Top-seed Central survives scare against Edison to advance to Central Section semifinals

Edison High threw a scare into top-seeded and undefeated Central High in the Central Section Division I football playoffs.

But in the end, the Grizzlies pulled away from No. 9 Edison 42-21 in a quarterfinal at Deran Koligian Stadium on Friday night.

Central (11-0) will host No. 4 Bakersfield on Nov. 16.

The Grizzlies beat Edison 35-7 back in the season-opener, but the Tigers scored 15 straight to tie the game 21-21.

“We just had to come out and execute,” Central coach Kyle Biggs said. “We weren’t executing very well in the first half. Credit to Edison, they did a good job and play very tough with a good game plan. In the second half, I thought we did a good job executing.”

The Grizzlies were keyed by Quali Conley’s two touchdowns, including the go-ahead 41-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Then it was Noah Gonzales’ interception at Central’s 8-yard line with 6:20 remaining that led to a Trent Tompkins 43-yard touchdown pass to Conley for a 35-21 lead.

“I would’ve been worried if we didn’t respond,” Biggs said, “but it seemed like every time we got punch in the mouth we responded and we found a way to fight back and that’s being resilient and playoffs are about surviving and advancing.”

Gonzales said of the tight game, “It’s definitely a learning lesson. We just got to go in and watch film and see what we messed up on and hopefully fix it for Bakersfield.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2018 at 11:01 PM.