Simi Valley football comes up short against Edison in second-straight CIF finals appearance

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Simi Valley fell short of its second consecutive CIF Southern Section championship by losing to Edison 35-21 in the Division 3 finals on Friday night at Huntington Beach High School.

Pioneers head coach Jim Benkert finishes the season with 315 career wins and six CIF-SS titles in his 36 years as a head coach. Friday’s game was his 11th CIF finals appearance for Simi Valley, including its Division 6 title last season.

“We’re stepping up in class,” Benkert said. “We won (Division) 6 and now we’re in (Division) 3. We got to the title game in 3 and we did some really good things. That’s a senior-dominated football team. That’s a good football team right there.”

Simi Valley quarterback Tagg Harrison completed 21-of-35 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown. Brice Hawkins ran the ball nine times for 22 yards and two touchdowns and had four catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Edison’s size in the trenches made it difficult for Simi Valley (12-2) to make forward progress. Hawkins was moved around the field as the Pioneers’ rushing attack struggled to get moving.

“When they put eight guys out there, it doesn’t matter if you’re Tarzan or Superman,” Benkert said. “There’s not a lot of seams to get open on.”

Edison (10-4) was playing without starting running back Julius Gillick after two unsportsmanlike penalties in the semifinal game over Vista Murrieta made him ineligible for the championship game, but the Chargers didn’t play as though they were missing a key piece of their offense and scored three times before halftime.

Sophomore Sam Edmisten (13 carries, 80 yards) provided hard-nosed running and Edison handed the ball to Jake Minton two times in the Wildcat formation in the first half, which helped them produce an 18-yard touchdown run. A big offensive line held its ground all the while.

“That running back gets yards with a great line,” Benkert said. “It didn’t matter who was running through there.”

Edison quarterback Sam Thomson hit Minton with a 21-yard pass midway through the second quarter and Gavin Slaughter hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass with 1:42 to go until the break.

Simi Valley had several long drives but was only able to manufacture one first-half touchdown on a 3-yard run by Brice Hawkins at the 3:46 mark of the first quarter.

Hawkins had a rushing touchdown and a touchdown reception in the second half as Harrison executed plays with his arm and legs while facing pressure from Edison’s defense. Jayden Clark dove for a 23-yard catch on second down to keep alive a scoring drive that ended in a Hawkins rushing touchdown.

“Tagg played gutsy,” Benkert said. “They had four guys on our two and there’s no seams so I thought he played really well under the circumstances.”

Simi Valley was playing without 6-foot-4, 290-pound starting tackle Gino Veon, which affected offensive production. On the other side of the ball, Izak Simpson at one point sacked Thomson on one play then had a tackle for loss on the next.

“That was a little deflating for our guys and against a good football team,” Benkert said. “Our guys did a great job. We made some really great plays throwing the football into eight guys, we just couldn’t do it consistently and that hurt us.”