This Mariner is big on spunk

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Man, it didn’t take long to notice Raymond Huizar, the quarterback/defensive back at Garden Grove Pacifica. I arrived fashionably late for the Mariners’ 43-42 victory over Troy and started talking to John Turek, the former coach and current athletic director at Troy. By the way, did you know Troy has one of the best girls’ tennis teams around???

So I see this kid take down Troy fullback Derrick Coleman. The kid looked like he was 5-foot-5, but he’s listed as 5-10. Coleman is a rock at 6-0, 220. Coleman gets up and looks like he’s going to slap Huizar’s head off his neck. ‘They’ve been going at each other all night,’ Turek tells me. ‘I think he’s got two personal fouls already.’ Huizar’s playing with the intensity of a personal foul waiting to happen, so that doesn’t surprise me. Then Huizar is playing quarterback, running into the line, or throwing a nice little pass with deceiving ooomph!

Man, that kid is spunky, I say.

Pacifica eventually loses the lead when Coleman scores on a 41-yard run with 3:09 left in the game. But Pacifica goes right back down the field again, Huizar passing to his brother, Raphael, or Tyler Ortiz or Richie Williams -- I don’t know because I was working without a program. Finally, he connects with Ortiz at the 15, and Ortiz gets clobbered. The ball bounces out of his hands and Troy recovers with 50 seconds left.

Game over, right?

Not exactly. Troy hands off to Coleman, who should be a sure thing to run out the clock, but he gets stripped of the ball and Pacifica recovers at the 38. A few plays later, the Mariners are at the three-yard line. Huizar rolls left and connects with Alfredo Torres for the touchdown. Both coaches have agreed to play overtime should the game end in a tie. Instead, Pacifica goes for the two-point conversion. Huizar runs right then dashes to the end zone. Two points.

He is one tough little dude.

OK, there’s a chance that it wasn’t Huizar who ran the ball in for the conversion. It could have been Tyler Ortiz. Maybe it was Ortiz. Or maybe it was Huizar. But whether or not it was Huizar who scored the two point, he is still one tough little dude.

- Martin Henderson