Players Come and Players Go, but Santa Ana’s Still the Favorite

Among Santa Ana High School’s graduating Class of ’88 were some of the most talented football players in Southern California.

Running back Robert Lee finished a brilliant three-year career as the second-leading rusher in Orange County history. Wide receiver Royal Wilbon was the fastest football player in the county and linebacker George Tuioti showed remarkable versatility when he made a successful transition to quarterback.

Eight seniors earned All-Century League honors, leading the Saints to the Southern Conference semifinals. It marked the third straight year that Santa Ana had reached at least the semifinals.

The Saints have compiled an impressive 33-8 record under veteran Coach Dick Hill during the past three years and that should continue in 1988 with a talented trio of running backs, all-county lineman Oscar Wilson and Tuioti’s younger brother, Dan, at quarterback.

Wilson, a feared pass rusher, became the first sophomore to earn first-team honors on The Times’ All-County team since Myron White was selected in 1972. Linebacker Julio Vargas and defensive end Damon Bland are both returning all-league selections.

Santa Ana’s running backs include Garner Hicks, Julius Fletcher and Estrus Crayton. They played in Lee’s shadow last year but showed plenty of potential in a 42-26 rout over Santa Monica in the quarterfinals.

“Santa Ana is loaded again,” said El Modena Coach Bill Backstrom. “They’re the best team in the league and maybe the best team in the county.”

Some teams set goals of winning league titles. Most teams set a goal of making the playoffs. Hill, who has won Southern Section titles at Downey, Santa Ana Valley and Santa Ana, has loftier goals.

“Our goals are to win the league and then win the CIF (Southern Section) title,” he said.

It’s difficult to find fault with a program that has gone undefeated in league play in the past two years. Opposing coaches unanimously selected Santa Ana as the Century League favorite. Most chose Villa Park to finish second. Third place, the final playoff berth, is a tossup, the coaches agreed.

Villa Park qualified for the playoffs last season for only the second time in 10 years and had some landmark victories en route to a second-place finish. The Spartans beat El Modena, 27-18, for the first time in seven years. They also beat Foothill, 21-6, for their first victory over the Knights in 10 years.

Santa Ana Valley, 5-24-1 during the past three seasons, upset Foothill and tied Canyon last year, providing plenty of optimism for the 1988 season.

The six-team league features a team on the rise (Santa Ana Valley) and another with a new coach. Bob Rau, who won four league titles in six years at La Habra, replaces Rod Hust at Canyon, and the Comanches figure to be the most improved team in the league.

CANYON--The Comanches were a bit ragged on Monday after 18 practices in a six-day period but Rau promises a new outlook. “It’s going to take some time because the whole team is inexperienced, but we will be better than last year’s team,” Rau predicted. “There’s talent here comparable to La Habra’s championship teams.”

Canyon has only five returning starters but three return on the offensive line. Linemen Joe McCarthy, Sean Murphy and Brandon Shelton are the strength of the team and newcomer Craig Ritter has been a pleasant surprise on the defensive line.

Junior Jim Ryan and senior Todd Burns are vying for the quarterback position, and Rau plans to alternate them in five nonleague games before deciding on a starter.

Halfbacks Danny Hooker and Tuan Nguyen are the only experienced running backs and Donny Armstrong is expected to be the starting fullback. Mario Cabrera will double as the team’s punter and kicker.

“Until we’ve been in three or four game situations, I have some reservations about this team,” Rau said. Among Rau’s assistants is Andy Donegan, former Marina defensive coordinator and athletic director.

EL MODENA--Coach Bill Backstrom has found replacing highly successful Bob Lester difficult, but replacing Lester’s staff even tougher. The Vanguards have struggled to an uncharacteristic 10-10 mark in Backstrom’s two seasons after Lester won 89 games in 8 seasons.

“The biggest adjustment has been replacing Lester’s staff with over 55 years of experience,” Backstrom said. “I took over a traditional program that was used to success. I didn’t make any changes on the field, but with a younger staff, it was like starting over.”

Trey Frank, who opened last season at quarterback, has been moved to wide receiver and strong safety. Marcus Esposito, who took over as quarterback for the final six games, will begin this season as the starter. Esposito passed for 430 yards and rushed for 246 yards.

Craig Gibson, whose older brothers, Boomer and Don, were star linemen at El Modena, will start as offensive and defensive tackle for the Vanguards. John Cummings will double as a defensive tackle and tight end, and Billy Hahn is also a quality lineman.

Tim Hatcher kicked a 47-yard field goal and was a first-team all-league selection as a junior. Defensive back Pat Finn becomes the fourth member of his family to start in the secondary and his older brother, Mike, has joined Backstrom’s staff.

“Our biggest problem here the last two years has been finding a quality tight end and fullback to fit in the scheme of our offense,” Backstrom said. “We’re a team that traditionally starts slow and then builds, hitting full cylinder by the eighth game of the season.”

FOOTHILL--Jerry Howell also found it difficult replacing another successful coach, Ted Mullen, and finding assistants. The Knights opened with a 3-1 record last year, including a big victory over crosstown rival Tustin. But they staggered to a 1-5 finish and missed the playoffs.

Then, during the off-season, the Knights’ best player, running back Johnny Mountain, transferred to Anaheim where he was reunited with Mullen. Mountain rushed for 1,880 yards in two seasons at Foothill. He was the third-leading rusher in the county last year with 1,226 yards.

“We could finish anywhere from first to fifth depending upon injuries and team attitude,” Howell said.

The strength of the team is at linebacker with returning starters Jason Hairston and Ward Van Pelt. Howell thinks Todd Delnoce will be one of the best defensive backs in the league and is counting on quarterback Tom Hawkins to improve the passing attack.

Two newcomers to watch are tight end Jamal Duff, a 6-foot 7-inch, 215-pound transfer from Antelope Valley, and wide receiver Scott Haiduc, younger brother of former Servite star Nick-John Haiduc.

SANTA ANA--How do the Saints continue to produce a seemingly endless string of quality players? For openers, an open enrollment policy in the Santa Ana Unified School District has allowed Santa Ana to swell to 2,764 students, second in the county to Fountain Valley’s 2,900 students. “They’ve got all that speed and there’s no way anyone at El Modena can go one-on-one with them,” Backstrom said. “We did a good job of containing their running game last year, but Royal Wilbon burned us for a touchdown on the first play of the game.”

Oscar Wilson, also a starter on the Saints’ basketball team, was one of the top five defensive linemen in the county as a sophomore.

SANTA ANA VALLEY--Only one team in the league can match Santa Ana’s speed: Santa Ana Valley. The Falcons are hoping to fly with speedsters Jesse Lynch and Jesse Brooks at running back and James Stewart at quarterback.

Lynch was a second-team all-league linebacker who will double at fullback. Brooks and Stewart are the team’s top newcomers. Anthony Wiggins, a 6-foot 2-inch, 210-pound linebacker, is the team’s best player and was a first-team all-league defensive lineman as a junior.

“Our front seven defensively is very physical and should be tough against the run,” said Dan Castanon, Santa Ana Valley coach. “Our offensive line is big, but inexperienced. Our offensive backs, receivers and defensive backs are fast, but they’re also inexperienced.”

Castanon has seven returning starters and they all figure to go both ways on a small but talented squad. Injuries may play a key role because there is little depth.

VILLA PARK--The Spartans utilized a Delaware Wing-T offense to win eight games last year but figure to pass more with quarterback Chris Johnson and receivers John Priem and Mike Noble. Johnson’s older brother, Tim, was the starting quarterback for the North team in the 1983 Orange County All-Star game.

Chris Johnson also plays first base and pitches for the Spartans’ baseball team and starts at forward on the basketball team. “He grew awfully fast, so he was a little awkward,” said Pat Mahoney, Villa Park coach. “But he had an excellent summer.”

Jomo Stewart will be the team’s leading rusher and will anchor the defense at his inside linebacker position. But defense remains a question mark with Scott Cregan and Fred Soares having graduated.

Mahoney rated Priem and Noble as “two of the finest receivers we have had at Villa Park in my nine years at the school.” Mahoney has posted a 24-20 record in five seasons as coach.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEWS

CENTURY LEAGUE

1987 Overall, League Record in Parenthesis

SCHOOL ’88 COMMENT Santa Ana (11-2, 5-0) Speedy backfield, Oscar Wilson anchors strong line Villa Park (8-4, 4-1) Quarterback Chris Johnson leads new passing attack El Modena (6-5, 3-2) Uncharacteristic 10-10 in past two seasons Santa Ana Valley 2-7-1, 1-3-1) Rebounding from 5-24-1 mark in past three seasons Foothill (4-6, 1-4) Lost good runner when Johnny Mountain transferred Canyon (2-7-1, 0-4-1) League’s most improved under new coaches