High School Football Brings Some Life to Edison Field

The balloons.

That was the first sign.

When high school football comes to Edison Field, there are balloons.

There aren’t balloons when the Angels play major league baseball at Edison Field. There aren’t 50-year-old men wearing their high school sweaters either. These sweaters don’t exactly fit. Some of the material must have been missing. Why else would those darn Long Beach Poly or Loyola sweaters not quite stretch across those middle-aged stomachs?

The CIF Southern Section Division I championship football game was played Saturday night. It was the fourth championship-game appearance in a row for the Poly Jackrabbits. The Loyola Cubs were back for the first time since 1996.

Long Beach Poly defeated Loyola, 16-13, in overtime. It will be days before fans of either team can breathe easily again.

The Ed is a different place when high school football teams arrive.

The tailgating.

That was the second sign.

There was a carload of Poly fans grilling teriyaki chicken and a vanload of Loyola fans eating tamales brought from home. There was a diversity missing at major league baseball games. Polynesian Poly students and Latino Loyola students traded taunting cheers in the parking lot. Not nasty cheers. High school cheers. Simple and loud and filled with a spirit that has disappeared from pro sports.

“This is our big sporting event of the year,” D’Wayne Simmons said. Simmons brought his two sons to the game. Simmons, a Poly fan “from way back,” says he would never think about coming to Edison Field for a baseball game. “Too corporate, too expensive, nothing for me and my family,” Simmons said. “This is what real sports still does. It brings people together for their school.”

The coaches.

That was a sign.

Poly coach Jerry Jaso is a graduate of Poly. Loyola coach Steve Grady is a graduate of Loyola. Jaso has been head coach of the Jackrabbits for 16 years. Grady has led the Cubs for 25 years. There is no other job either man has wanted. There is no better place for either to be than walking the fields of the school that educated them in sports and in life. It is not the salary that matters. It is the place.

And coaching matters in high school. Each team seemed to know how to break down the opponents’ strength. The game was low-scoring because neither the Jackrabbits nor the Cubs could impose their will. Nothing is more fun than watching well-coached high school teams play in a game that matters so much.

Matt Ware.

This 6-foot-4, 200-pound Loyola senior was a sign.

Ware, who should make UCLA very proud in the next four years, played quarterback for Loyola. And defensive back. He was everyWare. His leaping, lunging interception in the end zone kept Poly from scoring at the end of the second quarter. It was a play of skill and smarts and audacity and one that no one on UCLA’s defense has made this year. Could Ware play for the Bruins in the Sun Bowl?

And Ware’s poise at quarterback kept the Cubs from being buried early.

The flutes and the drums.

You don’t hear flutes and drums at Angel games.

You don’t have earnest 15-year-olds carrying big drums, sweating in the cool night air because they wear wool uniforms. You don’t have whole sections of fans, kids mostly, standing for an entire game because they have young legs and because they don’t want to miss a single second of the game.

The noise never stops either. Not for an instant. “Po-ly, Po-ly, Po-ly.” “Beat Poly, beat Poly, beat Poly.” A banging drum accompanies each mantra. Instead of selling hot dogs, perhaps the concession stand should stock Excedrin. But part of the fun of a good high school game is leaving with a headache.

The respect.

Where has the respect gone in pro sports?

Poly cornerback O’Dell Jackson whispered in the ear of Loyola wide receiver Greg Kavulich. Kavulich had needed to stretch one more finger length to grab a Ware pass. Jackson was the defender. Kavulich lay on the ground, pounding the grass with his too-short fingers. Jackson tapped Kavulich’s helmet and helped his opponent up. The score was 7-3 in favor of Poly in the third quarter. The intensity was getting more feverish.

Still, one senior felt the need to help another to his feet. One senior was not too proud to be helped by the enemy.

There are those who will say that high school sports, big-time high school sports, has become no different from college and pro sports. Some will say that recruiting is ugly, that the high schools compromise ideals as much as programs at any level.

But there is still a fresh and innocent feeling about high school football championship games. For these are still kids on the field. These players are teenagers who sprint to the huddle and stand at attention when the man with the whistle tells them to listen.

We can all hope that maybe a speck of this spirit, a bit of this high school bravado, will stay at Edison when the Angels come back. Pro sports might be what we all watch on TV. But who doesn’t have a high school sweater or hat or pompon stashed away deep in his heart?

Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com