Franklin’s Air of Respectability : Santiago Alvarez the Latest in a Long Line of Quality Quarterbacks to Play for Panthers

The changes in Santiago Alvarez have been subtle, unrecognizable to anyone other than the few who can actually feel the difference.

Alvarez, the unassuming senior quarterback for the pass-happy Franklin High football team, is impressing teammates and defenders this season with pinpoint spirals that, increasingly, are leaving real impressions on his receivers.

“Last year we were asking him to throw it with a little more uumph ,” Franklin wide receiver Lamar Lovett says. “This year, you can definitely feel it in your hands.

“His arm is stronger and his accuracy also has improved. Those things, and his leadership, are going to help us go a long way.”

Alvarez has already gone a long way toward establishing himself as the latest in a long line of talented Franklin quarterbacks who have passed their way to the top of the City Section passing list.

Last season, with no varsity experience, Alvarez stepped into the starter’s role and threw for 1,643 yards and 11 touchdowns. His yardage total was second in the City Section 3-A Division to Marshall’s Sid Oxford.

Franklin was 11-1, advancing to the 3-A semifinals where the Panthers were eliminated by Westchester.

In two games this season, Alvarez, 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, has completed 51 of 93 passes for 552 yards and five touchdowns.

“He made some rookie mistakes last year,” Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez says. “But this year, he’s proven he’s going to be the type of quarterback we’ve had in the past.”

John Neblina, Ricky Lopez and Ronnie Lopez preceded Alvarez as the offensive leader for the Panthers and all three were named to the All-City team after leading the school to a City championship.

Gonzalez believes Alvarez will continue the tradition.

“He doesn’t have the kind of arm that Ricky or Ronnie Lopez had, but he seems to put the ball where it’s supposed to be,” says Gonzalez, who coached the Panthers to City Section titles in 1983, ’86 and ’87. “If someone has that ability, I can make a quarterback out of them.”

Using the seven-on-seven summer passing leagues as his laboratory, Gonzalez has molded the soft-spoken Alvarez into an effective engineer of Franklin’s ball-control offense.

During the summer before his junior year--following a season in which he started eight games as the quarterback of the B team--Alvarez led the Panthers to a 26-1-1 record in various leagues and tournaments.

“People say, ‘It’s only passing league,’ ” Gonzalez says. “Well, regardless of what it is, it gives our kids confidence.”

Indeed, buoyed by the summer success, Alvarez beat out a senior for the opportunity to replace Ronnie Lopez, who had been the 3-A co-Player of the Year in 1987 after leading Franklin to its second consecutive division title.

In his first start, Alvarez passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns as Franklin upset Granada Hills, 21-14, in its season opener.

“I was surprised as anyone at how well I did,” Alvarez recalled. “But after that game, I knew I could do it, that I could get the job done.”

Last summer, Franklin was 23-1 in passing-league competition, including victories over teams such as Carson, San Fernando and Canyon.

However, even with several returning starters, there were questions about how strong the Panthers would be this season without tailback Lamont Lovett, an All-City selection who rushed for more than 2,000 yards in 1988 and is now at the University of Arizona

“I knew before the season that we couldn’t look to the running game,” Alvarez said. “Last year, I could fall back on that if I wasn’t having a good game. This year, there’s no more Lamont.”

Without Lovett, the Panthers have returned to an offensive scheme that utilizes the pass 75% of the time.

“We play a ball-control, passing-game offense,” Gonzalez says. “‘We’d like to be able to score on 80-yard touchdowns, but we like to keep the ball, go up and down the field and eat up the clock.”

Franklin controlled just about everything in its 41-7 season-opening victory over Roosevelt two weeks ago. Alvarez passed for 345 yards and four touchdowns against the overmatched Roughriders.

“He played like a veteran,” Roosevelt Coach David Endow said. “He audibilized and took advantage of our weaknesses.

“He’s very accurate and gets the ball to his receivers with good touch.”

Last Friday, in a 19-7 loss to Granada Hills, Alvarez completed 22 of 52 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown.

Despite the loss, teammates say Alvarez is a much better quarterback than the one who led the Panthers to last season’s upset win over the same Granada Hills team.

“Last year, he showed his inexperience by throwing interceptions when he was under pressure,” says Lamar Lovett, Lamont’s brother who has caught 14 passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns. “Now, he’ll dump it off or throw it out of bounds.”

Alvarez plans to come out throwing again Friday when Franklin plays Gardena.

“One of my goals this season is to win the City championship and lead the City in passing,” Alvarez said. “If I do, it will be because have a lot of good players with a lot of talent.

“I think we’re capable of taking it all the way.”