Dominant QBs May Signal Passing Trend

Picture an endless stream of spiraling footballs, one after another, flying through a hazy Valley sky. The balls are delivered by a grinning figure in a Monroe High jersey.

Now hear the sound of a loud alarm clock interrupting this fantasy sequence and telling you it’s time to crawl out of bed and go to school.

You have just entered the world of Jesse Wallace. The quarterback led Monroe to a 7-0 Mid-Valley League mark last year by doing nothing more than sticking the ball in the gut of senior tailback Curtis Scott.

Little else was needed in ’88. Scott, The Times’ Valley Back of the Year, gained 1,934 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He also tied a state record with 54 carries in a game, including a state-record 22 in a row.

Result: Wallace threw the ball just 62 times in 11 games, an average of 5.6 passes a week.

It’s a wonder his arm didn’t atrophy.

But the story took a happier turn for Wallace this year. Scott graduated. And first-year Coach Dave Lertzman loves Wallace’s strong arm. In fact, he loves it so much that he’s resting the team’s 1989 fortunes on it.

“You got that right on the head,” Lertzman said. “As he goes, we go.”

The same can be said of the entire Mid-Valley League. The final standings probably will hinge on the performance of each team’s starting quarterback.

At Birmingham, senior Danny Larson, the most established quarterback in the league, may have to single-handedly lift the Braves from mediocrity into the title race.

“Danny’s the best quarterback I’ve ever coached at Birmingham High,” ninth-year Coach Chick Epstein said. “There’s no question he’s our leader.”

As a junior, Larson completed 115 of 239 passes for 1,373 yards. And yet the Braves stumbled to a 2-7 overall record, 2-5 in the league.

Still, Epstein is again throwing all of his stitched, leather eggs in Larson’s basket.

“Certainly, one man is not a team,” he said. “But he’s our leader. He’s our captain. Playing without him would be like Sylmar without (Jerome) Casey.

“We have a hero.”

At Monroe, Wallace fits the same bill.

Lertzman stresses that the Vikings’ fortunes will rest with Wallace physically and mentally. He will be counted on to call the offense this year, a new concept to the senior.

“I’m asking him to do a lot more than last year,” Lertzman said. “And there are obvious reasons why. Last year, when he handed off, it worked. But because of the makeup of this year’s team, I’m asking him to do a lot of things.”

How does all this sit with Wallace?

“It’s a pleasure to call my own plays,” Wallace said. “To run what I want to run. And I know (Lertzman) will back me up all the way, and let me know when I make mistakes.”

But all is not sweetness and light in Sepulveda. Such new pressures have affected Wallace, according to his coach.

“I’m not sure he’s comfortable yet with his new role,” Lertzman said. “But he was certainly more comfortable with it yesterday than he was last week.”

At Reseda, 12th-year Coach Joel Schaeffer hears the talk about Wallace and Larson. But as far as he’s concerned, he has a quarterback as good or better than either of the other two.

On a team without a true running threat, the emergence of junior Andre Jackson comes just in time for Reseda. Traditionally, Schaeffer’s teams are strong defensively. His offense in 1989, however, was questionable.

In question, that is, until he got Jackson in pads, running the team.

“You can mention our quarterback in the same breath with (Larson and Wallace). He is right there with them,” Schaeffer said. “He’s going to be something to reckon with. You’re going to have to contain him on the run.”

Jackson, 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, is not a powerful thrower, according to Schaeffer, but he has the intangibles necessary to be a great high school quarterback.

“I’ve been impressed with how he’s running the club in a really responsible-type manner,” Schaeffer said. “He has real good, effective leadership.”

Like the others, the quality of Jackson’s season will play a large role in determining the quality of his team’s season.

And at Van Nuys?

You guessed it. Quarterback Roy Vasich, a tall, healthy-armed senior, will be relied on to guide a team that has spent much the recent past in the doldrums.

Van Nuys Coach Kenji Mochizuki prefers to tout his four talented running backs but concedes that Vasich is the glue that holds the offense together.

“He’s as important to us as Larson is to Birmingham,” Mochizuki said.

Vasich, who put in time at running back last year, offers the possibility of the option mixed with a “fairly strong arm,” according to Mochizuki. But what Mochizuki really likes is Vasich’s leadership ability, a quality that each of the coaches in the Mid-Valley League has touted in his quarterback.

“He’s in a position to lead the offense,” Mochizuki said. “And he’s really come a long way. He’s impressed me with his maturity.”

To be sure Van Nuys, with 18 returning starters, is throwing its hat into the ring for a league title. It will be joined there by the other three teams, all with a chance to make an impact on a race that is nobody’s oyster.

And the best clue as to who will emerge from the fracas stands directly behind the center, taking snaps.

MID-VALLEY LEAGUE

FINAL 1988 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Monroe 9-2, 7-0 Reseda Reseda 9-2, 6-1 Monroe Van Nuys 3-6, 2-5 Van Nuys Birmingham 2-7, 2-5 Birmingham

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Jake Brescher Birmingham WR 6-3 170 Sr. Diallo Frazier Van Nuys RB 5-7 155 Sr. Lae Freeman Van Nuys OL/DL 6-5 265 Sr. Andre Jackson Reseda QB 5-9 170 Jr. Jason Keiderling Reseda OL/DL 6-5 265 Sr. Danny Larson Birmingham QB/S 6-2 185 Sr. Arturo Rodriguez Reseda OL/LB 6-0 195 Sr. Jim Rose Monroe RB/LB 5-9 170 Sr. Roy Vasich Van Nuys QB 6-2 180 Sr. Jesse Wallace Monroe QB/DB 5-11 195 Sr.