PREP ALL-STAR FOOTBALL GAME : South Coach Waits Until Third Quarter to Play His Ace : All-star football: El Toro quarterback Stenstrom comes off the bench to lead 22-9 victory.

South Coach Dave White invented a whole new way to win the Orange County High School All-Star football game Friday night.

He waited until the third quarter to play his best quarterback, Steve Stenstrom of El Toro.

Stenstrom made White look wise, coming off the bench to complete nine of 11 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown as the South cruised by the North, 22-9, before an estimated 7,500 spectators at LeBard Stadium. The North still leads the series, 16-13-2.

Stenstrom, who is headed to Stanford on a football scholarship, sat out the first half while Mater Dei’s Dan O’Neil and Edison’s Donnie Smith shared time at quarterback.

O’Neil earned the start when Stenstrom missed three practices last week while attending a scholar-athlete banquet in Chicago.

Stenstrom started the second half, completing his first five passes for 60 yards and setting up a three-yard touchdown run by Mater Dei’s Kealii Clifford. Matt Logan missed the extra point and the South took a 6-3 lead with 6:51 left in the third quarter.

Stenstrom, the game’s offensive most valuable player, completed his first six passes and had 99 yards passing in the third quarter. His two incompletions were tipped by defenders.

“He came out hot in the third quarter,” White said. “All three of our quarterbacks did a great job. Each got to play a quarter, and I told them the best one would get to play the fourth.”

That was Stenstrom, who also led the South to a score on its second possession of the third quarter, throwing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Brian Higgins of Edison with 1:43 left. He completed a pass to Huntington Beach’s Doug Cunningham for the two-point conversion and a 14-3 lead.

Clifford scored his second touchdown by accident, recovering a fumble in the end zone by Cunningham, who lost the ball at the two-yard line after a 23-yard run. Cunningham completed a pass to Vince Tauanuu of Westminster to give the South a 22-3 lead.

The North capped the scoring when Gary Bladow of Villa Park scored on a one-yard run with 2:16 left in the game.

While Stenstrom shined, North quarterback Todd Gragnano struggled, completing 12 of 22 passes for 88 yards with one interception.

“Gragnano’s got a great arm but we did a good job pressuring him,” White said. “He was throwing on the run a lot.”

North Coach Tom Meiss said his team couldn’t establish a running game, and the South clamped down on the North’s passing attack. The South held Coy Collins of Loara to 28 yards in six carries and Erik Mitchell of Los Alamitos to 21 yards in seven carries.

“The South didn’t respect our play-action (pass) and there was a lot of pressure on Gragnano,” Meiss said.

That pressure came early and often.

After a scoreless first quarter, the North opened the second period with a 61-yard drive, highlighted by a 23-yard run by Chris Shockley of Pacifica, that gave the South a first down on the one.

But on the next play, Gragnano fumbled the snap and Mitchell recovered at the eight. Two plays netted four yards, setting up a 21-yard field goal by Dave Knorr of Orange with 6:25 left in the second period.

Gragnano made another costly mistake late in the second quarter. His pass over the middle was intercepted at the South 47 by the South’s David Morris of Saddleback with 34 seconds left in the half. Morris returned it to the North’s 16.

Smith then threw to Cunningham for 10 yards, giving the South a first down at the six with 18 seconds left. After two incompletions, Smith’s pass over the middle on third down was tipped by the North’s Scott Strini of Orange and intercepted in the end zone by Ron Papazian of Whittier Christian.

Papazian returned it to the North’s 10, and Gragnano ran out the clock on the next play.

All-Star Notes

Former Loara Coach Herb Hill, the winningest football coach in Orange County history, was honored at halftime with a framed drawing . . . Esperanza’s Keith Navidi was named the game’s defensive most valuable player. . . . Doug Cunningham of Huntington Beach rushed five times for 64 yards and caught three passes for 48 yards.

South 22, North 9 North......0...3...0...6 -- 9 South......0...0..14...8 -- 22 North--FG Knorr 23 South--Clifford 3 run (kick failed) South--Higgins 9 pass from Stenstrom (Cunningham pass from Stenstrom) South--Clifford recovered fumble in end zone (Cunningham pass to Tauanuu) North--Bladow 1 run (run failed) Att--7,500.