Only on the Weekend : The Reel World of Coaching Football Begins the Day After the Big Game. It’s a Time of Devising Strategies and Preparing Practices in the Athletic War Rooms.

It is Saturday morning in the El Toro High School football film room, which is actually nothing more than a portable classroom located next to the Chargers’ gym.

The walls are adorned with college football posters, but the room’s decor leans more toward early junk food.

The desks are littered with wrappers and bags from a fast-food restaurant. An empty doughnut box sits atop one table and a coffee pot on another. Open soda cans are used as paper weights.

The coaches’ briefcases are strewn about. There are film canisters everywhere. Nothing seems to be in order, if such a term can apply to this room.

At Fountain Valley High School on Sunday morning, Baron assistant coaches are loading an El Toro game film, which breaks during the first minute. Hank Cochrane, wide receiver coach and designated editor, splices the film together, then gives it another try.

“Maybe it’ll go this time,” he says. A few seconds later, the film snaps again.

“Son of a . . . . We’re off to a good start.”

Is this any way to begin preparations for Friday night’s game between the Barons and Chargers?

Sure is.

Actually, things aren’t as chaotic as they seem. Although El Toro’s film room was a mess, Bob Johnson, Charger coach, and his staff knew where everything was.

And, before the day was finished, they had broken down and analyzed films from their previous game against Estancia and Fountain Valley’s previous game against Mater Dei. They also had formulated the game plan for this week’s game against the Barons.

Same thing at Fountain Valley. A few technical difficulties aside, the Barons’ staff had a productive day. They studied the El Toro film, made some personnel changes, finalized this week’s practice schedule and devised a game plan.

It’s all part of the weekend ritual carried out by Orange County high school football coaching staffs.

Some work on Saturday. Others work on Sunday. Some, such as Fountain Valley’s, work both days.

But everyone works.

“Beginning in August, we work seven days a week until the season ends,” said Mike Milner, Fountain Valley coach. “It’s tough to make a doctor or dentist appointment. Even getting to the bank is tough. On payday at noon, you’ll see people sprinting to the bank, because it’s the only time they can go.

“But with Orange County football as competitive and well-coached as it is, this is what you have to do to keep up. We don’t want to put our kids on the field at a disadvantage.”

OK, hypothetically, it’s Friday night and you’re Fountain Valley offensive coordinator Dave Penhall. Your team has just scored a touchdown with 12 seconds left in the game to pull to within one point of El Toro.

Mike Milner already has decided to go for the two-point conversion and the win. But what play do you run?

Do you have your quarterback roll right and attempt a pass to the tight end crossing over the middle of the end zone? Or do you pitch to your tailback around the left side? Or do you send your fullback off tackle?

What will you do?

What Penhall won’t do is agonize over the decision or call a timeout to make his choice. He has already decided which play to run by the previous Sunday.

“We develop a big-play list,” Penhall said. “If there’s a two-point conversion attempt to win a game in the final seconds, that play is already decided by Sunday. Even if it’s the last play of the game, we’re going to use it unless there’s a big reason to change it.”

The big-play list is but a byproduct of the weekend’s work. The Barons had their entire offensive and defensive strategies for Friday night’s game against the Chargers designed the previous Sunday night.

They know exactly what they’re going to do in certain situations, how they’ll attack certain Charger defensive formations, and how they’ll defend against certain offensive alignments.

Most of the plan is derived from their meticulous study of game films, from which they hope to determine El Toro’s offensive and defensive tendencies.

They chart plays and alignments, and they diagram blocking assignments and passing routes.

They break down the film from last year’s El Toro game to see how the Chargers tried to attack them and how their game plan went. Fountain Valley also scouts itself so that it can break its own tendencies and avoid becoming predictable to opponents.

“Pretty boring stuff, huh?” Penhall says to a visitor. “But it’s all part of the job. It’s not the most fun part, but some guys enjoy it. I know Mike (Milner) gets fired up about getting a game plan together.”

Milner does enjoy playing strategist. But before he can determine the game plan, he and his eight assistants spend hours studying films, collecting information and analyzing data.

Some schools, such as El Toro, have computers to analyze such data and determine tendencies, but the Baron staff does it all mentally. It’s time-consuming, often repetitious, and, as Penhall said, boring, boring, boring.

It’s the same weekend routine, one that Bruce Pickford, Baron backfield coach, has been doing for years. He’s been coaching since 1950 and was Fountain Valley’s head coach from 1967-79 before stepping down to become an assistant. He owns a sailboat, but he never gets to use it during football season.

“Grown men playing with movie projectors,” Pickford groans as the morning wears on. “We should be at the beach!”

Yeah, but Milner and most of his staff have been skipping the beach for more than a decade. Milner, Penhall, Pickford, offensive line coach Mike Henigan and linebacker coach Dave Berg have been together for 13 years.

Defensive ends/special teams coach Guy Corrozzo and Tony Elias-Calles, offensive line coach, have been with Milner for seven years. Cochrane is in his fourth year at Fountain Valley, whereas Jim O’Connell, defensive line coach and the newcomer to the staff, is in his second year.

There is constant bantering among them throughout the day. They’re sort of like a family--they fight like brothers.

“I don’t treat my brothers this well,” said Berg, with a touch of levity.

Said O’Connell, 26 and the youngest member of the staff: “Yeah, I sort of think of Mike as my Dad. Isn’t that right, Mike?”

Milner: “If I was your father, I’d have 5 o’clock beatings every night.”

And the beat goes on.

“During Edison week and playoff weeks, it gets more intense in here, and we have to break it up by riding each other a bit,” Berg said. “But everyone here has thick enough skin to take it.”

The same goes for El Toro where Johnson works with long-time assistants John Johansen (16 years) and Marty Spalding (eight years). Jerry Jarrett and Bill Whipple have been there for three years. Ray Fike is in his first season.

“You have to have a close-knit group and you have to have fun,” Johnson said. “We laugh and joke around a lot. Our wives wonder what the heck we’re doing down here. But when it stops being fun coming down here on Saturdays, you know it’s time to get out.”

Fountain Valley opened the 1985 season last Thursday night with a 20-10 win over Mater Dei, but the Baron coaching staff spent little time savoring the victory. With El Toro eight days away, there was too much work to do.

Their weekend agenda:

Saturday, 7 a.m.--Graded last week’s game film, giving each player a “plus” or “minus” on each play.

10:30 a.m.--Watched junior varsity game.

1 p.m.--Held film meeting with team.

3 p.m.--Exchanged game films with El Toro. Began breaking down the film and, after a dinner break, got out to scout another football game.

Sunday, 7 a.m.--Finished film work.

Noon--Conducted staff meeting to discuss personnel changes, philosophy for the game and the schedule for the upcoming week.

After a lunch break, the rest of the day was spent planning the game, determining what offensive formations to use, whether they’ll be conservative or go for big plays, and what audible system they’ll use.

When the game plan was complete, the staff prepared its offensive and defensive scouting reports. The offensive report contained kicking game formations and coverages, the running and passing plays the Barons will use, and the defenses they should expect to see.

The defensive report had the opponent’s offensive formations, its running and passing plays and tendencies. For this week, Milner and his defensive assistants charted 50 defensive fronts and 12 different secondary coverages to be used against El Toro.

“I guess we could be classified as a multiple defensive team,” Milner said.

Each scouting report is about 14 or 15 pages and is ready to be photocopied and given to the players Monday morning.

“The general layman or teacher at school has no idea how much work goes into planning and preparation during the football season,” Milner said. “A lot of people think coaching football is just throwing the ball around at practice for three hours, but a good program is run like a major corporation--we stress cooperation and avoid spinning our wheels by talking about things that won’t work or help us.”

Milner prides himself on practice organization. His 3 1/2-hour practices are broken down by the minute and time is kept on the scoreboard on the field.

The Barons spend the week working on the game plan, but inevitably, there will be changes come game night.

“The more you plan, the more you end up plugging in during the game,” Penhall said. “Nothing is set in cement. In the flow of the game, you may change your mind and go for a big play. The problem is that El Toro is doing the same thing, and they’ll come out with something different than what we were expecting.”

But that, according to Milner, is where the fun starts. For him, the weekends offer a chance to innovate, and the game is a chance to test new strategies. He enjoys the big chess game--trying to figure out what the opponent is going to do and how he’s going to combat it.

“What’s so great is the game is always changing,” Milner said. “We’ve seen offenses--such as the wishbone, the veer and the Delaware Wing T--come and go, and now people are passing more. It’s something new every year. By the time the defense catches up to the offense, they change and you have to catch up again. It’s the same thing when new defenses come in.”

It takes about four hours for the Barons’ defensive staff to complete its game plan. It’s almost 5 p.m., and another 26-hour work weekend has finally come to a close.

Dave Berg, looking a bit exasperated, stands and wipes his brow.

“Whew, that was a marathon!” he said.

And just think. It was only Sunday.