PREP WEDNESDAY : It’s a Tall Order, but They Succeed : Football Players Often Prove Being Short Is No Shortcoming

It was a critical situation in an early September football game.

Warren High School had the ball and a 7-0 lead over El Modena. Tailback Marcus Carter broke through the line on a trap play. Pat Finn was the only player between Carter and a 2-touchdown lead.

Carter is 6-feet 1-inch and 190 pounds.

Finn is 5-7 and 130, according to the football program, anyway. He admits those figures are generous.

“Open field is the worst,” said Finn, a senior defensive back. “You’re 1-on-1 with a 190-pound guy coming at you, breathing hard, spitting. It’s tough.”

This collision was tougher on Carter. Finn put him on his back and kept him out of the end zone.

“I cut off the angle,” Finn said. “Us little guys have to use the angles.”

Actually, little guys will use anything at their disposal--speed, quickness, cunning, technique--to fit in on the football field.

Given a choice, such players as Finn, Alfred Vila of El Modena, Huy Kieu of Costa Mesa, Jim Higashi of Mission Viejo, Al Togonon of Westminster, Jim Roberson of University and Bobby Anderson of Pacifica would like to be tall. They’re not.

All are less than 5-8, but that hasn’t stopped them from making significant contributions to their teams. For them, height is merely a set of numbers and is nothing that will count them out. They know they just have to work a little harder than the guys they have to look up to, literally.

Smaller players have to be tougher. No one’s going to cut them any slack. On the contrary, teams will come at them, kicking sand in their faces. And they’ll keep coming.

Confidence? Better have it. No one else is going to believe in them (sometimes not even their own coaches). And there’s no room for fear. If they think small, they’ll be small.

“Finn came to me the other day and told me he was ready to play defensive tackle,” said Bill Backstrom, El Modena coach. “I told him he was crazy, that he’d get killed. He said, ‘Nah, I’ll be between the lineman’s legs so fast they won’t know where I am.’ According to Pat, there’s no position he can’t play.”

Finn starts at right cornerback. On the other side of the secondary is Vila, who is listed as 5-6, 140. Together, they appear to make perfect targets for any offense to test.

This season Fountain Valley has thrown at them, using wide receiver Mike Cook (6-4). Loara ran sweeps at them, with pulling guards leading the charge. Santa Ana has sent receivers deep to outrun them.

At the very least, Finn and Vila have held their own.

Although Cook caught 2 touchdown passes in Fountain Valley’s 21-7 victory, only 1 came with Finn or Vila on the field.

With all its sweeps, Loara gained only 124 yards in 30 attempts and lost, 17-8.

Santa Ana’s receivers were fast, but the Saints had a total of 29 yards passing in a 7-6 victory.

“Most teams look at our size and think we’re nothing,” Vila said. “We have to be quicker, more aggressive and smarter. There’s always pressure.”

Even from your own coach.

Mike Finn, Pat’s older brother and the Vanguard defensive backs’ coach, keeps threatening to replace the two short defensive backs with taller players. That’s the same Mike Finn who was a small cornerback (5-8) when he played at El Modena in 1980.

“When you’re small, you have to constantly go 100% to prove yourself,” Mike Finn said. “I even like those big guys in the lineup, but Pat and Alfred keep proving themselves. They’re my Ninja midgets.”

Said Backstrom: “Heck, I worry more about the guys trying to block them.”

Coaches respect toughness, no matter how small the package.

Kieu is one of 4 Costa Mesa starters 5-7 or under. Against Katella, Kieu (5-5, 140) suffered a broken wrist when he was tackled after catching a pass.

That was 4 weeks ago. On Monday, Kieu, a wide receiver and defensive back, had the cast removed and the wrist examined.

“Huy told me if the cast came off on Monday he wanted to play on Friday,” said Tom Baldwin, Costa Mesa coach. “He said he might not be able to catch passes, but he could play cornerback. He’s not concerned about the contact. And this is a kid who didn’t want to come out for football as a freshman because he was worried about his size.”

Fear is the first hurdle for a small football player. It sometimes hurts just to think about being the landing pad for a 260-pound lineman.

Fear kept Higashi from trying out for the Mission Viejo varsity as a junior.

Higashi, now a senior, was named the most valuable offensive player on the sophomore team in 1986. But, after sizing up his friend, Jeff Pease (6-3, 228), a Diablo linebacker last year, Higashi decided it was time for an early retirement.

“I looked at Jeff and some of the other big guys on the team and I didn’t think I could play on the varsity level,” said Higashi, who is 5-7 1/2.

It took another friend to convince him otherwise. Troy Kopp, Mission Viejo quarterback, kept after Higashi to come out for the team as a senior. Higashi relented.

He is the team’s leading rusher this season with 463 yards and has been moved to fullback. A 140-pound fullback.

“Jim has no fear,” said Mike Rush, Mission Viejo coach. “He’s the first guy to say, ‘OK, coach, I’ll do it.’ If someone is injured on the kickoff team, Jim volunteers.”

Togonon, a 5-6, 120-pound wide receiver and punt returner for Westminster, has no fear. His family does.

Togonon drives his relatives crazy with his punt returning.

“They keep telling me to fair catch those punts,” said Togonon, who has returned 5 punts for 36 yards and has made 3 fair catches. “But if you show fear, they’ll tear you apart.”

Togonon is fast and elusive. He has 12 receptions for 232 yards this season. That works out to 19.3 yards per catch.

“Other coaches sure talk about him,” said Jack Bowman, Westminster co-coach. “They keep telling us, ‘That guy is dangerous.’ He really is difficult to cover.”

Teams have tried double-coverage on Togonon with little or no success.

“I guess you could say that taller players might give me some problems,” Togonon said. “But I don’t really see any problems with any player.”

The only time size has been a problem for University’s Roberson, who is 5-5 and 155 pounds, was 3 years ago. Roberson, 5-3 and 123 pounds at the time, had to persuade his freshman coach that he could play running back.

“He said he had some other big running backs and wasn’t sure I could start at that position,” said Roberson, now a senior. “I was the starter in the first game of the season.”

Roberson is fast, but he figured speed alone wasn’t going to make him a good running back. He began working out in the weight room after his freshman season and can now bench press more than 300 pounds.

With the added strength, Roberson plays fullback. It’s a position that calls for a lot of tackle-to-tackle running, so he has had to become a cunning runner.

On plays up the middle, Roberson sticks close to his linemen and waits for their blocks. With his size, defensive players must first find him before they can tackle him.

“I go behind the linemen and when I see an opening, I make my cut,” said Roberson, who is also the team’s kicker. “It makes it hard for the defense to see where I’m going.”

Roberson is the Trojans’ leading rusher with 513 yards. He also is the team’s leading scorer with 41 points (4 touchdowns, 2 field goals, 11 extra points).

But his usefulness is not limited to offense. Against Newport Harbor last Thursday, Roberson blocked a punt and, while playing defensive back, had a sack.

He has been used at several positions this season, from defensive back to wide receiver.

“If we can create a mismatch with Jimmy, we’ll do it,” said Mark Cunningham, University coach. “If the other team has some huge defensive back, we’ll put him at wide receiver. With his speed, Jimmy starts licking his chops.”

Perhaps the most difficult position for a short player is quarterback. Difficult, but not impossible.

Anderson of Pacifica is 5-6 and admits sometimes he can’t see receivers. However, he has completed 50% of his passes this season (60-120) for 849 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Under his leadership, the Mariners have a 5-1-1 overall record and are 4-0 in the Garden Grove League.

“Bobby has a lot of confidence in himself,” said Bill Craven, Pacifica coach. “He’s a born leader. When he makes corrections in a game, the other players know he’s right.”

As a sophomore last season, Anderson was called up to the varsity when senior quarterback Shelby Hart was injured.

Anderson started 4 games, winning 3 and tying 1. He completed 49 of 109 passes for 670 yards and 4 touchdowns and helped the Mariners finish second in the league.

“It was a hard adjustment at first,” said Anderson, who weighs 140 pounds. “I knew the plays, but I wasn’t sure of myself. I lacked confidence.”

This season Anderson has confidence and a new offensive system to work with, one designed to compensate for his height.

“Coach Craven has me rolling out this year,” said Anderson, who is also the team’s kicker. “It gets me away from the linemen so I can see downfield. I don’t always see the receiver, but I know where he’s supposed to be and he’s usually there.”

Anderson gets a lot of compliments from opposing players, but he’s not sure how to take them.

“It seems like other people don’t expect a whole lot from me,” he said. “After the game, players from the other team will tell me how I played a great game, but I may think it was only average.

“I think they see on the scouting reports that I’m 5-6 and figure all they have to do is stick their hands up and block passes.”

Getting respect can be hard for the small player. And when it comes, sometimes disrespect follows.

Opposing players will try to use their size advantage to push around the smaller players. When physical force doesn’t work, mental force is applied.

“A lot times guys will start talking to you (on the field),” Roberson said. “They say stuff like, ‘You’re nothing to bring down.’ You got to just keep coming at them. Usually by the end of the game, the talk fizzles out.”

There are times when a verbal insult needs to be addressed.

Against Santa Ana last week, Finn, who also plays wide receiver, carried the ball on a reverse. He turned upfield and ran into the Saints’ Oscar Wilson (6-3, 225).

“He lifted me in the air and threw me backwards about 10 yards,” Finn said. “Then he started laughing at me. I said, ‘It was a good hit, but not that good.’ Then I got up and ran.”

When you’re small, it’s necessary to be tough, not stupid.