Singletary Forced to Take Time Off, but It Pays Off for Rancho Alamitos : Prep football: Broken leg in 1989 season opener sidelines quarterback. But he doesn’t waste any time away from the field and now has led Vaqueros to a 4-0 record.

Chris Singletary couldn’t see his left leg as he lay on the football field at Garden Grove High School, but the pain told him that, perhaps, he shouldn’t look.

Those who went to his aid tried to keep him from looking. It wasn’t a pretty sight, they agreed.

Singletary, Rancho Alamitos High School quarterback and linebacker, had suffered a broken fibula and tibia while trying to block for teammate Malcolm Tracy after an interception in the Vaqueros’ opening game last season.

“Malcolm wouldn’t let me look at it,” Singletary said before a practice session this week. “My leg was just hanging there, so he didn’t want me to go into shock.”

Said Mark Miller, Rancho Alamitos coach: “When I went out there, it didn’t look good. I just grabbed his head and said, ‘Chris, your leg is broken.’ ”

Miller didn’t need to tell Singletary that.

“I knew it was broken, but I didn’t want to face the fact that it was,” Singletary said.

The injury sidelined Singletary the rest of the season. He underwent surgery and was in a full-leg cast for about seven weeks, then a knee-high cast for two months.

Singletary, 17, didn’t waste his time away from the field. While still in the cast, he worked with weights to strengthen his upper body to the point where he could bench press 400 pounds. When they removed the cast in January, he concentrated the exercise program on the leg, and by the baseball season in March, Singletary was ready to play right field for the Vaqueros.

He also attended Rancho Alamitos’ football games for educational purposes.

“In a way it was good for me to stand on the sidelines and learn more about the game from just watching,” Singletary said.

Apparently, he is a quick study. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior heads the latest list of county quarterbacks in The Times’ rankings with a 202.7 rating. He has completed 27 of 46 passes--six for touchdowns--for 601 yards in leading the Vaqueros to a 4-0 overall mark and a 1-0 record in the Garden Grove League. Rancho Alamitos is ranked No. 8 in Orange County.

Singletary’s most productive game came in a 28-0 nonleague victory over Costa Mesa three weeks ago, when he threw for 190 yards and three touchdowns.

Though he has performed beyond expectations, directing the offense is a position the converted tight end did not particularly relish when he was switched to it last year. But he has learned to appreciate it.

“I’m just now getting used to it,” Singletary said. “Now I see the weak spots in the defense. I can pre-read the defensive setups when we break from the huddle. I’m more comfortable changing the plays at the line.”

Those who have been awed by Singletary’s prowess include Rancho Alamitos JV Coach Tom Julian.

“When he sees the man (receiver), he has a real quick release and the ball gets there in a hurry,” Julian said. “He throws some balls that could put holes through bodies.

“Against Bolsa (Grande High), he threw a 40-yard rope to the back of the end zone for a touchdown going hard to his left. I was stunned.”

Yet, Miller said there is still plenty of room for improvement in Singletary’s performance.

“If he had been playing quarterback from his freshman year, he’d be doing even better,” Miller said. “Every week we pick one fundamental thing and try to work on it. One week we worked on setting his feet, one week on running the option. . . . I said at the beginning of the year he wouldn’t be recruited as a quarterback, but now I’m beginning to wonder.”

Miller projects Singletary as a college linebacker. His brother, David, who was a running back/linebacker at Rancho Alamitos, is an outside linebacker at Golden West College. That’s Chris’ favorite position, though last week Miller used him at middle linebacker in place of the injured Tim Starke. For Singletary, it made no difference as long as he was playing defense.

“I thought outside linebacker would be an easy position, but the middle is easier, although you have to be a surer tackler there,” Singletary said. “I really like to hit people, but (defensive end) Leonard (Sims) doesn’t give me a chance. He makes all the tackles.”

Singletary figures that with players such as Sims, Starke, offensive guard Lia Togia and tailback Ulysses Trammell, the Vaqueros will be tough to beat.

“I think we have a good chance of winning the whole thing if we don’t beat ourselves,” he said. “If we stay away from injuries, we’ll be all right.”