THE BIG GAME MORSE-VISTA : Vista Knows the Tale of Tigers All Too Well

Unbeatable? Naw. Vista Coach Dick Haines knows that on any given day, any given team can succumb to any given circumstance.

Sure the top-ranked Morse High football team can be beaten. It just might take someone like the Kansas City Chiefs to do it.

“They’re one of the best schools in the country, not just California,” Haines said of the Tigers, who travel to No. 3 Vista for a 7:30 kickoff tonight. “(Morse Coach John Shacklett) Shack does a great job and he has talent to burn. We’re going in with the idea that it will take an all-out effort to hang with them and a superior effort to beat them.

“They’re very, very good. We don’t match up in size or speed, but I like to think we match up in heart.”

It will take a big one to beat Morse (3-0), who has scored 116 points, won in two time zones--including its opener in Hawaii--and scored three touchdowns in the first quarter against highly regarded Carson, the defending L.A. City champion.

“We have to hope they’re running on only six or seven cylinders,” said Haines.

Morse has not only won its first three games by an average of 18.3 points, it is on a 17-0 roll that began with the Tigers’ 1990 opener.

Haines said Vista must stop Morse’s big-play ability, as the Taylors twins--running back Gary and quarterback Cary--have demonstrated. In three games, Gary has rushed for four touchdowns, returned a punt for another, and Cary has three touchdown carries and passed for another four.

“They have great capabilities, those Taylor brothers can both fly,” said Haines.

But the Panthers (2-0) are doing big things, too.

Senior running back Chato Jackson has rushed for a county-leading seven touchdowns--tied with Coronado’s Sean Sadler--quarterback Eric Jencks has averaged 19.5 yards a throw, and one of the county’s top receivers, Aaron Rounsifer, is coming off an ankle sprain.

Contrary to popular belief, the jump start by traditional powerhouse Vista doesn’t point to the Panthers return from a four-year lull, which began when Rancho Buena Vista opened in 1988 and dipped deeply into a talent pool that resulted in a 0-10 Panther season.

“We were never gone,” Haines insisted. “So we had that bad year. But the pros have them, colleges have them, everyone has them.

“We’ve been high-profile for years. We just skipped a beat when we split and the talent thinned. But the kids maintained their heart and courage. We’re still a ways off, but we’re getting close to what we were before.”

But Vista knows close enough may not be good enough against Morse.