The Golden Eagles struck first, and second for that matter, as their hard hitting defense, led by junior linebacker Travis Brown forced Tiger QB Jerry Davis to fumble the ball. His powerful hit made it possible for Tom Richardson of the Eagles to pounce on and cradle the ball. The Eagles took over on the Tigers 27 yard line. It only took two plays for Matt Jelmini to provide some of the magic he is known for, on a clever, exciting, 24 yard TD run. That was the first series. Second series pretty much same as the first: Another strong defensive charge led to a three downs and out, and after a Davis punt, and a down for short yardage, enter the muscular and hard to catch magician, ladies and gentlemen, once again.....Young Jelmini, this time as he escaped the chains for a 64 yard romp to end zone freedom. Only this time there was a catch. He did it UNTOUCHED! He went through the tunnel that was formed for him by the Eagles O line and not a hand or even a slight of hand touched him. 64 yards untouched and for the last 30 yards of it, unescorted. The Eagle fans were in ecstasy!

It looked like it was going to be a long night for Edison. Maybe even a rout. But nooooooooooo! The Tigers were not going to quit as their defense played huge and they came up with the only other score in the first half on a drive that ended in pay dirt, with Marquise Cooper grabbing a perfect pass from Jerry Davis for six points. The Tigers muffed the extra point try, but they were on the board.

In the third quarter Clovis West was hurt on the very first play as Magic Matt was injured and had to leave the game with an ankle injury. Although he tried hard to run it off, behind the CW bench, it was the last play of the game for him. After that, the Eagles were back at work rolling up some yardage, with some good help from Jelmini's replacement, sophomore, Bradon Siebert. The Eagles got close to the end zone, on some drives, but came up short because of a more and more believing Tiger defense. The Eagles did manage to come up with two perfectly executed field goals, one of 36 yards, the other of 24 yards, by Nick Rolf, who once again put the Tigers 14 points in front as the teams headed into the fourth quarter.

The overflow crowd at Sunnyside was treated to an exciting game featuring a whole lot of moves by some terrific athletes, many of whom will be playing football on Saturdays in the near future. But that crowd had no idea what was in store for them. The fourth quarter was time for the Tigers to put on a show of their own and with Jerry Davis playing what I thought was the best game that I have seen him play, led Edison back. Davis threw for 276 yards on the night, plus a couple of touchdowns, and a game saving two point conversion. He got a lot of help from his friends as well. For example, one time the Tigers broke the huddle and Jerry Davis was trotting out a wide left, to a receiver spot, leaving John Tate in the backfield all by himself. What was going on here? A trick play? Tate to Davis instead of Davis to Tate? Is Tate just going to run straight from the shotgun position? Well they did that a few times but on this one in particular, Tate dropped back and calmly threw a 63 yard bomb to Rolando Jefferson for a first down. A few plays later it was Davis to Tate for 2 yards and a touchdown. Disaster struck again for the Tigers at that point as another special teams snafu had them miss another extra point. However, they were still within 8 points, 20 to 12, and there was still 5:47 remaining in the game.

The moon was just a sliver on this dark night and both sides of the stadium were loud and excited, pulling for their team. This is when the Tigers provided a little magic of their own. After the kickoff, with the clock winding down against a methodical drive by Clovis West, the defense held and the Eagles had to punt. The Tigers had managed to get the ball back, but only had 1 minute and 50 seconds to travel 77 yards to a touchdown, and then get a two point conversion...to TIE. Seemed like a pretty tough order against a tough customer.

A long pass attempt fell short on the first play. Then on the next play, Jerry Davis dropped back to pass and rolled a bit to his left. Was he going to go long once again back to the right side? He looked that way momentarily, but then looked back over the middle to Jefferson on a crossing pattern and in a flash the pass was complete and what a move Jefferson put on the two DBs in the neighborhood, as he shot down the field and into the end zone for a 77 yard , absolutely electrifying TD as the crowd went wild. Just amazing #1. A great play, one of the best we've seen in 5 years of televising these games. In what seemed like not enough time to calm down, it was time for the Tigers to attempt the two point after TD try. Davis once again dropped back, and then rolled to his right...looking, looking, defense closing in, more than 6 thousand now screaming, louder and louder as Davis sees John Bennett streaking across the end zone and he perfectly leads Bennett to make a terrific catch and the 2 points are on the board. Just amazing #2. Tie game.

Before this turns into a book, (Sorry, this was really some game), let me just say that in the overtime, Edison got the ball first and on third down, Davis scrambled into the end zone. Six points. Then Eric Zamora came in and booted an extra point that was good by 20 yards or more. Huh? Where did that come from? 27-20, Edison. Anyway, then Clovis West scored on their first overtime try as Beau Sweeney blasted into the end zone on the first play from scrimmage, and Nick Rolph came in and again rifled another extra point through the uprights for another tie score. The Rolphelman? 27-27. Then in the second overtime, it was the Eagles turn to go first. First down: two yards. Second down, 4 yards. Third down: That's The Night That the Lights Went Out In Fresno. Amazing #3. Game called on account they couldn't get the lights back on. I got a headache.