Football: Cancer can’t keep Welch off sidelines

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Only 11 days after undergoing prostate cancer surgery, Santa Margarita head coach Harry Welch is back on the Eagles’ sideline for their Trinity League showdown against Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College.

The 65-year-old coach had his five-and-a-half hour operation on the Monday of his team’s bye week and afterwards his wife Cindee reported that the procedure went ‘very well.’ No doubt, Welch’s mere presence will provide extra inspiration for his players, not that bragging rights against their neighborhood rivals isn’t motivation enough.

Welch enters tonight’s contest with a 226-50-2 record over 22 seasons (a .817 winning percentage), including a 57-2 mark dating back to Week 4 of the 2006 season. He has won eight Southern Section titles and is the only man to coach two different teams to state bowl championships.

Of course, Welch’s counterpart tonight, Jim Kunau, is no slouch. All he’s done is build tiny Orange Lutheran into one of the top programs in Southern California. In 2006, he led the Lancers to a 14-1 record and the inaugural Division II state bowl championship with a 42-28 victory over Palo Alto.

Later that evening, Welch guided Canyon Country Canyon to the inaugural Division I state bowl championship with a 27-13 upset of Concord De La Salle, then the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.

Both Santa Margarita and Orange Lutheran enter tonight’s game off a bye week, so both Welch and Kunau will have their teams prepared. If it’s close going into the fourth quarter, the game might be decided by whichever coach makes better adjustments.

Speaking of the coaches, they have met at midfield and are engaged in what appears to be friendly conversation as they watch their teams warm up. Think they’re discussing each other’s game plans? Neither do I, but there’s definitely mutual respect.

The opening kickoff is minutes away and Santa Margarita will receive.

-- Steve Galluzzo