Valencia’s Estes Makes His Presence Felt : Division VI: Low-key as a junior last season, the linebacker has become a vocal leader for the Tigers, who face Duarte for the title tonight.

Low-key and easygoing, Matt Estes quietly went about his job as a defensive end on Valencia High’s football team that finished 14-0 and won the Southern Section Division VI championship last season.

But this season, Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo moved Estes to inside linebacker. Things began to change.

Estes became a co-captain. He became a leader on a team full of juniors and a few sophomores. He became just a tad more vocal.

But one thing has stayed the same--the Tigers are playing in another section championship game.

Besides playing defense, Estes also will start at right guard tonight against second-seeded Duarte in the Division VI championship game at Citrus College. He’s one of three two-way players--Chris Draft and Ace Riggins are the others--who start for the Tigers.

Estes will line up beside Draft, a junior linebacker who is about as quiet as a rock concert and motivates teammates with his constant on-field banter and crushing hits.

Strange, but a little bit of Draft’s personality has rubbed off on Estes.

“Last year, I was more of a quiet guy,” Estes said. “I was only a junior and most of the team was made up of seniors. You never spoke out against one of them.”

And if you did?

“You would get beat up after practice,” he said. “Nobody spoke out against the seniors.”

Even Draft?

“They left Chris alone,” Estes said. “They were sort of afraid of him.”

“This year, I’m a senior,” he said. “When we’re on defense, and I tell everyone to ‘get down’ in the huddle, they do it.”

Smart move. Estes stands 6 feet 3 and weighs 220 pounds and is one of the team’s best hitters, along with Draft.

He has 102 tackles, second only to Draft, and his only interception of the season sparked Valencia’s 33-10 victory over Western. He was a unanimous all-Orange League selection at linebacker.

Tonight’s game will be the last of Estes’ high school career, and a chance to lead the Tigers to a second consecutive title. But this season, has been different, much different, for Estes.

Last season, the Tigers featured outstanding skill players in senior quarterback Marc O’Brien, receivers Korey and Kevin Alexander, and running backs Willie Barnes and Ryan Roskelly. The Tigers were top-ranked all season, top-seeded for the playoffs and blew out nearly every opponent.

“After last season, everyone was telling us, we had to do it again,” Estes said. “They wanted back-to-back titles. Everyone was saying, ‘Dang, can they do it again?’ ”

There have been doubts.

The seniors graduated, leaving Estes and Riggins as two of only a handful of seniors on this year’s team.

Two months ago, they wondered if they would even make the playoffs. They started the season 1-2, losing to Servite and El Dorado, before winning 10 of the next 11 games.

“It (the championship game) seemed pretty far off then,” Estes said. “It was just a dream for us back then. But we still had a good attitude; we knew we were better than that.”

Reality began setting in at the start of the playoffs. The unseeded Tigers beat Covina, 38-9, in the first round, upset top-seeded and undefeated Charter Oak, 28-25, in the second round and then beat fourth-seeded Whittier, 19-9, in last week’s semifinals.

“Once we started beating some of the big teams, it was unbelievable,” Estes said. “The Charter Oak game was a big lift. With each game, we felt a little better.”

Except for last week.

Estes missed a day of practice early in the week with a sore throat and 102-degree temperature. Doctors told him he might not play in the Whittier game.

But the fever broke and Estes began feeling better by game day. Valencia coaches showed caution, starting him only on defense to see how he felt, and later playing him both ways.

Besides a scratchy throat, Estes felt fine.

“After we won, all the pain went away,” Estes said. “If we would have lost, I might still be sick.”