SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Paramount Program Becomes Role Model : Division II: Nobody does it better than El Toro’s semifinal opponent, which brings a 20-game winning streak into tonight’s matchup.

Coach John Reardon and his staff at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard have a trip planned for today.

The coaches will drive 140 miles to Mission Viejo to watch what Reardon calls “the elite football program in the CIF.”

That would be Paramount, which has the longest winning streak in the Southern Section (20 victories) and will meet host El Toro in the semifinals of the Division II playoffs at Mission Viejo High.

Paramount, the pride of the San Gabriel Valley, has won 38 of 40 games and produced some of the top athletes in the section in each of the past three years. The team is worth the drive, Reardon says.

“People tend to take teams like Paramount for granted,” he said. “We watched them on film and then played them in the first round (27-7 loss), and I was impressed, but not overly impressed.

“Then, we watched them last week against Muir, and I said to myself, ‘This is a great team with great team speed.’ They have so many gifted athletes and are so well coached. It took a second look before I realized just how good they really are.”

Paramount (12-0), which moved up to Division II this year, is a two-time Division III champion. The Pirates beat Los Alamitos, 30-20, in the 1988 title game and El Toro, 26-20, last year behind the play of quarterback Jack Manu.

Manu is playing at Riverside College, but Steve Lopez has more than filled his shoes at quarterback.

Lopez, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior, has passed for 1,492 yards and 22 touchdowns.

“Manu was such an impact player,” El Toro Coach Bob Johnson said. “I really thought they would have trouble replacing him, but Lopez throws a better ball and runs every bit as well as Manu did.”

Paramount’s running game features tailback Leon Neal and fullback Demondre White. Neal has rushed for 1,480 yards in 153 carries for a 9.7 average. White has 807 yards in 103 carries for a 7.8 average.

“Neal is the best running back I’ve seen in 20 years of coaching,” Reardon said. “He has the uncanny ability to stop on a dime and then accelerate so quickly that a defense can’t possibly react. White is a tough kid with pure speed. It’s a great combination.”

But El Toro (11-1) has contained running backs all season. Only freshman George Keiaho of Buena has managed to top the 100-yard mark, getting 146 in a 40-12 El Toro victory in the opening round of the playoffs.

Paramount and El Toro met in the second round of the 1986 playoffs, and El Toro won, 28-8. Johnson said he could foresee that Coach Ken Sutch was building one of the section’s elite programs.

“Year in and year out, they have superior athletes,” he said. “They don’t do anything fancy. They beat you at the fundamentals.”

Reardon sees tonight’s game as a matchup between Paramount’s secondary and the passing of El Toro quarterback Rob Johnson.

Johnson has completed 196 of 281 pass attempts for 2,596 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has thrown only six interceptions. Paramount’s secondary has 17 interceptions. “We watched El Toro play Buena, and I felt El Toro was playing at a different level,” Reardon said. “Then, we watched Paramount against Muir and felt the same way. These are two outstanding teams, but Paramount is probably playing the best football in the CIF at this time.”