
just enough english (thank you Mrs. Rosenwasser) to nestle inside the left
upright. The Eagles then went from leading the game to trailing on the
scoreboard in just 12 seconds. Bergstrom's pooch placement on the ensuing
kickoff lofted straight to Hawkins of Phoebus near his left sideline. It
looked like a mistake on his part for not signalling a fair catch with four
or five Edison players encircling. Surprisingly, the Eagles had Hawkins
surrounded but no one remembered to tackle the guy with the ball. Hawkins
then made a stutter step or two to evade any would be tackle and with most
of the Eagles kick return team now pinched in to one sideline, he angled to
his right to avoid the second wave and went 65 yards untouched to the end
zone to completely change momentum and put the Phantoms up 7-3.
Things went from bad to worse on the next series for Edison with quarterback
Shawn Lloyd and a wide receiver miscommunicating on a sideline route which
had Lloyd throwing a little look-in and the wide receiver still running
towards Virginia Beach. The resulting interception by Phoebus gave them the
ball on the Eagles 40 yard line. The Phantoms then showed their superior
size on the line with a simple dive play into the middle of Edison's defense
which saw fullback Haroon Brown churn his Robert Newhouse-like thighs all
the way to the 15 yard line. A couple of plays later and things were looking
very bleak for the Eagles as Brown went in from four yards out to make the
score 14-3 just midway through the first quarter.
To Edison's credit, and as they have done this entire year, the Eagles did
not give up and made a game of it. Edison toughened up on defense and made a
couple of stops on the Phantoms on their next possesions and then engineered
a nice drive of their own, culminating on a 17 yard touchdown pass from
Lloyd to Michael Rhoden to close the gap to 14-10 early in the second
quarter. Phoebus came right back, utilizing a running game which eventually
netted a total of 243 yards, to go back to an eleven point lead at 21-10
about halfway through the second quarter. Edison then mounted a nice drive,
mainly through the abilities of Lloyd and wide receiver Ben Barber to close
the advantage to 21-17 late in the first half. Barber drew kudos from the
crowd for taking a vicious hit on a pass reception over the middle in which
he held on to the ball for a key first down on a fourth down play to keep
the drive going. After immediately getting to one knee after the hit, Barber
remained in that position for a minute before slowly walking off the field.
Barber then came back in after the next play to make another nice catch and
two plays after that, Lloyd scrambled around and found Barber at the back of
the end zone for a 17 yard scoring play in which Lloyd probably had the most
zip on any pass he through for the day and that Barber had to stretch up for
on the run for a glue fingered reception. Edison, although behind on the
scoreboard at halftime, looked to be going into the locker room with the
momentum. The Eagles chances were then looking even better after they forced
a punt by Phoebus to begin the third quarter. However, Edison seemed to
almost abandon their running game completely and both the Eagles and the
Phantoms' offenses were inconsistent enough and each of their defenses were
playing well enough to have the third quarter scoreless as the tally
remained 21-17 into the fourth quarter.
The final stanza saw Phoebus able to grind it out once again and take a
somewhat comfortable 28-17 lead on a Dennis Mathis five yard run early in
the final quarter; but once again Edison battled back. Lloyd, who set
Division 5 state title game passing records of 21 completions on 35 attempts
in throwing for 341 yards and three touchdowns since the implementation of
the current title system was instituted in 1986; got hot again. The Eagles
promptly marched down the field and pulled to within 28-25 with six minutes
to go after Lloyd's 14 yard touchdown pass to Michael Rhoden and a two point
conversion pass to junior Ben Barber (nine receptions for 138 yards), who if
his 40 yard dash time is decent enough, should attract quite a few
collegiate offers next year. Edison was able to get the ball back once again
and moved into Phoebus territory, but Lloyd then suffered an interception
after a nice play by a defensive back for the Phantoms. Phoebus running back
Haroon Brown (138 yards rushing) then just about sealed the deal with a 49
yard tote to inside the Eagles ten yard line which was eventually followed
by a five yard Dennis Mathis (122 yards) touchdown run. With time running
out and the score now 34-25 your Edison Eagles still did not give up, moving
the ball to inside the Phoebus 30 yard line, until faced with a fourth and
12 situation and needing two scores to win, had a 45 yard field goal attempt
by Bergstrom fall short; which enabled Phoebus to take over and run out the
final two minutes of the clock for the victory.
Excellent last two paragraphs in the Washington Post today quoting the head
coach concerning his squad; which went further then the bigger and more
skilled team of last year. "This isn't the most talented team I've ever had
at Edison," said Coach Vaughn Lewis, who coached the school located in the
Alexandria section of Fairfax County to its only state title in 1986, "but
it might be the best team." "I don't want to make it sound like we didn't
have talent, because we did, but this team has done more with less than any
team I've ever had."
[ I didn't take any notes, but this is the recollection I had of the game,
coupled with the writeup and line score in the Washington Post as I was
sitting in the soon to be senior citizens section with Doug Dugan '72;
Stoney Coppage '72 and Bill Hall '73. |
