Weaver Takes It Easy, Then Takes It Out on Opponents : Prep Football: La Quinta quarterback credits a relaxed approach for his improvement. That new attitude has helped Aztecs roll in playoffs.

In these hours leading up to the Southern Section Division VI football championship, Richard Weaver is as calm and unassuming as a hidden bomb--and ticking just the same.

Weaver, 17, is the detonator for one of the county’s most volatile offenses. He and his La Quinta Aztecs meet Corona del Mar at 7:30 tonight at Orange Coast College for the division championship.

To look at Weaver there is little hint that he is an explosion looking for a place to happen, little hint that behind his easy gaze, the quarterback whose mom calls him “Richie,” is ticking.

That’s because Weaver has learned that the low-key approach is critical to his success. While his teammates might get “all hyper and ready to go,” Weaver said he learned that getting too excited wouldn’t work for him. That realization came seven games into the season after a 35-24 upset loss to Bolsa Grande.

“I went into the Bolsa game just really wanting to beat those guys really bad,” he said. “I wasn’t relaxed and I threw three interceptions.

“Now, I just try to go into a game relaxed, keep my head, just think about the game in a calm way.”

The new approach, along with a healthier shoulder, is working. Weaver has always been solid, throwing for 1,678 yards and 13 touchdowns during the regular season. But in the playoffs, he has raised his performance a notch, throwing for more than 200 yards in each of three victories.

In La Quinta’s 20-7 semifinal victory over La Mirada he passed for 207 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yarder to Jason Cherms.

Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley, whose Sailors lost to La Quinta, 23-16, in the second round, saw Weaver during the summer in a passing league and surmised then that Weaver, who was the backup quarterback to Trent Julian last season, was coming on.

“He was actually their No. 2 guy at that time and we actually felt he had a little more talent then their No. 1,” said Brinkley. “Obviously he played really well against us. He is a good athlete. He makes some things happen back there.”

One of those things included the game-winning touchdown drive. With the score tied, 16-16, and about three minutes to play, Weaver and the Aztecs engineered a 69-yard, eight-play drive that included a 26-yard completion from Weaver to Wes Kollar that set up Julian’s 18-yard go-ahead touchdown run.

Weaver passed for 234 yards in the first round against Valencia and the Aztecs ran up 19 points in the first quarter. Valencia had given up only 46 points this season.

All three playoff coaches agree that Weaver has caught fire since the playoffs. Part of the reason is he has recovered from a deep bruise in his throwing shoulder that hampered him part of the regular season.

He had to wear protective padding that hampered his throwing motion. The padding made him throw the ball too high, resulting in eight interceptions in the next five games. The accuracy was there, Takahashi said, but the ball was just going over his receivers to the defensive backs.

Weaver’s confidence dropped but he kept at it. And when the padding was removed, his passing accuracy returned.

Now, Weaver is just waiting and relaxing, ticking quietly, hoping to go out with a bang.