El Camino, San Marcos are Putting Avocado Title Hopes On the Line : Football: Wildcats could clinch championship tonight.

Give El Camino Coach Herb Meyer and San Marcos Coach Ken Broach credit, they are doing their best to downplay tonight’s game.

When asked their feelings on the game, both coaches had the same sly response. “What game? Is there a football game Friday night?”

Afraid so, guys. In all likelihood, the game at El Camino (7:30) will determine the Avocado League champion. A victory by second-ranked El Camino (7-1, 5-0) would give the Wildcats their third consecutive league title.

If San Marcos (6-2, 5-1) wins tonight and next week against Escondido (4-4, 3-2), it would clinch a tie for its first Avocado League title since 1986.

San Marcos was in a similar position last year, but the Knights fell to El Camino, 20-7.

Meyer remembers it well.

“(Mark) Frazier ran all over us for about 200 yards, but we kept him out of the end zone,” Meyer said.

Which is more than most San Marcos opponents can say. Frazier, the county’s seventh-leading rusher and third-leading scorer, has run for 1,106 yards (6.3 yards per carry) and 16 touchdowns.

Does Meyer see a different Frazier this year?

“Not really,” he said. “He steps out of tackles and makes people miss. He makes most of his yards in traffic because he has such quick feet. Last year, he made most of his yards on us after the first hit.”

But Frazier, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior fullback, will see a different El Camino defense this year. The Wildcats have allowed a county-best 6.3 points a game and have registered five shutouts.

Senior linebacker Abdul McCullough, a Times All-County selection last year, leads the blitz-happy El Camino defense with nine sacks. Defensive tackle John Moore is second with five. In all, El Camino has a mind-boggling 51 tackles for losses, including 30 sacks.

“You try and run away from McCullough and then you run into (Daniel) Esposito,” Broach said. “They just have outstanding outside linebackers.”

El Camino also has a pretty outstanding tailback in Mike Gee. Although he missed three games with a viral infection, Gee has run for 675 yards and 11 touchdowns and is averaging 8.2 yards a carry.

Gee entered the season as El Camino’s No. 2 tailback, but became a starter when Lamont Girton went down with a season-ending knee injury in El Camino’s opening game.

“He’s a lot like Frazier,” Meyer said. “He’s a real physical type. He’s not fancy. He’d rather run over you than around you.”

Gee ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns last week in El Camino’s 38-22 victory over San Pasqual.

The Knights weren’t as fortunate against San Pasqual. They blew an 18-0 lead and lost 20-18.

“We know in that ballgame, we let up,” Broach said. “We played not to lose, instead of trying to win. Hopefully, we learned something from that game.”