Darran Baird Teams Up With South Coast Rivals for South

For Darran Baird, the 35th Shrine All-Star Game to be played tonight at 7:30 at the Rose Bowl is proving to be something of a reunion.

Baird, who graduated from Dana Hills High School earlier this summer, has found practice with the South team at Occidental College in Eagle Rock to be an opportunity to make friends with players who were once his rivals.

Last fall, Baird did his best to beat his rivals. Now, they are teammates and he is doing his best to protect them.

Baird, a 6-foot 5-inch, 230-pound offensive guard and tackle, will be teamed with South Coast League offensive tackle Greg Gerardi of Irvine and quarterback Scott Stark of Capistrano Valley, the other South Coast League representatives.

According to Baird, practicing together with such former rivals has given them a chance to needle each other.

“I tease Gerardi because we beat them (Irvine) on a last-second field goal,” Baird said, “but Capo Valley beat us something like 31-14 and Stark threw for about 320 yards.”

Of the three, Stark has the bragging rights because Capistrano Valley beat Irvine and Dana Hills, but Baird remains proud of how well the resurgent Dolphins did last season.

El Toro won the league title last fall with a 5-1 record with Mission Viejo and Capistrano Valley tying for second at 4-1-1 each. Dana Hills just missed the playoffs at 4-2.

“The biggest thrill of the season was beating (league champion) El Toro,” Baird said. “We thought that since we finished the season strong we should get the wild-card berth. Instead, they gave it to West Covina and their first game they played El Toro and were behind at the half, 28-0. And we beat El Toro.”

Aside from their prep backgrounds, Baird, Gerardi and Stark have something else in common: Stanford University. All three will play football for the Cardinal this fall, which suggests that these football players mix brains with brawn.

Baird plans to major in accounting at Stanford and become a Certified Public Accountant.

“We let Darran learn two positions this week (guard and tackle) because we figured with that 3.8 grade-point average of his, he wouldn’t have any problems picking it up,” South Coach Bob Baiz of Claremont said.

“So far he’s done just fine and we expect he’ll do just fine Saturday, too. He works hard at it.”

With three-a-day practices this week to prepare for the game, Baird has to work hard, but at least it gives him time to work on something new--pass blocking.

“We didn’t throw the ball much in high school,” Baird said. “We were a run-oriented team. So this is something a little different.”

Going to pass-happy Stanford, he’ll get used to it in a hurry, and Dana Hills Coach Don Douglass expects Baird to eventually excel at the college level.

“Darran’s a very good kid with a high character,” Douglass said, “and he’s got a good chance of making the big time. He’s got quick feet and he’s mentally tough. For us he played both ways, but the colleges looked at him for offense.”

For Baird, the game is a nice reward as well as a capper for the summer before he prepares to report to Stanford Aug. 18. Baird missed the Orange County All-Star game because of a trip to Hawaii, so he’s looking forward to playing in this one at the Rose Bowl.

“My parents visited me here earlier this week,” Baird said, “and they’ll be there Saturday, too. This should be a fun game for everybody.”