Edison grinds out 21-6 win at Bellevue

BELLEVUE — Edison's three-headed monster at running back was down to one in the second half Friday night at Bellevue. The Chargers still managed to pick up yardage and play keep-away to turn back Bellevue 21-6 the SBC Bay Division opener for both teams. Edison lost senior Luke Blatnik to a broken collarbone last week. In the first half Friday, Bryson Wittmer was injured and had his right arm in a sling afterward. "We kind of went back to what we've done in the past," Edison coach Jim Hall said. "We were facing some adversity with injuries. Everybody does so that's not an excuse. We had some guys step in and play some big roles who haven't played in those positions." Chargers senior quarterback Abe Hermes looked smooth running the triple option and ended up carrying 16 times for 102 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run that gave Edison an early lead. He had four runs that covered 10 or more yards. "He's a tough kid. He's come along with the option," Hall said. "He didn't get a lot of looks at it with Marcus (Medina) the last three years. He's getting better every week." Hermes started Edison's last scoring drive in the third quarter with a 21-yard run. Cy Finnen, who carried 22 times for 89 yards, finished it with a 3-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal to give the Chargers a 21-6 lead with 3:35 left in the quarter. Edison finished with 260 yards rushing on a windy and sometimes rainy night. "Bellevue's a tough team," Hermes said. "They were calling out a lot of our plays and they knew what we were going to run. Running the ball was tough, but you gotta get it done." Edison, ranked No. 10 in the state in Division V, improved to 6-0 ahead of a showdown next week at top-ranked Perkins (Division IV). Bellevue went three-and-out to start the game and Edison drove 48 yards in seven plays and scored on Hermes' third-and-2 run. Early in the second quarter, Bellevue got the ball on Edison's 30-yard line after the wind stopped a Chargers punt cold. Ike Brown capped an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra point failed, but the Redmen were within 7-6 in their homecoming game. (Tyson Baptista was crowned king and Hannah Decker was the queen.) Bellevue forced an Edison punt on the next possession but gave it right back when Grayson Smith intercepted Brown and returned the pick 20 yards. Hermes hit Davin Wendt on a 32-yard touchdown pass into the wind to make it 14-6. Bellevue stopped Edison on downs midway through the third quarter, but a fumble recovered by senior linebacker Malachi Hawkins gave the Chargers possession at the Bellevue 37. Hawkins replaced the injured Wittmer on defense. Wittmer, a hard-running junior, had four early carries for 27 yards. "Malachi's good," Hall said. 'Bryson's really good, and he was runnig hard, but we're fortunate to have Malachi ready to step in and play that position." Finnen's touchdown gave Edison a two-score lead and Bellevue couldn't recover while dropping to 2-4. The Redmen travel to Huron next week. "We're a typical young team. We couldn't consistently drive it," Bellevue coach Ed Nasonti said. "When you play Edison, your margin for error is smaller. They keep the chains moving and eat up clock." Hermes had 30 of his rushing yards in the fourth quarter. Bellevue had only eight plays from scrimmage in the final 12 minutes. "Our main thing was to create turnovers and hold on to the ball," Hermes said. "We've had turnovers in previous weeks, mental mistakes, so that was a big thing. "Two of our main backs are banged up, but no excuses. We had to step up. We had Grayson Smith who's never played halfback in his life step up and play a whole half of halfback for us." Edison ran out the final 6:01, all on the ground. "Abe did a great job running the offense," Hall said. "Cy runs hard and gives us that fullback presence. We gotta keep polishing that up but we did what we needed to do." Edison 7 7 7 0 — 21Bellevue 0 6 0 0 — 0 E — Abe Hermes 7 run (Alex Davidson kick)B — Ike Brown 1 run (kick failed)E — Davin Wendt 32 pass from Hermesz (Davidson kick)E — Cy Finnen 3 run (Davidson kick)