Prep Friday : CENTRAL CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL : Happy Days at Bolsa Grande, Anaheim : Matadors’ Shadid Wins Games--and Has Fun Doing It

Football practice at Bolsa Grande High School won’t start for another hour, but that is of little consequence to Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll, who’s doing a good bit of both.

Greg Shadid--head coach, head case and savior of school spirits--is talking to a reporter about the fortunes, practically all good, of his team. Problem is the reporter has forced Shadid to sit in a chair.

Torture.

He leans forward, he rocks back. He shifts weight from forearm to forearm. Now he grabs the chair’s arms, now he kicks its legs. Someone should really think about outlawing these things.

But no matter the pain, Shadid keeps talking. Nothing would keep Shadid from talking and moving and selling and, well, being Shadid.

“The boosters call him Rock ‘n’ Roll,” said Don Lougee, a Bolsa Grande supporter. “Whenever you meet up with him you want to hold him down and say, ‘Stand still! I’m trying to say hello.’ ”

In a term, Greg Shadid is a manic-depressive personality minus the depressive stuff. The man isn’t high on life, he’s overdosed--”Am I hyper? I’m very hyper. Well, I guess I’m hyper. . . I don’t know where it comes from, but I guess I’m hyper. Why? Do you think I’m hyper? I guess I am.”

And inhale. . .

“The first time I met him,” said Chris Matney, Bolsa Grande linebacker, “I thought he was on a heavy sugar diet. He never stopped.”

This is Shadid’s eighth year at Bolsa Grande. The first three were spent as an assistant to Mike Black. Black was a nice guy and a good coach, but he ran into that nagging little problem that has bugged most Bolsa Grande coaches. A losing record.

As far as football was concerned, the Matadors were steeped in tradition of traditional steep declines. Bolsa Grande went 1-19 in Black’s last two seasons.

Shadid was 29 when he took over and, being the impetuous fool that he is, he guided Bolsa Grande to the playoffs. That was followed by two 2-8 seasons that still cause Shadid a pained expression to recall, followed by another playoff berth and another.

“Before he got here, we were doormats as far as the rest of the Garden Grove League was concerned,” said Bob Henry, team equipment manager. “It was embarrassing. I’d hear it from all the other equipment managers in the league.”

You know, those guys are the toughest critics.

But this season it’s Henry who’s cracking jokes as well as towels. Bolsa Grande (11-1), which had never won an outright league title in 24 years, won the Garden Grove League title this season and plays Anaheim at 7:30 tonight in a Central Conference semifinal game in Glover Stadium at Anaheim.

Shadid’s done it with a coaching staff of three, a sense of humor and an undersized group of overachieving kids such as quarterback Damon Fisher, who, when he was 5, lied to the Pop Warner people and said he was 8 so he could play.

But most of all, he’s done it being Shadid, and it’s all making people very happy around campus. Teachers, coaches, equipment managers, students.

“My friends and I have always gone to games,” said Annie O’Reilly, a junior. “The difference is we actually watch the games this year.”

The players are happy. It was just a couple of seasons ago that Matney remembers hiding both head and letterman’s jacket in his school locker during a 2-8 season.

“We all looked pretty dumb that year,” he said.

This year, Shadid looks like a genius. He may be. Bolsa Grande has gone through this season with 31 players. At a Tuesday practice, the Matadors suited up 28 players.

When Bolsa Grande played Tustin in the quarterfinals, the Matadors looked across at a Tustin sideline teeming with 74 uniformed players.

A Bolsa Grande practice starts casually. Well, very casually, extremely casually. . . . It is devoid of order, ladies and gentlemen. Players laugh and joke their way through calisthenics. Running back Ricky Lapule makes like Jane Fonda midway through stretching.

“OK, blow it out, class! Come on now, go for that burn. All right, feel for your pulse. Here we go and one and . . .”

And they ask where the young comics are coming from.

“We have fun out there. I think it should be fun,” Shadid said. “I think some teams get in a rut of being so concerned about little disciplinary things that they forget about the kids and football.”

But as skill drills start, practice gets very quiet, than quietly intense.

“We take care of what we have to,” Shadid said.

He certainly has this season, and he’s done it all being Shadid.

BOLSA GRANDE vs. ANAHEIM Tonight at Glover Stadium, 7:30

BOLSA GRANDE MATADORS Garden Grove League (11-1)

Gahr Won, 34-12 Buena Park Won, 43-8 Savanna Won, 34-8 Artesia Won, 19-0 Valencia Lost, 33-10 Santiago Won, 21-0 Los Amigos Won, 38-6 Garden Grove Won, 42-14 Rancho Alamitos Won, 14-3 La Quinta Won, 28-17 Fullerton Won, 39-28 Tustin Won, 24-14

ANAHEIM COLONISTS Orange League (8-4)

Fullerton Lost, 14-7 Loara Lost, 24-0 Troy Lost, 10-0 Garden Grove Won, 35-0 Buena Park Won, 27-6 Western Won, 14-9 Savanna Won, 42-15 Magnolia Won, 26-0 Valencia Lost, 17-0 Brea-Olinda Won, 18-7 La Miranda Won, 14-7 La Habra Won, 19-0