3-A PLAYOFFS : BIG GAME : Mira Mesa Hopes It Has Mt. Carmel’s Number

Mira Mesa Football Coach Brad Griffith doesn’t know the Mt. Carmel player’s name. Griffith has just seen the films and knows him only as “No. 66.”

That’s the way it is for several football coaches around the county these days as they prepare for the opening round of the San Diego Section playoffs. No more league games in which you’re familiar with several players from each team. Now, you get two films from your opponent and go to work dissecting.

Griffith’s Mira Mesa team opens the 3-A playoffs tonight at Mt. Carmel at 7:30. The teams haven’t played this season, so they’re not very familiar with each other. But Mt. Carmel, located in Rancho Penasquitos, sits close enough to Mira Mesa that there’s a rivalry anyway. Mira Mesa and Mt. Carmel scheduled each other for non-league games from 1985 through 1988, but that stopped after a bench-clearing brawl last season.

During that time, Mira Mesa won three of four, including last year’s game, 7-3. Mt. Carmel won in 1987, 14-3.

This year’s meeting seemingly features two teams going in opposite directions. Mira Mesa (7-3) finished the season with two victories after stumbling against No. 6 Point Loma (27-23) and No. 4 Morse (21-17). Mt. Carmel (6-4) finished the season with losses to No. 1 Rancho Buena Vista (42-7) and Vista (14-0).

What concerns Griffith is Mt. Carmel’s defense. Which brings us to No. 66--Mt. Carmel nose tackle Brian Berry.

“He’s a heck of a football player,” Griffith said. “And their linebackers fly around. They just have some talent. Their defense could shut you out.”

Yeah, but their offense could be shut out. Quarterback Matt Miller tore up a knee against RBV, and with sophomore Josh Stang starting the next week, Mt. Carmel was shut out by Vista. Coach Bill Christopher will give junior Larry Lehman his first start at quarterback tonight. Lehman has been Mt. Carmel’s starting flanker.

“It will be Larry’s first start at quarterback, but I think it makes a lot of difference that he has started in a varsity game at all,” Christopher said. “If nothing else, he’s taken varsity hits in practice.”