PREP NOTES : Trabuco Hills’ Blake Out for Rest of the Season

Trabuco Hills center Brian Blake will sit out the rest of the football season after suffering a bruised spinal cord and a damaged disk when attempting a tackle in the Mustangs’ 21-14 victory over Estancia Friday night.

Blake, a 6-foot, 215-pound senior, will be out at least three months. He suffered the injury with 6 minutes 52 seconds left in the second quarter. He was attempting to make a tackle on an Estancia fumble return, and his neck snapped backward as he fell out of bounds.

“I went to make the tackle, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back,” Blake said. “I blacked out for awhile, then they (paramedics) asked me to move my body parts and I couldn’t. I was scared.”

Officials stopped play for 25 minutes while paramedics loaded Blake into an ambulance. He spent the weekend being examined at Hoag Hospital before being released Sunday afternoon.

Blake said he felt fine Monday and planned to attend the Mustangs’ practice that afternoon.

“I’m taking it easy,” he said. “I’ll just walk up some stairs, that’s about it. The doctors still have me all drugged up on painkillers.”

Santa Margarita shortstop Eric Sees and Los Alamitos pitcher Ben Rada have committed to Stanford and will sign with the Cardinal on Wednesday.

Rada chose Stanford over California, USC and Nevada. Rada, a 6-3 right-hander, was 4-2 last season for the Griffins.

Sees, the county’s third-leading hitter with a .477 average last season, had 31 hits and 16 stolen bases in leading Santa Margarita to a 15-9 record and a third-place finish in the Angelus League. He visited Tennessee and Georgia Tech before choosing Stanford.

Capistrano Valley volleyball player Aaron Garcia has committed to Stanford, Capistrano Valley Christian outside hitter Kathleen Bunce has committed to Loyola Marymount and Esperanza middle blocker Paul Nihipali has committed to UCLA.

Garcia, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter, chose Stanford over UC Santa Barbara and Brigham Young. She had 20 kills a match last season and was the only junior named to The Times’ all-county first team.

Garcia joins former Estancia High standout Matt Fuerbringer at Stanford. Garcia and teammate Eric Seiffert were among 30 players selected to the Junior Elite Camp last summer in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Nihipali, 6-7, chose UCLA over USC, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge. He led Esperanza to the Southern Section 3-A finals last season.

Bunce, 6-1, chose Loyola Marymount over Pepperdine, Notre Dame and Westmont. She was the Southern Section Division V MVP last season and led the Eagles to the State Division V title.

She’s averaging 12 kills per match this season for the Eagles (14-0), top-ranked in their division and sixth in Orange County.

Garcia plans to sign with Stanford later this week. Bunce will be eligible to sign on Feb. 3.

The close race for the Pacific Coast League title and the league’s entrants to the Southern Section Division VIII football playoffs will be settled this week.

Here’s how it stands: Century, Trabuco Hills and Laguna Hills are tied for the lead with 3-1 league records. Estancia (4-5, 2-2 in league) is fourth.

The top three teams automatically qualify for the playoffs, with one at-large berth available to a fourth-place team with at least a .500 record. All ties in league play are broken by head-to-head records. The scenarios:

--Estancia could finish third by beating Costa Mesa Friday night, and Laguna Hills beating Century Thursday night.

Estancia and Century would be tied for third at 3-2, but Estancia would get the automatic berth because the Eagles beat the Centurions. An Estancia loss would eliminate the Eagles from playoff contention, because at-large teams must have a .500 record.

--A Laguna Hills victory, coupled with a Trabuco Hills loss to Laguna Beach, would give the Hawks the league title outright. Victories by Trabuco Hills and Laguna Hills would give Trabuco Hills the title because the Mustangs beat the Hawks, 42-0, in the league opener.

--Century and Trabuco Hills victories would give Centurions the title because they upset the Mustangs, 21-20, this season.

Times staff writer Tom Hamilton contributed to this story.