Orange County Prep Review / Mike DiGiovanna : Predictions Can Come Back to Haunt Coaches

It’s always fun at the end of a season to compare coaches’ preseason predictions with what actually happened, so, now that the 1985 prep football season is in the books . . . Remember Edison Coach Bill Workman’s reaction in early September when he was informed that his team had been chosen No. 1 in The Times’ Orange County preseason poll?

“What fools voted us No. 1?” Workman asked.

Hmmm. Could it be those same fools (sportswriters) who watched Edison advance to the Southern Section Big Five Conference championship game and tie Long Beach Poly, 14-14, for the co-championship?

How about La Habra Coach Bob Rau, who, after five other Freeway League coaches agreed that the Highlanders were the favorites to win the title, said: “I absolutely believe any team in our league could beat us if we don’t play well.”

Not too convincing, Bob. La Habra went 5-0 in league, outscored its opponents, 149-33, and recorded three shutouts. The Highlanders’ smallest margin of victory was 19 points, that coming in La Habra’s 19-0 win over Troy.

Truly bold was Buena Park Coach Bart Goldstein’s prediction that, “If (Coyote quarterback) Scott Milligan continues along the same course, he’s got a shot at being the No. 1 quarterback in the county.”

Perhaps, Goldstein never heard of Mike Angelovic (Edison), Scott Stark (Capistrano Valley), Myron Butler (Saddleback), Tim Rosenkranz (Servite), J.T. Snow (Los Alamitos), Shane Foley (Newport Harbor) or Brendan Murphy (Mission Viejo). This was one of the county’s best classes of quarterbacks. Six passed for more than 2,000 yards.

Milligan? He passed for about 750 yards as the Coyotes suffered through a 1-9 season.

Goldstein? He resigned.

Brea-Olinda Coach Bill Brown: “There’s the Orange League and then there’s Valencia. They’re awesome. They have too many players. They should be in the Big Five Conference.”

Flattering, for sure, but Valencia didn’t make it past the second round of the Central Conference playoffs. Wonder how they would have done in the Big Five?

Sonora Coach Gordon Blakeley: “We want to stay away from peaking too early. We want to peak going into the league season.”

The Raiders opened league with a 28-0 loss to La Habra.

Troy Coach John Turek: “We’re certainly capable of being in the playoffs again. And we could go 0-5, too.”

Now, that’s covering all your bases.

Finally, let’s hear it for La Quinta Coach Joe Zeno, who said: “We have a very good chance (of winning the league title) this season. We do have some very good players. I think it’s within our reach.”

Not only did the Aztecs win the Garden Grove League title, they made it to the Central Conference championship game, where they lost to Saddleback, 34-28.

Way to go, Joe. The truth doesn’t hurt.

Shortcomings: La Quinta High School had only 10 players on the field Friday night when Saddleback’s Hector Santa Cruz blocked a punt and Antwon Lark returned it 27 yards for the winning touchdown with 1:37 remaining in the Roadrunners’ 34-28 win over the Aztecs in the Central Conference championship game.

Starting defensive guard Mike Rottiers, who also blocks for the punt team, came out of the game early in the fourth period because of a pinched nerve in his shoulder, but special teams Coach John Boston was not informed that Rottiers would not be able to return.

“We thought he was in the game, and when we saw that he wasn’t, we tried to call a timeout,” Zeno said. “But with all the noise and the intensity of the game, the kids didn’t hear us. The kid who blocked it came through the vacant position.”

It was the first punt La Quinta has had blocked this year.

And the last.

Add Shortcomings: Before he gained 231 yards in Santa Ana’s 32-21 win over Mission Viejo in the Southern Conference championship game Saturday night, Saint tailback Robert Lee was upset that he gained just 98 yards against El Modena in the semifinals.

Two more yards against the Vanguards would have given Lee five straight, 100-yard games.

Wait until Lee finds out that his 231-yard performance Saturday night left him three yards short of 1,000 yards for the season. Lee, who missed the first four games with an ankle injury, finished with 997 yards in 131 carries and scored 10 touchdowns.

Add Edison: Dave White, an assistant on the Chargers’ football team, had to settle for a tie and a co-championship Friday night, but his girls’ basketball team certainly got the best of two nonleague opponents last week.

On Monday night, Edison beat Newport Harbor, 102-22, and Thursday night, the Chargers beat Santa Ana, 80-25.

Newport Harbor Coach Glen Takemoto made it clear that he was upset by the lopsided score.

“I don’t know what White was thinking,” he said. “I’ve never seen a coach run it up like that before. What irks me is that the game was over in the second quarter.”

Edison led, 49-7, at halftime, but Takemoto said that White continued to play his starters, who poured it on in the second half.

“I’m so disgusted by the whole thing, it makes me wonder if it’s worth it to keep coaching,” he said.

White had this to say about the game: “We weren’t pressing the whole game. We played fullcourt man-to-man defense in the first quarter, halfcourt man-to-man in the second and third quarters and 2-3 zone in the fourth.

“I only have 10 players on the team and rotated them in the second half. I had three girls off the bench score in double figures. You can’t tell your second string not to play hard. I don’t know how he can say I didn’t substitute.”

As for the Santa Ana game, White said: “That just wasn’t good scheduling.”

Prep Notes

Santa Ana Coach Dick Hill, who guided the Saints to the Southern Conference championship Saturday night, has won a Southern Section championship in each of the past four decades. In 1956, Hill led Downey to the major-division co-championship with Anaheim. In 1961, he led Santa Ana Valley to the 3-A title, and in 1974, Hill again led the Falcons to the 3-A championship. Hill also was the first coach in Southern Section history to take three different teams to the championship game. . . . Sportsmanship award of the week goes to Mission Viejo running back/linebacker Todd Yert, who came to the aid of Santa Ana’s Robert Lee, when the Saint tailback suffered leg cramps in the third period of Saturday night’s game. With play stopped and Lee on the ground, Yert left the Diablo huddle and lifted Lee to his feet. . . . The Corona del Mar water polo team, which recently won the 4-A championship, will depart this Saturday for Morocco, where it will spend two weeks training, playing in games and giving exhibitions. Sea King Coach John Vargas will take 13 players on the trip. . . . Orange’s David Moore and Canyon’s Shelly Everett were recently named outstanding male and female cross-country athletes in the Century League. . . . Former Edison distance runner Jon Butler, a senior at UCLA, became the first Bruin to earn All-American cross-country honors three times after he was selected to the 1985 team. Butler finished 33rd in the recent NCAA Cross-Country Championships at Milwaukee, while UCLA placed 12th among 22 teams. . . . Former Woodbridge football player Kevin Armstrong has been elected co-captain of the Princeton University football team for next season. Armstrong, who started the season at defensive back but suffered a knee injury in the third game, is expected to return at full strength next year. . . . The Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball team was the subject of an instructional film that will be nationally distributed by the National Federation of State High Schools Assn.