Blue-Chippers Deprived of Games, but Not Futures : Finding the Way in a Lost Season

Joe Gonzalez, a senior football player at Sweetwater High School, sums up the college football business succinctly.

“It’s kind of like a meat market,” he said.

Because Gonzalez has missed most of his senior season because of an injury, one might assume he would no longer be considered Grade A.

Gonzalez broke his ankle in the third game. It is a plight he shares with Torrey Pines’ John Lynch (broken ankle in opener) and Lincoln’s Joe Temple (broken wrist in second game). None of the three standout players has had the opportunity to show college recruiters what he can do.

The question now is: Where do they go from here? Are the hours spent at practice and the money spent on football camps lost?

Probably not, recruiters say. Interest in the athletes hasn’t waned. None of the three has an injury that is considered a major threat to a football career. The consensus among recruiters is simple; a knee, back or head injury sends up a warning flag. But most broken bones can usually be overlooked.

“Broken arms, fingers and ankles aren’t too bad,” said Craig Rider, recruiting coordinator at Colorado State. “It’s the health-threatening and life-threatening injuries that you really have to stay way from.”

In many cases, a knee injury causes bigger schools to lose interest.

“(A knee injury) would probably make us extremely wary,” said David Kennedy, recruiting coordinator at Stanford. “We base most of our recruiting evaluation on kids on their senior year. A lot of kids (with knee injuries) become projects.”

Smaller schools can’t afford to be as selective.

“Colorado State, obviously, hasn’t been in too many Holiday Bowls so you have to a take a chance on a kid like that sometimes,” Rider said. “USC and UCLA don’t.”

John Lynch, a 6-foot 2 1/2-inch, 200-pound senior, has somewhat of an aura surrounding him at Torrey Pines. Parents say “Boy, that John Lynch is a fine young man.” Coaches praise him and rely on him. Students, and maybe even teachers, look up to him.

“If my two kids grow up to be 50% of what John Lynch is as a person, I’ve done a hell of a job as a father,” said Rik Haines, Torrey Pines’ coach.

Despite being one of California’s top quarterback prospects, Lynch considers himself pretty much like the rest of the seniors at Torrey Pines. He doesn’t like to be put on a pedestal, and he wears jeans and a sweat shirt like everybody else.

But he never really has been an average American kid.

Witness his final season playing Little League baseball. The first 2 pitches he was thrown ended up on the other side of the outfield fence. Solana Beach’s record for home runs in a season was 8, before John Lynch arrived. Lynch hit 21. Last year at Torrey Pines, he was first team all-league in baseball.

And football? He played linebacker in Pop Warner and was considered the team’s hardest hitter. He was a starting linebacker for Torrey Pines as a sophomore. As a junior, he started at quarterback, threw for 1,292 yards and rushed for 542.

This season, Lynch wants to be sure everyone knows his position is quarterback.

Recruiters sometimes say to him: “So, you played some defense your sophomore year.” And he’ll say “Yeah, but I’m a quarterback, so don’t talk to me about defense.”

Notre Dame, Stanford and Washington have all shown great interest in Lynch, and all three have attractive programs. Notre Dame and Washington have strong football traditions; Stanford offers the opportunity to play for one of the nation’s top baseball teams.

Lynch patterns his play after his idol, John Elway, who went to Stanford and played football and baseball. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he is leaning toward Stanford.

“I can’t say that hasn’t entered my mind,” Lynch said, a little sheepishly. “That’s one of the things I think about when I think of Stanford. But I’m definitely not going to make my decision on just who I like.”

Anyway, Lynch thinks comparisons with Elway are a bit premature.

“I think that’s a little farfetched,” he said. “The guy’s the greatest, and I’m just a high school quarterback.”

But Jack Neumeier, the Torrey Pines’ offensive coordinator who coached Elway in high school, should know best, and he sees some similarities. The strong arm, the nimble feet, the desire to win. And Lynch is bigger and stronger, Neumeier says, than Elway was in high school.

“Elway was 175 pounds as a senior in high school,” Neumeier said. “He would never go in the weight room. He just liked to play. I think Lynch has professional potential. At the beginning of the season, I told him, ‘You’re going to be the first quarterback I have throw for 4,000 yards.’ But he never had the opportunity.”

During the off-season, Lynch spent hours in the weight room, attended football camps and studied the run-and-shoot offense with Neumeier. Lynch appeared to be all set for a record-breaking season.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, show time arrived. Fans piled into the Falcons’ stadium for Torrey Pines’ opener against University of San Diego High School to see No. 7 (Elway’s number, of course) lead the team into what was expected to be the school’s most successful season.

But, on the Falcons’ second offensive play of the second quarter, the unthinkable happened. The leader was gone.

Torrey Pines had a comfortable lead, and Lynch already had thrown for 143 yards. After twisting to throw a pass and avoid a sack in the end zone, his ankle snapped. The doctor told him it was broken.

At that moment, everybody sort of looked at each other and said: “What now?” John Kentera, a Torrey Pines assistant, started crying. Everybody was in shock. And to close the gloomy script, USDHS came back to win.

“I’ve never seen a kid getting hurt take the wind out of everybody’s sails,” Haines said.

It took a long time for players and coaches to shake it off.

“I was really depressed for about 2 weeks,” Kentera said. “Here’s a guy who was going to lead us, and all of a sudden, he was gone. I hope I never go through something like that again.”

Perhaps it was Lynch who took it best. At first, as he hobbled around in the end zone, all sorts of things went through his head: lost scholarships, a lost season. And just when everything finally seemed to be coming together for a team that had fallen short of expectations in the past.

Only once during the ensuing weeks did Lynch show signs of frustration. He threw his crutches against the wall after Torrey Pines lost to Orange Glen and told his father, John Sr.: “I’ve had it with this thing. I wanted to play. We could have beaten them tonight.”

“That was the only time I saw anger, sadness or anything,” John Lynch Sr. said.

Now, after surgery and hours of rehabilitation, Lynch is practicing again. He suited up for last Friday’s 27-19 loss to Palomar League rival San Dieguito. In the fourth quarter, when the Falcons were struggling, Lynch even fastened his chin strap. But deep down, he says, he knew he wasn’t physically ready. Friday, when the Falcons play host to Fallbrook, he might be. Finally.

“It’s been a really long process,” he said. “It’s been a lot of work. And now it’s all coming together.”

Of the many schools recruiting Lynch, only Ohio State lost interest after the injury. John Sr. was reassured by Stanford, Washington, Notre Dame and San Diego State that his son was still high on their list.

Having played football at Drake University and a year with the Pittsburgh Steelers, John Sr. knows the ropes. A knee injury ended his professional career. He told John Jr. that injuries are common, and setbacks are a part of life.

“More than anything else,” John Sr. said, “I said, ‘You’ve always been the best at every sport you’ve ever played, you’ve always done great . . . and that’s not the way life is.’ ”

Few remember that Elway injured his knee and missed the second half of his senior season at Granada Hills High.

“But that obviously didn’t scare us away,” said Kennedy, the recruiting coordinator at Stanford.

Lynch says his outlook is positive. Mostly, he just wants to get back on the field.

With his return pending, the enthusiasm is back at Torrey Pines. Neumeier said there was a noticeable lift in intensity when Lynch stepped on the practice field for the first time Monday. John Sr. is sure the Falcons, who have been up and down since Lynch’s injury and are currently 4-4 and 2-2 in the league, aren’t out of contention for the CIF title.

“I really believe that they’re going to go all the way,” he said. “I think everybody in the city is aware that with John in there, they’re a different team.”

Joe Gonzalez’s life flashed in front of him when his son, Joe Jr., broke his ankle. Joe Sr., Sweetwater’s offensive line coach, graduated from Sweetwater in 1967 after playing offensive guard and missing the latter part of his senior season with an ankle injury.

So his son’s injury brought back some sour memories.

“I’m taking it harder than he is,” Gonzalez Sr. said. “I know how it feels.”

More than anything else, it feels frustrating to Joe Jr. A center, he was first-team all-league his sophomore and junior seasons. This year, Sweetwater Coach Andy Sanchez had expectations Gonzalez would be all-CIF.

Now, all Gonzalez (6-1, 230) can do is watch from the sidelines and plan his comeback. Among the schools recruiting him are Colorado State, San Jose State and Nevada Las Vegas. Gonzalez knows he faces much rehabilitation, but his father is an inspiration. Joe Sr. came back from his injury to play at Southwestern and the University of San Diego.

“Dad says, ‘You’ve got to say your prayers and be able to work hard as soon as you get your cast off,’ ” he said.

But if Gonzalez doesn’t come back, he isn’t planning his life around football. While his father was helping him off the field the night he was injured, Joe Jr. looked him squarely in the eye and said: “Dad, if this is my last game, I’m smart enough to make it on my own, and I want to get my college education.”

“It brought tears to my eyes,” Gonzalez Sr. said. “I was proud of him saying that rather than thinking about football.”

It isn’t hard to figure out why Lincoln football Coach Vic Player did a little begging while trying to get Joe Temple to come out for the team last year. Temple played Pop Warner when he was younger but had become interested in basketball at Lincoln and wasn’t sure he wanted to divide his time.

Player persisted, and when Temple finally did give it a try last season, he caught 9 passes for touchdowns and was selected first team all-league. Then he made first team all-league in basketball, averaging 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Player knew early that Temple had football potential. He stands 6-4, 198 pounds, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.56 and high jumps 6-6 1/2.

“That’s not bad for a high school tight end,” Player said.

Because Temple is a legitimate prospect in football and basketball, his wrist injury, which he sustained in the second game, doesn’t worry him. He plans to wait until basketball season is over to decide what school he will attend and what sport he will play.

“I’m just going to see who’s still there at the end of the year,” he said. “I’m not going to rush into it.”

Temple, who is being heavily recruited by UCLA for football, got his cast off Monday, and the doctor told him he should wait 2 or 3 weeks before trying to play. That will come right about playoff time. If Temple returns, Player said Lincoln will be a much different football team.

“If we had Joe Temple we would be better than a 6-2 record, that’s for sure,” Player said. “We lost our fire power as far as being able to throw the ball deep in a crowd. We hope he’ll be ready for the playoffs.”