PREP FOOTBALL / Special Pullout Section : No Identity Crisis for Trabuco Hills Twins : Division VIII: Cornerback Geoff Beckham and his brother Gerry, a kicker, will try to help Mustangs defeat Laguna Hills tonight.

The coach said they lacked identity. They said they lacked an opportunity. But their senior year is one that will be memorable for twins who finally matched their talent to a position.

Geoff Beckham, who has had an up-and-down career punctuated by position changes, led the county in interceptions with nine.

Gerry, his younger brother by four minutes, aspires to catch passes, but takes satisfaction in kicking the ball through the goal posts. In last week’s 33-8 victory over Bellflower, he tied the modest school record for field goals in a season (five) and set the record for extra points kicked in a career (55).

Together, they have helped Trabuco Hills (9-3) reach the Southern Section Division VIII semifinals. Tonight, against Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Hills (9-3) at Mission Viejo High, they’ll have a chance to help lift the Mustangs to their fourth championship appearance in six years.

“If we’re going to take credit for anything for coaching them,” began Trabuco Hills Coach Jim Barnett, “it’s that as juniors, both were wide receivers and didn’t have any individual identity because they’re twins. It’s like they were two guys who did basically the same thing. So we put one on offense and one on defense. That’s how the thing evolved.”

Actually, that’s just how this season evolved. Over four years, it has been a bumpy ride, especially for Geoff.

Like Gerry, his best sport is soccer. He tried out for the football team and competed at quarterback against his best friend, Matt Rechner. Rechner won, and Geoff sat on the bench. A lot. Disappointed, he wasn’t going to go out for the team as a sophomore.

Rechner and Geoff’s close friends talked him into trying out for the team. So did Gerry, who started at wide receiver and had a ball.

“I played soccer all year round, and I thought football didn’t work out, so I’ll concentrate on soccer,” Geoff said. “My friends told me it could turn around for me. They said I should try a different position because I wasn’t going to be a quarterback as I grew up. They said to give it a chance.”

Geoff conceded. He switched to receiver and was the junior varsity’s most valuable player on offense, while Rechner played varsity.

But his success as a sophomore magnified the plummet as a junior. He played behind Cordell Graham and Rechner, and didn’t see much action. He again contemplated quitting.

Again, he gave it another chance.

He made the transition to defense and started at right cornerback, opposite Rechner, a proven player in the secondary whose five interceptions this year gave him 16 in his three-year career as a starter. Opposing teams picked on Beckham.

He picked back, beginning with the season’s first defensive play.

“The biggest interception of the year was against El Toro,” Beckham said. “I intercepted a fade and got our whole team fired up. We scored and it put us up by two touchdowns. It gave me confidence, too. They came at me, thought they could beat me and I intercepted it.”

For him, and perhaps for the team, it set the tone for the season. He had two interceptions that night.

“I thought maybe that was kind of a fluke, but when it kept happening, I couldn’t believe it,” Beckham said. “Every game I would get one and it kept going on. It was shocking.

“I just keep making the plays.”

Actually, Barnett said Beckham has taken some needling lately.

“I expected Geoff to have real good year,” he said. “You need a little luck to have nine, and he caught every one that was near him, (but) he’s dropped two since then so we’ve been kind of on him.”

Which takes us to the film room, where play is scrutinized, and Beckham’s goals for this season--the real reason he has excelled.

“I didn’t want to be someone the other team would see in the film and say ‘This is who we want to pick on,’ ” he said. “I wanted to fill out the defense and not be a weakness. I think I played the first couple of games in fear, not wanting to get beat, not wanting to make a mistake.”

Gerry Beckham’s grade-point average is a tad higher than his brother’s 4.29, and like Geoff, he wants to go to Stanford to play soccer. Gerry is a midfielder, Geoff a sweeper. It’s not surprising Geoff made the transition to kicker.

He had good years playing football while his brother was having bad years. He played often as a freshman but was sidelined as a sophomore with hamstring pulls.

And like Geoff, he was caught in the receiver backlog as a junior.

“Gerry is a really good receiver,” said Barnett, “but we have other good receivers and he’s just had bad luck.”

But he made the most of his opportunity as a kicker, booting a 28-yarder in the first game his junior year. He has been the starter since, and has the admiration of Barnett, an old-school coach who doesn’t place much trust in scrawny kickers. Gerry doesn’t qualify: He also lettered last year in baseball, track and soccer.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Barnett said. “In a tiebreaker situation, if it got down to that, I usually would go for the touchdown. If we stopped them first, we’d be real conservative on offense. I’d let him kick on third down. That’s about as high a compliment as I can pay a kicker. Over the years, I’ve been much more inclined to score a touchdown and not rely on kickers. But when they’re real athletes, I have a tendency to trust them more than if they are guys who aren’t getting dirty, who are just kickers.”

Beckham’s range is 50 yards, though he has never attempted one from more than 39 in a game. And he has never had to kick a game-winning field goal. But he’s a senior now, and his past is behind him. He’s a contributor and wants the responsibility.

“I’m looking forward to one of those,” he said. “I think I’m ready for that.”

It just took some time.

TRABUCO HILLS vs. LAGUNA HILLS

Featured Game

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Mission Viejo High School.

Records: Trabuco Hills (9-3); Laguna Hills (9-3).

Rankings: Both are unseeded in the tournament; Trabuco Hills is ranked eighth in Division VIII; Laguna Hills 10th.

Noteworthy: Trabuco Hills scored a 33-6 victory when they met Oct. 15. Both are better now, and Laguna Hills has won six in a row, including 27-26 upset of second-seeded Yucaipa last week, and averaged 37.2 points since then,