brings team to .500
By Hans Laetz / Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu High School football team set up this week’s homecoming game as a make-or-break-the-playoffs situation when it drubbed the St. Monica Mariners 46-14 Friday in Playa del Rey.
Running back Miles Edman scrambled for 216 yards on the ground in a night that saw the Sharks own the offensive lines. Edman scored five touchdowns running and a sixth on a pass from quarterback Bennett Sherman late in the game.
The won evened the Sharks season at 4-4 and sets them up for possible California Interscholastic Federation Freelance League playoff action later next month. And more importantly, it erased the impact of the previous week’s defeat at Chadwick, a game the Sharks had thought they could win.
“We came out on fire,” coach Ray Humphrey said. “I told the guys to have fun and not worry about playoffs or anything, but to play football for themselves.”
The Sharks kept to the ground, raking up 253 yards rushing and 98 yards in the air.
Defensively, they were no slouches either. Sandro Di Leo had a pair of interceptions and Miles Booth and Garrett Brizendine had one interception apiece. Milo Gibson, Matt Hale, Jake Jesson and Alec Sherwood all had one sack each.
The Malibu third-string players were getting their uniforms muddy for the first time when the Sharks, up 40-0 in the fourth quarter, allowed the first St. Monica score.
A homecoming night victory on Friday against winless Santa Clara would likely vault the varsity team into the playoffs for the second time in two years, Humphrey said. After that, the final game of the season will see the Sharks up against Villanova Preparatory School, which is 8-0.
Humphrey said the good news is that a 5-5 record might be a ticket to the playoffs for the Sharks. The bad news is that Malibu would have to play a top-seeded team in the first round, such as Villanova, Rio Hondo or Brentwood. The latter two teams have beaten the Sharks this year.
“Obviously, if we win this Friday against Santa Clara, we will have a much better position going into the playoffs,” Humphrey said. “It will be senior night, homecoming and the last home game for the graduating seniors, so I think they will be up for it.”
The junior varsity team also won Friday, 20-8.
This season’s last home game is against Santa Clara of Oxnard under the rented lights at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.