Stature Doesn’t Keep Navarro From Going Over the Top : Football: Orange Glen quarterback is only 5-foot-8, but he has put up some big numbers.

Defensive linemen, typically the biggest, baddest, fastest carnivores you can find, are his greatest obstacles.

They try to separate the playbook from the quarterback’s senses. That’s why quarterbacks today are big themselves. Few are shorter than 6 feet. The taller, the better . . . first, to see over those charging linemen and, second, to survive them.

Bigger really is better when it comes to quarterbacks.

The exception is Orange Glen’s Omar Navarro.

He stands only 5-feet-8 in socks . . . or four inches too short to be a small quarterback. Naturally, his greatest assets are the things that can’t be measured with a ruler--his heart, poise, character, leadership and savvy.

These things aren’t going to be noticed as his name is entered in the San Diego Section record book when the season ends. Nor will his height. But his accomplishments can’t be overlooked. He has thrown this season for 1,786 yards, giving him 4,582 for his career. Based on the standards set before him, he ranks fifth in section history and has at least two games remaining.

He could surpass two of those in front of him, Holtville’s Alex Wells (4,778 yards) and Kearny’s Tom Rawlins (5,097). If Navarro is able to recapture the magic he pulled out of last year’s season, taking Orange Glen to the 3-A San Diego Section championship game, then Scott Barrick’s 5,388-yard standard could be in jeopardy. The section record-holder is Jim Plum, who passed for 6,913 yards during his three-year career at Helix (1979-81).

Navarro might be small in stature, but he has compiled some giant numbers.

He has been a quarterback since he was 8 years old and throwing spirals on the Pop Warner team just like his Uncle Steve taught him. That confidence accompanied him as he grew older. By the time he was a freshman in 1987, he knew his calling in sport, and he didn’t mind letting other people know it.

There was this new kid in school, a transfer from Escondido High, who was supposed to be some hotshot receiver.

Kris Plash would run his routes at freshman practice, and Navarro would hit him right in the numbers. And Plash would always drop the ball. It never failed. And every time it happened, Plash would come back to Navarro.

“Man, that was a great pass,” he would say.

And every time came the same confident response from Navarro.

“I know. That’s why I’m the quarterback.”

He was the quarterback all right. The quarterback.

Little did they know that Plash would develop into the receiver.

Alongside Navarro’s, Plash’s name will also be entered into the record book. He is third in section history with 151 career receptions, six behind Fallbrook’s Bill Dunckel and 27 behind San Dieguito’s Travis Knox. If not for a severe ankle sprain that has kept him out of nearly two full games--and threatens to keep him out of a third on Friday--Dunckel’s name, and probably Knox’s, would be history.

Plash and Navarro are like spaghetti and sauce, made for each other. Their sophomore season on the junior varsity, Plash caught five touchdown passes in the first three games.

“Everything Omar threw was to me,” Plash recalled. “I got moved up to the varsity but I didn’t want to go because we were so good together.”

Plash led Orange Glen’s varsity with 34 receptions that year.

“Yeah,” Plash said, “but the next year with Omar I had 71, so you can see how that changed.”

Through five games--and seven plays in the sixth--Plash caught 45 passes, almost half the record 93 caught in a season by Orange Glen’s Jake Nyberg in 1988. The quarterback for Nyberg was 6-foot-6 Cree Morris, and both are now at San Diego State.

“Omar’s really left his mark,” Plash said. “I like to see him getting a lot of credit; it’s tough to be a 5-8 quarterback in varsity football. He’s definitely at a disadvantage compared to the 6-3 guys, and he’s right at the top.

“He’s pretty much made me what I am today.”

The Orange Glen offense has never been altered to accommodate Navarro’s height. Although he could see more out of shotgun formation, he still lines up over center to make his initial reads. When he drops back, the first thing he sees is the numbers on the backs of his offensive linemen. He then looks for his passing lanes, not between linebackers, but between guards, tackles and the center.

“Whenever I run,” Plash said, “I’ll be standing there and the ball will appear out of nowhere. I don’t know how he could see me. I’ve never seen Omar in the pocket, but the ball is always right there where it belongs. I don’t know how he does it.”

Plash, of all people, can relate to Navarro. He is also 5-8, but at 140 pounds weighs 40 fewer pounds than the quarterback.

“I’m in my own little world during a game,” Plash said, “but I remember against Morse (in the finals) walking past the defensive linemen on my way back to the huddle. I couldn’t believe how big those guys are. I couldn’t imagine getting hit by those guys.”

Navarro has thrived nonetheless. He has had only two passes batted down this season.

“I think we’ve been able to do more with Omar than ever before at Orange Glen,” Patriot Coach Rob Gilster said. “Not everyone has been able to implement all the stuff we’ve tried to do. He can handle it mentally and he can do it physically, too.

“He’s a coach on the field. In Omar, there’s nobody better to have in crunch time. When the pressure’s on and we have to go, he’s good at it. Real good.”

He has succeeded with only average physical talents, except maybe being able to throw the ball 53 yards in the air. He is not particularly mobile, but he gets teammates to follow him.

“He doesn’t have the raw tools, but he’s a competitive kid,” said Ken Walker, Orange Glen’s quarterback coach. “He’s intelligent and he’s a true competitor. There’s no God-given talent that just shines. We could see that even when he was a freshman. The kids followed his direction.”

Fallbrook Coach Tom Pack, who has employed the run-and-shoot offense for a decade and is a bit of an authority on passers, has seen Navarro from the opposing sideline and in reels of game film.

“He’s a very good high school quarterback,” Pack said. “His strength is his ability to get the ball off. You have to get to him and mess up his timing. If you don’t, he’ll pick you apart. You can’t play a strict zone against him or he’ll beat you.

“If you watch him, he’s a take-charge kind of guy. He walks like he’s in charge and the kids respond to that.”

They responded last year. Given little chance for success, Orange Glen upset second-seeded Helix (15-14) and third-seeded Rancho Buena Vista (24-7) en route to the 3-A San Diego Section championship game. The season ended with a 28-7 loss to Morse.

With the same opportunity, Navarro said he wouldn’t be satisfied with another second-place finish: “We hold our destiny in our own hands.”

Small hands, but proven hands.

This year’s team has lacked continuity because of injuries, and that has been reflected in the Patriots’ 1-3-1 record in the Palomar League. They are 4-3-1 overall. Though they were a favorite to win the league title at the beginning of the year, they need at least one victory in their final two games, against Rancho Buena Vista (4-4) and Mt. Carmel (1-7), simply to get into the playoffs.

“The biggest thing with Omar is it’s a team game,” Gilster said. “As long as everybody’s doing their job, Omar looks good.”

But Orange Glen likes to have a little more balance than it has had of late. Fullback Joaquin Randall was among the section’s rushing leaders when he fractured his fibula. Plash and Jeremy McCullough (torn anterior cruciate ligament) were hurt in the same game. The Patriots have replaced two offensive linemen and gone through three centers. Defenses have been teeing off on Navarro and the passing game.

Although his numbers this season reflect the struggles of the team, he still is among the county’s passing leaders. He has completed 135 of 235 passes for 1,786 yards, nine touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

“Last year’s team made Omar look better,” Gilster said. “It only takes one guy to miss his block and cause a sack or force an interception.

“(But) Omar never loses his cool. He gets frustrated but, the next series, he’s out there bouncing back up, whether it was his fault or not.”

“He’s not a clown,” quarterback coach Walker said, “but he can really lighten the moment.”

Plash is Navarro’s best friend. They even share a locker, so they are side by side when dressing for practices and games.

“Omar’s relaxed all time,” Plash said. “He doesn’t get mad at all. He’s a parent’s dream. He’s a clean-mouthed kid and he goes to church every Sunday.”

Despite their friendship, the game-day relationship between them is distant. They don’t talk at all before the game and very little during the game.

“It’s like tradition or something,” Plash said. “In games we do talk, we don’t connect.”

Obviously, they have produced a lot of silence through the years.

Comparing the Best

Years Name, school Ht. Comp./Rank Yds./Rank TDs/Rank 79-81 Jim Plum, Helix 6-2 434/1 6,913/1 70/1 85-86 Scott Barrick, Fallbrook 6-3 405/2 5,388/2 44/4 87-89 Tom Rawlins, Kearny 6-3 328/5 5,097/3 43/5 87-89 Alex Wells, Holtville 5-9 395/3 4,778/4 55/2 90-91 O. Navarro, Orange Glen 5-8 337/4 4,582/5 27/*

* Unranked

Rankings based on 1991 San Diego Section record book, and Navarro’s statistics to date.