The Body Wreckers : What’s In a Name When You’re Already a Big Hit?

The extraordinary thing about Bart Recktenwald, La Quinta High School defensive back, isn’t that he has twice been chosen to the All-Garden Grove League team. Or that last season, playing quarterback for the first time in high school, he led the Aztecs to the league championship.

The impossible has almost become expected of him.

Such as the game last season against top-ranked Esperanza. Recktenwald returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown and threw a 49-yard pass to Darrell Crain late in the fourth quarter to help the Aztecs win, 12-7.

That kind of stuff is pretty much routine for the 5-foot 11-inch senior.

The really amazing thing is that Bart Recktenwald has no nickname.

Guys who hit as hard as Recktenwald usually are assigned such terms of endearment as Doctor Death, Mr. Crunch or Sir Slam.

But Recktenwald, recognized as one of Orange County’s most intense defensive players, has none.

Bart ‘The Wrecker’ Recktenwald? “I’ve never really thought about it,” he said. “I just worry about playing football and hitting people.”

Hitting is what he does best. He figures to exchange more than a few blows when La Quinta and Foothill, two of Orange County’s better defensive teams, play at 7:30 tonight in Bolsa Grande Stadium.

Neither defense played to expectation last week. Though La Quinta’s defense scored 13 points in the first two minutes of its game against El Dorado, the Aztecs eventually blew the lead and lost, 20-19.

Foothill was humbled by quarterback Scott Stark of Capistrano Valley, who threw for 337 yards and 4 touchdowns, as the Cougars beat the Knights, 26-7.

Recktenwald has been playing the game since he was 7 years old. Hitting has become so much a part of him that when he talks about his play, he clinches both hands, thrusts his arms out and grunts, play-acting a big hit.

All Recktenwald has for his efforts is a couple of league championships, a couple of college scholarship offers and a whole lot of respect. From his strong safety position, he has gained that respect through deed and word.

“If somebody catches a pass in my area and I tackle him, I’ll tell them to go back to the sideline and tell their coach not to call that play again,” he said. “Not if they want to live.”

Bart ‘Cannonball’ Recktenwald? He says he really isn’t that outspoken during a game. But anyone who has observed him on the sidelines, or run through his zone knows that’s like saying talk show host Wally George is tight-lipped.

He has prepared for each game the same way since his sophomore season. With music. We’re not talking Simon and Garfunkel here. This is LOUD music.

“I put on Van Halen’s first album before every game,” he said. “It’s become a ritual for me. The album is the perfect kind of music for the way I play . . . It’s so loud it hurts sometimes.”

If Van Halen is his inspiration, perhaps Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy” should be his theme song.

It came as a shock to more than a few people that he was moved to quarterback last season. Quarterbacks should be even-tempered. Quarterbacks should always be in poised.

Bart ‘The Introspective’ Recktenwald. Nope . “Bart’s always been such, uh . . . an aggressive type,” said Peggy Recktenwald, Bart’s mother. “That’s why it was so hard to believe they were going to move him to quarterback.”

The transition was not an easy one last season. Recktenwald continued to play defensive back--he has been a two-way starter since he began playing--and his mind buzzed with volumes of offensive and defensive formations.

There was more than one occasion last season when he yelled at himself, his receivers or the sky about having to play quarterback.

“They used me because there was no one else around,” Recktenwald said. “I wasn’t the kind of quarterback who’d sit back in the pocket and wait to get hit. I’d run away first. I’m used to hitting not being hit.”

Sure enough, when he threw the winning touchdown pass against Esperanza last season he was scrambling out the pocket desperately looking for someone, anyone.

“I just wanted to get rid of the ball, luckily the guy on Darrell came up too far.”

The quarterback burden was lifted from his shoulders this season when Eric Zeno, a transfer from Fountain Valley, decided to attend La Quinta to play for his father, Coach Joe Zeno. Eric threw for 1,020 yards last season.

“When he got here I just said, ‘Welcome,’ ” Recktenwald said. “I was pretty glad to see him. I knew I wouldn’t have to go through what I did last year again.”

In retrospect, Recktenwald realizes he gained a great deal from playing quarterback. It’s easier to tell what the opposing quarterback is going to do.

“I find that in a game I’m thinking like a quarterback,” he said. “I can read his eyes better this year. A lot of times it’s like I know where he’s going to throw before he does. I think that was the big advantage of playing quarterback last year.”