Coach Kellen Cobbs’ Granite Hills Eagles (11-2) take on another tough Orange County opponent when they visit Huntington Beach Edison (10-4) Friday at Huntington Beach High.
There are similarities.
Granite Hills was a 49-21 loser to eventual state champion Mission Viejo in a 2023 regional playoff and Edison dropped a 49-24 decision to Mission Viejo this season.
Another of Edison’s losses in 2024 was 21-17 to San Clemente, a 27-17 loser to La Costa Canyon. The Chargers lost their first two games, 29-28, to Clovis West and 22-21 to Yorba Linda.
Granite Hills dopped a 39-21 decision to Perry of Gilbert, Arizona, at Cathedral and, in a shocker later in the season, to Cathedral, 52-6.
The Eagles, with a 46.6 Calpreps.com rating, will face one with a 56.1 Calpreps grade and a strong running attack, led by Julius Gillick, who is averaging 163 yards a game rushing and has scored 33 touchdowns.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Edison is not named after Thomas A. Edison, whose many inventions included the electric light.
A contest to name the school, which opened in 1969, resulted in honoring Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during the 1968 presidential campaign.
School honchos stepped in.
The land on which the campus was built had been donated by Southern California Edison, a public utility, and after some discussion Kennedy High became Edison High.
Perhaps as a bow to electricity and to Thomas Edison, the green and gold-clad school athletic teams became identified as the Chargers.
Granite Hills has never played Edison, but the Chargers have vintage and recent history here.
Coach Dick Haines’ Vista Panthers split a home-and-home series with Bill Workman’s Chargers, winning here, 6-0, in 1982, and losing, 20-15, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa in 1983.
Helix split a series with the Chargers, winning at home, 38-34, in the 2023 opener and losing this season, 42-14, at Westminster High, near Edison.
Tomorrow: D-II, Poway versus Arcadia Rio Hondo
