Photo By Stephen Dachman, from Edison/Wilson in September (Houston and Trojan in on the tackle)
We will have more information about the CIF Pac-5 Semifinal between Lakewood and Edison tomorrow—including a look at what the Lancer Red Swarm will be looking at—but before we get to Saturday, let’s talk about what Jesse Scroggins & Co. will be going up against.
Lakewood “O” vs. Edison “D”
Just how good is this Charger defense? They held the Servite offense to one field goal. That’s pretty much all you need to know. Edison trails only Lakewood in the Pac-5 for total points allowed (117 to 111) and has playmakers at almost every position.
The leader at middle linebacker is senior (#35) Jordan Zumwalt. Already committed to Stanford, the 6’4” 218lb “Mike” backer leads the team in tackles (132, 13.2 avg. per game) along with 58 solos. Zumwalt will have to make the calls for the Chargers—the Lancers will most likely show a lot of different formations out of the spread look—but his importance on this game falls more on the Lakewood offensive line. The BEASTs Eric Wright, Kelly Harpham, Ray Villanueva, Oliver Robertson and Theo Sheridan will need to be in Zumwalt’s face on every run play if they want to have any success in the run game. Another big story is that the Chargers will be without regular starter (#3) Shaun McLaughlin (111 tackles) who will sit due to a knee injury.
On defensive line, the key will be the two guys on the outside. Junior Charles Burks (#93) and senior Dylan Leener (#9) have nearly half of the Charger’s 42.5 sacks (14 and 6 respectively). Burks stands at 6’0” 220lb, but plays like he’s 320lb with 52 tackles at the line of scrimmage. Leener looks like a leen wide receiver, but his six sacks, 49 tackles, and natural speed had offensive coordinators in the Sunset League losing sleep all year. The key to the entire game might come down to who can get to the quarterback more effectively, and for Edison that responsibility will rest directly on Burks and Leener. Don’t be surprised if Lakewood keeps a TE or two in to block and chip these dynamic ends.
In the Charger secondary it’s all about the safeties. They have talented corners as well, but with (#12) Jeff Trojan at free safety and (#6) Wade Houston at strong safety, Edison not only has excellent tacklers (54 tackles each) they also have playmakers (four interceptions and three fumble recoveries). The two offensive stars will come up into the box for run support, and anytime they get close to the ball, the Lancers need to squeeze it a little bit tighter. That’s what Los Alamitos didn’t do last month against the Chargers in a close game, and Trojan was in on two fumbles that turned into two defensive scores.
This time of year is even more interesting because coaches want to stick with what has worked all year, but they know they have to confuse and maybe surprise the other squad. For the Chargers all season, it’s been a very simple, disciplined, strong 4-3 defense that loves to keep everything in front of them. It will be more of the same on Saturday, but we will all see some wrinkles from Dave White’s boys. It wouldn’t be a semi without some wrinkles.
If everything goes to plan for Lakewood, you can expect some long, sustained drives from the Lancers. They need to stay patient and convert those drives into touchdowns, not field goals, to play with the lead.
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