Night Just Kept Getting Worse for Tolliver : Football: Poor performance is followed by Friesz being named as starter.

Not in his worst nightmares could Billy Joe Tolliver imagined an evening like this.

Tolliver has had some bad games before, but this was so abysmal it was pathetic. Charger Coach Dan Henning thought it pathetic enough to name John Friesz as the starter Sept. 1 in the regular-season opener in Pittsburgh.

Tolliver has had worse statistical nights than Friday’s, when he went seven for 17 for 94 yards with one interception. But mentally for Tolliver it couldn’t have been much worse.

After 2 1/2 quarters of boos ringing in his ears and cheers ringing in the ears of his successor, John Friesz, Tolliver might have felt like the loneliest man in San Diego.

“It was a rough night to say the least,” Tolliver said. “I didn’t play well so I guess we take it from there and go on.”

The final exhibition, against the Los Angeles Raiders, didn’t start that badly for Tolliver. On the last play of the first quarter, he completed his first attempted pass to Arthur Cox for 20 yards.

Maybe he should have stopped while he was ahead.

From there, he missed on six of his next seven. The completion was to running back Rod Bernstine for a loss of eight yards.

Two were overthrown and four were dropped.

The boos began during that stretch and grew louder and more vicious with each incompletion. The second quarter mercifully ended when Tolliver’s underthrown pass to Ronnie Harmon was intercepted by Raider cornerback Lionel Washington.

Tolliver was greeted by a chorus of boos to begin the third quarter. And then, it got really ugly. After another underthrow to Harmon, chants of “Friesz, Friesz,” began to fill San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

They stopped for a while when Tolliver competed a 36-yard pass over the middle to Bernstine. But the chants for Friesz started again when Tolliver was thrown for an 11-yard loss by Raider linebacker Aaron Wallace.

The people finally got their wish when Tolliver fumbled while scrambling for yardage at the Raider 18.

Tolliver said he understood why the fans jeered him.

“That’s just the way it is,” he said.

The final indignity came when Friesz completed his first 11 passes for 131 yards. Every pass he completed was followed by an even louder cheer than the previous one.

Friesz finished the night 17 of 19 for 210 yards and a touchdown. It seemed everything Tolliver did wrong Friesz did right. While many of Tolliver’s passes were underthrown or overthrown, Friesz caught receivers in stride all night.

“John played well and added a spark and got us some points,” Tolliver said.

Friesz said he felt bad for Tolliver.

“(Tolliver) has been the biggest help for me since I’ve been on the team,” Friesz said. “I knew they were upset with Billy Joe and I know that’s not all his fault.

“In the first series, the first three plays were other people’s fault. It helps when everyone is in sync.”