By JONATHAN KAY
OCVarsity staff

COSTA MESA -- Wade Houston’s 4-yard touchdown run put him over 100 yards, and put Edison up three touchdowns. The game wasn’t even 14 minutes old.

The Chargers’ offensive line overpowered Marina, while Houston and Davion Orphey danced behind their blockers before bursting through gaping holes and defenders’ arms, on the way to a 55-14 Sunset League victory on Thursday night at Orange Coast College.

Although the still-banged up Chargers (6-2, 2-1) lost another player, senior guard Wes Graves, they had no trouble rebounding from last week’s loss to Los Alamitos.

After the running backs established their dominance early — Houston and Orphey alternated scores on Edison’s first four possessions — the Chargers marched 77 yards in the final 2:06 of the half solely through the air.

Matt Viles completed 9 of 12 passes on the drive, topping it off with an 18-yard TD to Michael Rivera, which put Edison up, 35-0, at halftime.

“When you get beat, you want to get a little attitude back,” Chargers coach Dave White said. “We wanted to get our running game going and not let them run the ball. We did a real nice job of that.”

Edison’s air show continued into the second half, as Rivera caught touchdowns of 50 and 70 yards on the Chargers’ first two possessions. He finished with six catches for 176 yards, while Viles completed 13-of-17 for 266 yards.

Not to be outdone, Orphey provided the night’s highlight, with a reversed-field, defender-clinging-to-his-jersey, 31-yard run for Edison’s final touchdown.

“We wanted to test our running game and see what our backs are really all about,” said Orphey, who ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. He also took a screen pass 51 yards for a touchdown. Houston rushed for 113 yards on nine carries.

“Last week, we were kind of shocked,” by the loss, Orphey said. “We wanted to prove to everyone that we’re really a big deal here.”

Edison’s Graves was on crutches after the game and will be examined tomorrow, White said. The Chargers finish the regular season with Fountain Valley and No. 9 Esperanza.

Marina, which took Esperanza to overtime last week before falling 17-14, dropped to 0-3 in the Sunset League and 2-5 overall. Senior quarterback Zack Couey completed 12-of-20 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown, and running back Nick Dallas picked up 74 late yards and the games’ final touchdown.

“We thought we could come out and be a little more competitive tonight,” Vikings coach Dan Petrone said. “Offensively, we just didn’t get into a rhythm, and we couldn’t stop them on D.”

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