HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : Torrey Pines’ Davis Not Great but Good Enough in Debut

The arrival of junior quarterback Chad Davis and his nomad coach and father Bob Davis at Torrey Pines High was so ballyhooed that the school scheduled a big barbecue and postgame fireworks show for their first game Saturday against USDHS.

But the younger Davis, dubbed the second coming of USC’s reknowned “Robo QB” Todd Marinovich, didn’t look exactly robotic, nor did his effort qualify as particularly heroic. But he certainly got the job done, passing for 184 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-14 victory in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000 at Torrey Pines.

Davis, who entered the season having passed for more than 4,000 yards at Palm Springs High his first two years, completed 12 of 20 passes and got plenty of support from running back Greg Cass, who rushed 20 times for 128 yards and Torrey Pines final two touchdowns.

Torre Pines decided to let the suspense build before Davis’ debut by staying in the locker room and stalling the scheduled 7:30 p.m. kickoff for 23 minutes. So the Davises were greeted with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty before USDHS kicked off.

Then, after Chad Davis ran 80 yards untouched for an apparent touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, he was flagged for flashing a No. 1 sign before the end of his run. It didn’t really matter; Torrey Pines had been committed an illegal procedure penalty at the line of scrimmage.

Davis proved one thing: he can run. That’s good, because it looks as if most of 5,000 passing yards he needs to break Marinovich’s all-time national record of 9,182 will come sprint-outs and roll-out option plays. He had little protection from his line Saturday.

Davis was running from would-be tacklers when he when he hit senior John Lynch on a sprint-out pattern for 24 yards and a touchdown that tied the game, 7-7. Davis was scrambling to his right when he found Lynch again on a 34-yard strike that made it 14-14 in the second quarter.

For USDHS, Henning seems to have solved the quarterback controversy. Not Charger Coach Dan but his son, Mike Henning, who beat out Tim Mulligan and solidified his hold on the job with a 13-for-21, 131-yard performance.

USDHS also got a strong game from running back Chris Lewis, who scored his team’s first two touchdowns on runs of four and 76 yards. But Lewis, a 5-foot-8, 180-pound junior, was pretty much shut down in the second half. He wound up with 148 yards on 12 carries.