South Coast League : Nathan Gets Call, Responds to Lead Capo Valley

Nathan Call should sprain his ankle more often.

Call, the Capistrano Valley High School point guard, wasn’t expected to play in Friday’s game because of an ankle injury, but considering that the opponent was rival Mission Viejo, his appearance wasn’t much of a surprise.

Delivering the kind of floor leadership that Capistrano Valley has come to expect of its three-year starter, Call directed the Cougars to an 80-69 win over the Diablos in front of 2,202 fans at the sold-out Saddleback College gymnasium.

Going in, Capistrano Valley Coach Mark Thornton had worried about getting into a halfcourt game with Mission Viejo, a team that can more than match up with the Cougars under the boards. It’s in the backcourt that Capistrano Valley has an edge, and ultimately that is where the Cougars won the game.

Call scored only 13 points and grabbed 3 rebounds, but he was largely responsible for dictating the pace of the game--constantly pushing the ball up the court against the Diablos, taking advantage of the Cougars’ superior quickness in the process.

Actually, Call played off-guard instead of point to take pressure off his ankle, but more often than not the ball was in his hands on the Cougars’ numerous fast breaks.

Moving Call to the flanks also proved to be a ripe opportunity for Scott McCullough, who recently moved up from the junior varsity and made his first start at the varsity level.

Just when South Coast League coaches thought that Capistrano Valley might be without a good point guard for the first time in the 1980s (after the last of the Call clan graduates), McCullough responded with 9 points and 6 rebounds and was tabbed by his coach as the Cougars’ floor leader of the future.

The guard of the moment for Capistrano Valley (5-0 in league and 16-2 overall) is still Call, however. He entered the game late in the first period, but didn’t make his presence felt until the second and third quarters, during which Capistrano Valley outscored Mission Viejo, 24-15 and 23-16, respectively, serving as testimony to his ability to feed his big men.

Before fouling out, Jason Trask finished with 21 points and Shawn Reed added 20 to highlight the Cougars’ scoring. Mission Viejo’s Jeff Herdman led all scorers in the game with 37 points.

MISSION VIEJO (69)--Knowles 2, Pedersen 19, Herdman 37, Aldrian 2, Barrett 2, Billups 3, Mathews 4.

CAPISTRANO VALLEY (80)--Trask 21, Reed 20, Waikle 6, Stark 4, McCullough 9, Montes 2, Davey 5, Call 13.