DIVISION X : He’s Ahead of Rest at Calvary Chapel

Jake Guild, Calvary Chapel tight end and inside linebacker, comes across as a guy with a good head on his shoulders.

He speaks smoothly and with a sense of perspective and direction. And he seems to have a strong hold on his priorities and values.

But as Guild and the Eagles prepare to meet Arrowhead League rival Southern California Christian in the Southern Section Division X title game Friday, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior hopes he can keep his head straight through his final 48 minutes of high school football.

That hasn’t always been the case this year, although not because Guild is absent-minded on the field. On the contrary, he’s an intense competitor with equal parts of brain and brawn. Coach Kris Van Hook said Guild rarely misses an assignment or a tackle.

It’s just that twice this season Guild received shots to the head that altered his performance.

For instance, in a 13-12 playoff victory over Village Christian at Granada Hills Kennedy last Saturday, Guild was smacked in the face by an opposing player in the first few minutes of the game and lost his right contact lens. When he asked someone to retrieve his spare one, Guild found that the guy had left it in his car--at Calvary Chapel.

“I had to play the rest of the game kind of blind,” said Guild, who is near-sighted. “I normally call the plays on defense but I had to ask (linebacker) Armando Parra to call the plays. I kept getting blindsided. I didn’t play much offense. It’s hard to catch a ball when you can’t see it.”

In a game against La Verne Lutheran a few weeks ago, Guild saw the ball clearly, but he could have used a compass to point him in the correct direction.

With the Eagles on their way to a lopsided victory (they won, 46-2), Guild tipped and intercepted a La Verne Lutheran pass. But instead of running for a touchdown, Guild took it 80 yards the wrong way for a safety. Those were the only points against Calvary Chapel in league to that point.

Guild said there was a good reason--or bad one, depending on the perspective--for his wrong-way touchdown.

“A few plays before (the interception) I hit their tailback with my helmet and I think I might have had a slight concussion. I was definitely not right after that,” Guild said smiling as he recalled the events. “I even went to the wrong side of the huddle right before that play. I caught the ball looking the wrong way, so I just ran for that end zone. I had guys pulling at my jersey and everything. I was in a daze.”

That blunder under mitigating circumstances is one of the few made by Guild, whose high school football experience before this season was limited to one year on the sophomore team at Edison and one on the Calvary Chapel JV squad.

“He’s a smart player,” Van Hook said. “I think the amazing thing about Jake is that this is his first year of actually playing varsity football, so it’s incredible what he has accomplished. I think he could be a collegiate linebacker. He’s got the size and the speed (4.8 in the 40 yards). If somebody was paying close attention they would be around here checking him out. He’s a tremendous prospect.”

If the assessment of a somewhat biased source such as Van Hook fails to convince, try these for persuasion: As a tight end, Guild leads the team in receptions with 23 for 352 yards and eight touchdowns. As a linebacker, he is second on the squad in tackles with 138 to Parra’s 168. As a fierce competitor who hates to miss even one series, he has few equals on the team.

“Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go just one way and concentrate on defense or offense,” Guild said. “But when I come out of games I’m right in the coach’s face asking him to put me back in.

As a standout on a team with barely two dozen players, there are not many occasions when Guild remains on the sideline for more than a few plays. Whichever side of the line, Guild likes to be in the middle of the action.

“I feel more at home at inside linebacker,” Guild said. “Defense gives me a chance to get fired up. On defense, I just key on the ball. But there’s nothing like catching a touchdown pass.”