Brea Proves Too Much for Katella

One suspects that Larry Anderson, Katella High School football coach, had been watching too many game films when he said Chris Reed had the best arm of any quarterback he had coached and was a potential all-county player.

After all, Anderson once coached Alfred Jenkins, an all-Southern Section selection at Lynwood High who later became a starter at Arizona. And an all-county quarterback? Aren’t those honors reserved for El Toro’s Rob Johnson or Capistrano Valley’s Tony Solliday?

Well, Reed more than lived up to his coach’s pregame billing by passing for 269 yards and two touchdowns in Katella’s 28-16 nonleague loss to Brea-Olinda Thursday night in Glover Stadium.

Reed’s performance was even more impressive considering his receivers dropped four passes and a mediocre Katella running game managed just 14 yards against a solid Brea defense.

Reed is easily the school’s best quarterback since Dave Wilson was wasted in an ill-planned option attack before blossoming at Fullerton College and Illinois and then going on to play with the New Orleans Saints.

“If we could find a running game and some defense to go along with Chris, we might have a pretty good team,” Anderson said after watching the Knights lose for the second consecutive week.

Brea-Olinda rolled to its second victory in a row by ripping Katella’s defense for 231 yards on the ground before Coach Jon Looney emptied his bench with four minutes remaining and his team leading, 28-10.

Brea graduated nine players who had started for three years, so this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The Wildcats were also playing without all-league linebacker Lance Gasporra, who sat out his second game with a knee injury.

But the Wildcats scored on their first three possessions with junior Jamie Baraglia showing his versatility as a runner and pass receiver. Baraglia, starting only his second game, rushed five times for 69 yards and caught three passes for 49 yards.

“We got him eligible for two days before our opener last week against Buena Park and found out we have a good football player,” Looney said. “I thought our offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage.”

Asked if he sometimes throws too hard, Reed--a member of Katella’s baseball team whose fastball has been clocked at 89 miles per hour--said, “My receivers catch the ball 99% of the time, but sometimes it happens where I throw a little too hard for them.”

After two games and 64 passes, it appears Reed’s arm has been well-tested.

“Teams have closed down the run so far, so we have to pass,” he said.