South’s Mission: Control Speed at the Line

It took Bruce Belcher, the defensive coordinator of the South team, only a few seconds to pinpoint the key to tonight’s Orange County high school all-star football game.

“We’ve got a tough defensive line, but I’m not sure if we can stop (the North’s) Coy Collins and Erik Mitchell,” Belcher said. “The key is their speed. We don’t have that kind of speed on defense, and if they get through the line, they’ll go wild.”

The chase will start at 7:30 tonight at LeBard Stadium in Costa Mesa.

Collins of Loara and Mitchell of Los Alamitos are two of the fastest backs in the county. North Coach Tom Meiss isn’t afraid to utilize their speed.

“Our best defense is to control the ball,” Meiss said. “Collins and Mitchell will be trading off at tailback, so we should keep them fresh.”

But the North has more than just Collins and Mitchell. Los Alamitos’ Todd Gragnano will start at quarterback, and he’ll be throwing to a familiar target, Griffin wide receiver Chad Millan.

“They work really well together,” Belcher said. “And he’s got that tall receiver from Garden Grove (6-foot-4 Joe Squyres), too.”

Leading the South will be Mater Dei’s Dan O’Neil, who earned the starting spot at quarterback over El Toro’s Steve Stenstrom. Mater Dei’s Kealii Clifford will start at tailback and Westminster’s Vince Tauanuu at fullback.

Meiss said he’s not sure how his secondary will fare against O’Neil.

The North starts Sunny Hills’ running back Brian Pizula at cornerback along with Fullerton’s Rene Arias, who also plays quarterback. Mitchell also will get some playing time at cornerback.

“We could get beat awful suddenly in the secondary,” Meiss said.

With both teams concentrating so much on defense, how is anybody going to score?

“I think it’s going to come down to an unexpected person to make an unexpected play,” Meiss said. “It’ll be one or two defensive gems.

“We really want to score on defense. We’ll have some frustration offensively because it’s hard to bring these guys together in such little time.”

Brian Lucas of Corona del Mar, a 5-10, 180-pound running back, replaced Edison running back Shane Sherman on the South roster Monday. Sherman injured his right knee in practice last week and is waiting to see if he needs surgery.

“Lucas has done a good job of learning the system in only four days,” Belcher said.

Numbers: In the past 31 years, Mater Dei has had the most players (82) in the all-star game. Anaheim is second with 76, followed by Villa Park (69) and Newport Harbor (57). Nearly 1,900 players have participated in the game, including 71 this year.

History: The North leads the series, 16-12-2. The North beat the South, 14-2, in the first game in 1959.

The annual game skipped one year, 1962, in the wake of an NCAA investigation into high school all-star contests. The highest-scoring game was a 40-28 victory by the North in 1960; the 1983 game ended in a scoreless tie. The North won eight of the first 10 games, but the South had a five-year victory streak from 1978 to 1982. Last year’s game ended in a 17-17 tie.

Tonight’s game will be taped by SportsChannel and shown Tuesday at 9 p.m.