Kehrli Grows Into His Job as Corona del Mar Leader : Football: Sophomore quarterback felt the pressure taking over an experienced offense. But he silenced the critics while leading the Sea Kings into the Division VI final.

Todd Kehrli slugged down the last of his chocolate milkshake, wiped the bubbly mustache from his lips and slowly began to put the world of football, as he knows it, into perspective.

“In the beginning, I didn’t feel like a QB. I felt more like a robot,” said Kehrli, a sophomore quarterback at Corona del Mar High School.

“I was always thinking, always trying to think of all the things I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t want to let down the team. I didn’t want to let down the seniors. I knew they had faith in me, but inside, I was wondering if they were sticking with me 100%. Inside, I knew I could do it if I had the chance.”

Kehrli uses the phrase “in the beginning” often, as if he is looking back on a long, storied career.

Actually, Kehrli, who has yet to receive his driver’s license, has played in only 13 games of organized football. He didn’t play Junior All-American or Pop Warner, nor did he play in junior high.

Last year, as a freshman, Kehrli was a member of the varsity--backing up senior Ty Price--but his sole priority was to carry the coach’s clipboard. Although he did manage to get in on a few plays--in late-game, sure-win situations--his playing time would be most accurately measured in seconds, not minutes, as it consisted of one simple motion:

Take the snap, hand off and get outta the way .

Despite all this, Kehrli will be at the helm tonight when Corona del Mar (10-3) faces La Quinta (9-4) in the Southern Section Division VI championship game at Orange Coast College.

For Kehrli (pronounced kurr-lye), it has been a strange and wonderful season.

Corona del Mar, the defending Division VI champion, came into 1989 with high hopes, especially the seniors. Coming into this season, the senior players had lost just one game--as freshmen--in their tenure. They were undefeated as sophomores, and last year helped the Sea Kings to a 12-0-2 record.

And so Kehrli knew that once Price graduated, the pressure to win would fall on his shoulders.

Corona del Mar lost its season opener, 19-6, to Huntington Beach--the game was later forfeited by Huntington Beach because of to the use of an ineligible player--and Kehrli, who had a rough night, continuously overthrowing his receivers, began to hear the whispers around campus:

“What’s wrong with the football team?”

“People didn’t remember that that game was Todd’s first football game ever ,” receiver Warren Johnson said. “He was really nervous.”

Although the next four games--all victories--quieted Kehrli’s critics momentarily, the wrath started again once Corona del Mar entered Sea View League play. Estancia beat a listless Corona del Mar, 16-3, in the league opener, and Kehrli could only blame himself.

Corona del Mar, the two-time defending league champion, finished fourth in the league.

“I started doubting myself,” Kehrli said. “I went into a slump. It started around the Estancia game and didn’t end until (the league finale against) Newport. I felt I was a big factor (as to) when the team would get moving. In a way, I knew I was holding them up. Coach (Dave) Holland just kept saying, ‘Give it time, just give it time.’ ”

Although his passing suffered earlier from control problems, he began--thanks to a few tips from his receivers--to put more touch on the ball, and to play more by his instincts. His improvement would have been for naught, though, had Corona del Mar not received a wild-card playoff berth.

As he did in the regular season, Kehrli has shown marked improvement through the playoffs.

With 1,499 yards this season, Kehrli already has established a single-season school passing record, breaking Price’s mark of 1,473 set last year.

“It would be nice, I think, to be remembered as one of the best to come out of Corona del Mar,” he said. “But that’s not the big thing on my mind right now. The game Friday night is about the only thing I’m thinking about.”

Spoken like a true veteran.