El Camino Takes Aim at Luginbill : Community colleges: If Warriors hope to beat Palomar, ranked third in the nation, they must slow Comet quarterback.

Quarterback Tommy Luginbill and the Palomar College football team are coming to town.

But El Camino College hasn’t been holding its breath waiting for Palomar to arrive for Saturday’s 7 p.m. Mission Conference game at El Camino. Palomar (3-0) is ranked third in the nation among community colleges by USA Today.

“Games like this are easy to coach, it’s not hard to get your team motivated when you play an opponent like this,” El Camino Coach John Featherstone said.

Stopping Luginbill will be another thing for El Camino (1-2), which is coming off a 37-36 loss to Rancho Santiago in the closing seconds Saturday.

Luginbill, leading the state in passing yardage, has completed 71 of 102 passes for 979 yards and 10 touchdowns in three games. Luginbill has yet to play a full game this season, but is still on pace to surpass the national community college career passing record of 5,925 yards set by John Charles of Foothill from 1989-90.

In 1992, he led the state with 3,336 yards and 23 touchdowns in 1992 despite playing only two full games. Palomar finished 10-1, culminating with a victory over Mt. San Antonio College in the Orange Coast Classic.

In his first two games this season, Luginbill passed for a total of 742 yards and eight touchdowns in 40-0 and 59-6 victories over Pierce and Chaffey. He had 237 yards and two touchdowns Saturday in a 42-18 victory over Pasadena City.

“I could have had over 1,000 yards in the first two games if I played the whole game,” Luginbill, 19, said. “But I’m not a fanatic about running up the score. I’m just happy to win.”

The opportunity to win a national championship helped persuade Luginbill to stay at Palomar for his sophomore year. A first-team all-state and All-American selection, Luginbill turned down scholarship offers from San Diego State, Utah State, Arizona, Washington and North Carolina State.

That’s not an easy choice, especially when you’re father is Al Luginbill, the football coach at San Diego State.

Luginbill said he almost transferred to San Diego State after Aztec back-up quarterback Tim Gutierrez missed the final week of spring drills because of a herniated disk.

He changed his plans when Gutierrez was able to return for preseason drills in August. Gutierrez became San Diego State’s starting quarterback Saturday after David Lowery was lost for the season because of a fractured right leg.

Palomar Coach Tom Craft also told Luginbill an additional year of community college experience would be beneficial.

“There were a lot of rumors about him leaving,” Craft said. “He was looking into every option and the best option for him. With another year at Palomar, he should be able to step right into a starting position in a Division I program.”

The same could not be said after his senior season at Torrey Pines High.

Luginbill earned All-Palomar League honors in 1991 to help the Falcons (8-3) to a school record for wins. Luginbill played quarterback, running back and wide receiver but received little acclaim as a passer in a Wing-T offense.

He completed 26 of 49 passes for 473 yards and two touchdowns at a senior at Torrey Pines. As a freshman at Palomar, Luginbill attempted 47 passes in one game and passed for 469 yards in another.

“I never got much attention in high school because I was always playing different positions, but I always thought I could be good enough to play Division I,” Luginbill said.

Torrey Pines Coach Ed Burke believed Luginbill could play Division I football, but thought his future was as a receiver. He tried to persuade Luginbill to pursue the position in college.

“He’s a great athlete, but I didn’t think he had the arm strength to be a Division I quarterback,” Burke said. “He really believed in himself and worked hard. Tommy couldn’t have chosen a better place than Palomar to develop.”

Under the tutelage of Craft, Luginbill became the sixth Palomar quarterback in a row to surpass 3,000 passing yards for a season. Luginbill, however, is the first true freshman to reach the mark. The others were transfers from four-year universities.

“We usually don’t have the luxury of having a quarterback for two seasons,” said Craft, a quarterback at San Diego State in 1975-76 and in his 17th year at Palomar. “Tommy performs very, very well under stress. We’ve been able to incorporate some more complicated things this year.”

Where to continue his playing career is becoming increasingly complicated for Luginbill, who must deal with the pressures of possibly playing for his father at San Diego State.

Al Luginbill said the scenario has often been discussed, but he will be supportive of wherever his son chooses to play. Tommy is also well aware of the consequences of joining his father.

“If I went to San Diego State out of high school, people would have said I got a scholarship for being the coach’s son,” he said. “Now, I think I have the credentials to prove I deserve it. But I’d have to be heads and shoulders over everyone else to start. Even then, I would always be under the microscope.”