DESERT-MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE PREVIEW : Orange’s Reed Takes Quickly to Backfield : Speedy Senior Enhances Team’ Running Game

Kerry Reed dislikes zucchini, but you can bet there’ll be a huge helping of the vegetable, along with a generous portion of fish, on the Orange High School senior’s plate for this afternoon’s pregame meal.

Reed, who plays defensive back, running back and returns punts for the Panthers’ football team, needs all the protein he can get--even if it means he must consume the dreaded zucchini.

“I just hold my breath, put the zucchini in my mouth and swallow it,” Reed said. “I hate it, but it has helped. I really haven’t been tired during the games.”

Reed adopted a new pregame diet three weeks ago when Orange Coach Mark McMahon informed the 5-foot 7-inch, 128-pounder that he was being moved from wide receiver to running back.

Reed had caught 10 passes during the Panthers’ first nine games, but he knew that the move into the backfield would be accompanied by the kind of physical pounding he hadn’t experienced at split end.

And he knew that the best way to prepare for this was to fill his frame with all the right stuff.

Including zucchini.

Reed isn’t sure how much his high-protein diet has helped his performance, but it certainly hasn’t hurt.

In his first game at running back, Reed rushed for 195 yards in 19 carries and scored 3 touchdowns to lead the Panthers to a 38-22 victory over Costa Mesa and the Pacific Coast League championship.

Last week, he rushed for 80 yards in 11 carries and scored 1 touchdown to help Orange defeat Norte Vista, 22-21, in the first round of the Southern Section Desert-Mountain Conference playoffs.

Reed will be all over the field again tonight when the Panthers (7-4) play second-seeded Harvard (10-1) in the second round of the playoffs in Fred Kelly Stadium.

Reed’s addition to the Panther backfield has enhanced a running game that was strong to begin with. Junior Paul Maund finished the regular season with 1,219 yards rushing (fourth in Orange County) and 13 touchdowns.

But in Orange’s ninth game, a 28-21 loss to Laguna Beach, the Artists clogged up the middle and limited Maund to 40 yards in 9 carries.

Maund has good breakaway speed, but most of his yards come through the middle of the line. Laguna Beach exposed his one weakness--lack of quickness to get around the corner on a sweep.

Enter Reed.

The senior’s quickness gave the Panther offense an added dimension and took a lot of pressure off Maund.

“You can’t just give the ball to one guy all the time,” McMahon said. “Ray Pallares (former Valencia star) had big stats, but he always had another back who had pretty good yardage. It’s kind of a fun backfield now, because both of them understand that when they fake or block real well the other benefits.”

Even Reed, who is usually the smallest player on the field, has done his share of blocking--or, something along those lines.

“I’ve been hitting some big guys, like that 210-pound linebacker from Costa Mesa (Mike Szyperski),” Reed said. “But I don’t really try to knock them down. I just try to get in their way--distract them a bit. They have way more upper-body strength than me, so they can overpower me.”

They can’t always catch him when he’s got the ball, though. Reed is a quick, elusive back who likes to run around the outside and then cut back inside.

He developed his running style while playing in the Orange youth football leagues against players in his own weight class for nine years.

But when Reed reached high school, he figured he was too small to play on the team. He played his last season of youth football during his sophomore year and sat out his junior year. He finally decided to give varsity football a shot this year.

“I always thought high school football would be harder because of the size of the guys,” Reed said. “But when I came out, they weren’t as big as they looked before.”

Reed thought he’d be too small to play running back so he went out for wide receiver and defensive back. But it didn’t take long to get reacquainted with the running back position.

“After getting hit real hard a few times, I got the feeling of past years,” Reed said. “I liked it.”

Orange will be up against another strong running team tonight. The Saracens have been successful with an option offense that features running backs Andy Bell (1,680 yards and 20 touchdowns) and Alex Huh (709 yards and 9 touchdowns) and quarterback Mike Patterson (411 yards).

Harvard, champion of the Santa Fe League and a 20-14 winner over Notre Dame of Riverside last week, has one of the Southern Section’s best kickers in Dominic Sandifer, who has kicked field goals of 59 and 57 yards this season.

In other Desert-Mountain Conference games:

Atascadero (8-2-1) vs. Woodbridge (9-2) at Irvine High School--David Townsend, the Warriors’ leading rusher, was sidelined late in the first period of last week’s 14-6 victory over Bell-Jeff with a foot injury but he is expected back tonight.

Woodbridge quarterback Eric Brougher, who passed for 926 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season, had another good game against Bell-Jeff, completing 10 of 18 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.

The Warrior defense, which has allowed an average of 9.6 points this season, has played extremely well in the last two weeks, shutting out Laguna Beach in the regular-season finale and limiting Bell-Jeff to one touchdown in the playoffs.

Linebacker Sam Dehdashti was in on five sacks and recovered a fumble last week.

The fourth-seeded Greyhounds opened the playoffs with a 22-3 victory over Santa Clara, their fourth straight victory. Atascadero, under Coach Larry Welsh, has a 86-13-2 record (86%) over the past eight years and won Desert-Mountain Conference championships in 1982 and 1983.

The Los Padres League champions are led on offense by halfback Mike Milbury, who has scored 16 touchdowns this season, and quarterback Darin Brebes.