Football: Tesoro Pulls Off Playoff Shocker, Upsetting Edison, 16-14

Tesoro's football team had trouble sustaining drives against Edison, but when the Titans needed it most, they put together an eight-play drive for a touchdown with 2:43 left in the game that gave them enough cushion for a 16-14 victory in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs on Friday night at Orange Coast College.

The touchdown put the Titans up 16-7, but the Chargers responded with a drive for a touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game and then recovered an onside kick to make things tense for the Titan faithful. But after four incomplete passes, the Titans were able to run out the clock to seal the victory.

Tesoro (7-4), which finished third in the South Coast League, advances to play host to top-seeded Servite (10-1), a 41-3 winner over Long Beach Wilson Friday night, in the quarterfinals on Nov. 25. Edison ends its season at 8-3.

Tesoro’s scoring drive came after an Edison 39-yard field goal attempt that would have given the Chargers a 10-9 lead, sailed just wide. The big play on the drive came on a 42-yard run by Nate Tago that put the Titans on the Edison 29-yard line. Tago carried the ball five times on the final drive but it was quarterback Matt Adam who finished the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run. Adam was able to turn the corner on a roll out and dive for the end zone before being forced out of bounds.

“You have to give it to the linemen, they created big holes, and the receivers too, coming off the line and blocking the linebackers and they opened up some pretty big holes for me,” Tago said of his team's second-half surge.

After trailing for much of the game, the Titans were able to eat up most of the third quarter with a 13-play drive to take 9-6 lead with 56 seconds left on a 41-yard field goal by Zach Schottenfeld. The kick salvaged a drive that had moved to the Edison eight-yard line before runs for losses and a holding penalty put the Titans at fourth down at the 24.

The Titans went three plays and out on their first three possessions of the game as the Chargers’ defense controlled the first quarter to help them take a 7-0 lead. The Titans were able to break loose for a big play late in the second quarter when Adam swung a pass out to Michael McQueen, who found some blockers and went 72 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 7-6. The point-after kick was blocked.

Despite the slow start, and early deficit, the Titans continued to stick with their game plan. “Just like almost every game this year for us, we just keep pounding it and pounding away," coach Brian Barnes said. "It might only be three yards at a time, but we’re hoping, eventually, we’ll break through.”

Edison scored first on an 11-play drive that set up a three-yard touchdown run by Nicholas Masaniai. Quarterback Chase Favreu had some big pass plays on the drive, including a 26-yarder to get the Chargers to the Titan 37-yard line and a 13-yard completion to convert a fourth-and-seven.

It was also the Chargers' passing attack that gave them a chance to win the game when Favreau hit Troy Baljeu for a 17-yard touchdown on a fourth down play with 57 seconds left in the game.

“Edison is such a good team," Barnes said. "They made it go down to the wire, didn’t they? It shouldn’t have happened that way, but they did."

Tago had 127 rushing yards for the Titans. Michael Sanchez and Blake Rodgers had key sacks for Tesoro to help stop Edison drives.