PREP ALL-STAR FOOTBALL GAME : Stenstrom Returns from Banquet, Feasts on North in 2nd Half : All-star football: Quarterback missed practices to attend a dinner, but takes charge in the third quarter.

Steve Stenstrom of El Toro High School waited and watched on the sidelines at the Orange County all-star football game Friday night at Orange Coast College.

While starting quarterback Danny O’Neil of Mater Dei and reliever Donnie Smith of Edison had only marginal success in the first half, Stenstrom took it all in, waiting for the second half to begin.

Only then would he trot onto the field. Stenstrom missed three practices and a scrimmage last weekend to attend a scholar-athlete banquet in Chicago and South Coach Dave White started O’Neil.

“It was weird sitting on the sidelines,” said Stenstrom, who passed for 4,604 yards in two seasons at El Toro. “All I did was watch the first half,” which ended with the North leading, 3-0.

When the third quarter began, Stenstrom’s task was to pick up the South. It was easy.

Using simple, play-action passes that froze the North defenders, Stenstrom completed 9 of 11 for 108 yards and one touchdown to lead the South to a 22-9 victory.

Stenstrom, named the game’s most valuable offensive player, had 99 yards in the third quarter, leading the South to touchdowns on its first two drives. A nine-yard touchdown pass play to Brian Higgins of Edison and a two-point conversion pass to Doug Cunningham gave the South a 14-3 lead with 1:43 left in the third quarter.

He completed his first six passes on those drives, before his seventh pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell incomplete.

The scoring pass to Higgins was typical of the South’s second-half game plan.

A 15-yard completion to Kealii Clifford of Mater Dei gave the South a first down at the North nine.

On the next play, Stenstrom stopped the North rush with a fake handoff, then rolled left into the clear. Meanwhile, Higgins was all alone in the back of the end zone.

“Danny had to go out there and learn (what the North was doing) on his own,” said Stenstrom, who will attend Stanford next fall. “In the second half, we got the play-action passes going.”

And he shredded the defense, repeatedly finding his receivers had beaten the North secondary.

The largest gain was a 24-yard gain to Higgins that set up the South’s first touchdown, a three-yard run by Clifford with 6:51 left in the third quarter.

The North had no answer for Stenstrom’s short passing.

“You’re in a world of hurt if you can’t pressure the quarterback,” said North Coach Tom Meiss of Orange. “Our coverage was reasonably good, but you can’t cover (receivers) for five minutes.”

Cunningham figured it was only a matter of time before the South began clicking.

“You’re playing with all these good players,” he said. “It was hard to get the jitters out. We hadn’t played in six months.”

Cunningham, who played running back, defensive back and split end, proved to be as valuable as he was versatile.

He rushed for 53 yards on five carries and caught three passes for 48 yards.

“In the second half, everyone started picking it up,” Cunningham said. “The line started blocking better.”

In the long run, spending 24 minutes watching from the sidelines seemed to help Stenstrom.

“Steve saw it and it was obvious what we had to get done,” said O’Neil, who completed all four of his first quarter passes for 53 yards. “We ran the play-action and the receivers ran good patterns.”