El Toro Hopes It Can Weather Esperanza

Bob Johnson, El Toro High School football coach, has one request for tonight’s Southern Conference playoff game.

“Let’s have a dry one,” he said.

Wet weather means wet footballs and that could hurt the Chargers’ chances when they face Esperanza in a first-round game at 7:30 p.m. in Mission Viejo Stadium.

Forecasters are calling for a chance of showers in the morning in Mission Viejo.

El Toro (8-2), which finished second in the South Coast League, relies on the passing of quarterback Bret Johnson.

Johnson passed for 1,369 yards and 15 touchdowns, despite missing four games with a knee injury. Wide receiver Chris McCarthy is Johnson’s leading target, with 42 receptions for 548 yards.

The Aztecs (6-3-1), second-place finishers in the Empire League, are a little more down to earth.

“Esperanza will pound you with the offensive line,” Johnson said. “They are very big and physically strong. I think we’re a little more of a finesse team.”

Though some coaches say the Aztecs have one of Orange County’s best offensive lines, Esperanza often struggles with the run. When tailback Mike Finley scored on a 16-yard run against El Dorado last week, it was the first time this season Esperanza had a touchdown run of more than 10 yards.

Part of the problem has been the lack of a dominant tailback, which has been an Esperanza trademark. Coach Gary Meek opened the season with four candidates for the job--Finley, Malek Doulat, Doug Saunders and Chris Holt. Doulat is now playing fullback. Holt and Saunders are wide receivers. Finley remains as the tailback, sharing time with sophomore Lance Brown.

Finley leads the team with 624 yards rushing, including 113 against El Dorado last week.

“Finley has gotten better as the year progressed and we’ve been doing a little better job of blocking,” Meek said. “I think both Finley and Brown are journeyman-type players, although, Lance has a chance to be real good eventually.”

El Toro has also done some experimenting at tailback. Junior David Nemeth was the starter through the first eight games and is the team’s leading rusher with 623 yards. He moved to fullback, with Ken Romaniszyn and Adam Brass taking over at tailback.

“We did it to get a little more speed in the backfield,” Johnson said. “Romaniszyn has quick feet and moves around pretty good.”