El Camino Kicker Perez Is Struggling to Get Points Across : Community colleges: Former Carson High standout said he feels pressured to regain his winning form.

When analyzing his career as a kicker at El Camino, sophomore Louis Perez feels like he is watching a tape of his football career at Carson High.

“There’s lots of pressure here just like at Carson, so I’m not doing as good this season,” Perez said. “I came in this season with too much pressure on me.”

It is basically a rerun of high school where Perez did great as a sophomore and junior but struggled as a senior. Perez broke virtually every Carson record. He holds school records for career kick scoring (136 points) and points after touchdowns (103).

As a sophomore in 1986 he helped Carson win the City 4-A Division title by making all of his PATs. As a junior in 1987 he was an All-City selection. Carson lost to Granada Hills in the City 4-A final.

Perez said he struggled early in his senior year although he came back to set a school single-season PAT (51) record. Carson won the City 4-A championship, but Perez did not make the All-City team.

“I got off to a real shaky start,” he said. “I was expected to do as well as I did in 10th and 11th grade and I didn’t do it.”

He said the same thing is happening to him at El Camino, where he earned All-Mission Conference and All-State honors as a freshman when he made 38 of 40 PATs and 11 of 15 field goals. The Warriors finished 10-1.

Perez, 19, believes everyone expected him to repeat the feat this season. He started football practice 15 pounds overweight and his concentration has not been sharp. More than anything, he feels pressured.

His high school coach, Ishmal Ordonez, said other kickers go through the same thing.

“Kickers are lonely players,” said Ordonez, a former soccer player in his native Mexico who has coached the kickers at Carson since 1977. “They stand there watching the other guys and when they need him, he has to do the job and he can’t mess up. He’s always expected to make it. A quarterback can miss a pass but, a kicker is not supposed to miss, ever. That’s a lot of pressure for a young kid.”

This season Perez has made 28 of 30 extra points, but he’s struggled with field goals, making only five of 10. In El Camino’s 31-24 loss to Fullerton, Perez missed back-to-back field goals from 41 and 43 yards. He also missed two field goals against Saddleback and one against Rancho Santiago in Mission Conference games.

“I guess I was nervous,” said the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Perez. “I got blocked in my first field goal attempt in the first game against Ventura and from then on I’ve been getting nervous. I’ve been afraid of getting blocked.”

Last week Perez got rid of the nervousness. He made all four PATs and two field goal attempts in El Camino’s 38-14 victory over Cerritos. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Warriors, who are 5-2 overall and 3-2 in conference action heading into Saturday’s game against Pasadena.

Warrior Coach John Featherstone believes a combination of factors are responsible for Perez’s accuracy problems.

“He’s not applying himself in as determined a manner as last year,” Featherstone said. “Louis is not as dedicated as he was a year ago. I think that has to do with the fact that he’s not being pushed. There’s no competition for him on the team. He’s our only kicker.”

Perez said: “Last year if I missed they had someone else. This year if I miss there’s no one else to go in, so I know I’ll always play.”

Featherstone also believes that playing soccer is hurting Perez’s football career. Perez is in his second season as a midfielder on the El Camino soccer team.

“He’s overworked and he’s tired,” Featherstone said. “His leg is tired and his feet are tired. He runs up and down the field during soccer games and he’s tired for us, but I can’t force him to quit.”

Perez disagrees: “The mistakes I’ve made, the downfall I’ve had, has nothing to do with soccer, that’s for sure. I proved it last week. It’s all mental. My mistakes have been mental mistakes, not physical ones.”

El Camino soccer Coach Norm Jackson sides with Featherstone. He suggested to Perez that he stick to one sport.

“I think he is getting worn out, to be honest with you,” Jackson said. “He could be a very good soccer player, but we need to have him full time. At the moment he’s not fit to play soccer. My recommendation is that he stay with football because he has a chance of getting a scholarship in football.”

Perez has played in American Youth Soccer Organization leagues since he was 13 and has also competed on several South Bay 19-and-under clubs, but he too believes his future is in football.

As a senior at Carson he was recruited by several colleges including Washington State, Oklahoma, Oregon State and Boston College.

He ended up at El Camino because he failed to score 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Under Proposition 48, athletes who don’t score 700 on the SAT can get scholarships to four-year colleges but they cannot play as freshmen.

Ordonez said it was unfortunate because Perez was one of the state’s hottest kickers.

“I’ve had a chance to coach some pretty good kickers and he’s one of the best and most powerful,” Ordonez said. “I’d put my hand in the fire for him. He’s a powerful kicker who can do the job at any major college.”

El Camino defensive coordinator Walt Justice agrees. He works with Perez and said several Southeastern Conference and Big Ten schools have expressed an interest in the kicker.

“He definitely has the leg and if he concentrates on football the sky is the limit for him,” Justice said.