PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE FOOTBALL PREVIEW : Course Is Clear for Trabuco Hills’ Barnes

Pat Barnes knows the routine.

He plays well, the Trabuco Hills High football team wins.

The team wins, he looks good.

He looks good, he gets a college scholarship.

Barnes, the Mustangs’ standout quarterback, is being recruited by some of the top teams in the country, including Texas, Colorado and most Pacific 10 schools.

But he knows full well that how he performs during his senior season will determine whether those schools offer a scholarship in February.

“The only way it will come is if we have success as a team,” said Barnes, who threw for 2,033 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. “If we don’t do well as a team, then I’m not doing well.

“In my mind, I know I have the potential to play at the Division I level. But I need to prove that to a lot of coaches. But once the season rolls around, that can’t come into play because it will affect the team’s goals.”

Barnes said only one thing can top last season--winning a Southern Section championship. Barnes led the Mustangs to an 8-5-1 record and the Southern Section Division VII championship game, where they lost to Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Hills, 35-28.

“We have to win it,” Barnes said. “You can only set your goals higher than they were last year. The only thing in my mind is winning it, nothing less.”

From a personal standpoint, Trabuco Hills Coach Jim Barnett said Barnes understands what’s at stake.

Barnes already has watched the recruiting process up close.

His brother, John, and David Lowery, both quarterbacks, led the Mustangs to successful seasons, then were nearly unrecruited.

John Barnes was recruited by a few small colleges, eventually playing at Western Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and is now a senior walk-on at UCLA. San Diego State was the only school to offer a scholarship to Lowery, who’s now the Aztecs’ starter.

“Pat has worked out with Lowery, and he knows he’s not as good as Lowery,” Barnett said. “Lowery wasn’t recruited hardly at all. We wheeled and dealed and finally got him an offer (from San Diego State).”

Barnes improved his skills this summer at camps at California and Stanford, where he worked with new Cardinal Coach Bill Walsh.

He also got bigger, growing an inch and adding nearly 20 pounds. At 6 feet 4 and 207 pounds, Barnes is better suited physically to be a college quarterback.

“He doesn’t have that gangly look he has had the last two years,” Barnett said.

Barnes is a standout in a league that features four good quarterbacks this season.

Estancia senior Matt Johner is a three-year starter. Junior Justin Vedder led Laguna Hills to the section championship as a sophomore, and Matt Harber is the returning starter at Costa Mesa.

“Pat’s one of the premier quarterbacks in the county,” Century Coach Bill Brown said. “He had an awesome game against us last year. He was 20 of 25, had two passes dropped and another one that should have been ruled a touchdown completion.

“We came at him, we hit him. But he was still awesome. He’s tough.”

Almost too tough.

“He tries to play quarterback like a linebacker sometimes,” Barnett said. “And potentially, that’s not too healthy.

“Teams will be taking shots at him this year, trying to knock him out.”

Said Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan: “He could be a linebacker and be recruited at the Division I level. He has that kind of mentality to play that way.”

Barnes said his barnstorming days are over. He still plays hard, but he’s no longer going one-on-one with somebody 30 pounds heavier than him.

“In a way, a lot of that (physical play) had to do with me not knowing how to handle the quarterback position,” he said. “I let my immaturity get away with me. I had a sophomore body, and here I was taking on seniors.”

How big were they?

“They were 230-pound middle linebackers,” Barnes said. “That wasn’t too smart, was it?

“But I learned my lesson. I got knocked down so hard I would see yellow spots, and I wouldn’t even know where I was.”

At least Barnes knows where he is now.

He just doesn’t know where he’ll be next season.