Stats Aren’t All That Count in Playoffs

Listen, high school football fans. Even though the Southern Section playoffs begin this week, even though you spent days charting heights and weights and third-down conversion rates, there is something you should know:

Too many statistics can blister the brain.

I’ll admit, it’s my own theory. But how else do you explain all those glazed looks out there? By season’s end, most of the prep football fans look like they just stepped off the boat from Zombie Land.

With that, we now bring you a low-key look at the playoffs, one that highlights the most important (though somewhat obscure) elements in Friday’s first round:

* Rob Johnson.

What’s a USC quarterback doing in a column like this? Just ask Los Alamitos quarterback Mike Good, who goes ga-ga at the mere mention of Johnson’s name. Rob Johnson this, Rob Johnson that. Interview Mike Good and you’re going to get an earful on his idol whether you like it or not.

“You gotta write this! Please! I’m begging you! I’ll pay you money!” Good pleaded Monday night. “SC will beat UCLA by 20 points! SC will win the Rose Bowl! Rob Johnson will win the Heisman! He’ll be All-American! He’ll be so famous next year John Madden will be talking about him during 49er games when he has nothing else to say!

It’s true! No, seriously, I mean it! I’m not kidding! Since Florida State lost to Notre Dame, the Heisman favorite is Rob Johnson. He is! Let me tell you! Who decides these things? Give them my phone number. I’ll lobby for votes . . . “

Listen, Warren coaches. It’s no secret your chances against Los Al Friday are minuscule at best. Our advice: Have everybody--Warren players, fans, members of the marching band--come to the game dressed as Rob Johnson. Good might just pass out on the spot.

Of course it’s a gamble. What other chance do you have?

* Varsity Bros.

A new sporting goods chain? No, merely the code name for Kennedy football. The Fighting Irish--which plays San Luis Obispo--has 14 sets of brothers playing football this season, including seven sets on the varsity.

Check out the family ties: Chris and Mike Clark, senior quarterback and junior receiver; Ramsey and Ronnie Lutfi, junior and senior guards; Larry and Tim Vern, senior tackle and junior center; Dan and Darrin Martineau, senior defensive end and sophomore fullback; Randy and Ronny Ellison, junior linebacker and sophomore safety; Toby and Clifford Palmer, senior and sophomore defensive backs, and Brad and Garrett Sabol, sophomore reserve quarterback and freshman running back/free safety.

Their motto? You guessed it.

Oh, brother .

* Motion poetry.

We’re talking Capistrano Valley running back Dan Geiss here. The small and sturdy spin machine leads the Cougars into their game against Loyola. That means the covers of his school books are filling up fast.

Say what? Well, Geiss likes to write poetry, particularly before big games. It doesn’t matter where he is--in class, out to eat, in bed at 4 a.m.--when the muse hits, he just has to write. (His latest work, a poem about monsters in the dark, was scribbled on his trigonometry book).

Said Geiss: “I just like to use my imagination.”

And his legs. Geiss enters Friday’s first round with 884 yards rushing. But hey, don’t memorize that, OK?

* An alma mater matter.

Forgive El Dorado Coach Rick Jones if he gets a little misty-eyed Friday night. His team faces Paramount, Jones’ alma mater.

Jones was a standout tight end and linebacker for the Pirates, graduating in 1977. He was a smart, clean-cut kid who always did the right thing, says Paramount assistant principal/former coach Jim Monico, who added:

“He was also the slowest tight end we ever had.”

Jones, who 18 years later can still recite the Pirate fight song (though just barely), says he is excited to see his former coaches and teachers, many of whom remain at the school. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a get-together after the game.

Said Jones: “It depends on how the score turns out.”

* Viva La Vaughan.

His name might not mean as much to you as Brad and Brian Finneran. His stats might not shine as bright. But don’t think for a minute Ruben Vaughan isn’t one of the most popular kids on campus at Santa Margarita High.

At least with the ninth-grade class.

Vaughan, a freshman linebacker and tight end, started at both positions in the Eagles’ season opener and hasn’t given up either position since. Add this to the fact that he’s a super nice, unpretentious kid (who receives mostly A’s), and you have one star in the making.

“He is the pride and joy of the freshman class,” says Eagle Coach Jim Hartigan, whose team plays Damien. “We introduce him at pep rallies and he gets standing ovations. The freshmen just go ballistic.”

Ballistic? As a statistic, that’s a top mark indeed.