PREP EXTRA : Notebook : Coach’s Call Raises Questions

The Really Bad Idea Dept. kicks off this season with a fumble by Foothill Coach Tom Meiss.

After his football team beat Tustin, 40-6, on Friday to stop a five-year losing streak against the Tillers, Meiss announced he wanted to end the annual rivalry.

Meiss, in his third year, would like to do away with a tradition that dates back 29 years and 28 games; they didn’t meet in 1974.

“I wanted to end this game three years ago because there’s nothing good about it,” Meiss said. “It’s not healthy for anybody. I felt like I could not end it on a sour note. If you lose (and want out), it looks like you’re ducking out of it. I’ll do anything I can to see that it doesn’t continue.”

It appears Meiss is ducking out, period. Foothill is 17-9-2 in the series, even though it had not won since 1988 (four were shutouts). The game typically is the season-opener and provides a good motivational tool to keep both teams focused during summer two-a-days.

“If we can’t, it’s not going to be the end of the world because our program is on the rise, regardless of whether I’m there or someone else is there,” Meiss said. “It doesn’t change the fact that it’s not a healthy situation.

“When I have people talking trash and (such) in today’s society, it promotes all the things that I’m against. I resent it when Tustin uses its T-shirts to belittle us. I’m into a more healthy relationship. It should just be a game and the kids should enjoy it.”

One wonders, would Mater Dei and Servite, which now has lost six in a row to the Monarchs, stop playing? Or Fullerton-Anaheim? Or Westminster-La Quinta?

Tustin and Foothill have a contract to play each other next year, then it expires.

“It would probably become a very political issue,” said Foothill Athletic Director Bob Osborne, who helps make the schedule. “I think as long as we can keep it a healthy rivalry, and there aren’t too many incidents, we can keep it.”

Second-year Tustin Coach Tim Ellis can see Meiss’ point that players put too much stock in the outcome.

“I don’t look at it as a bad thing,” he said. “Some egos are hurt, but nobody got hurt. The stands are packed and there’s excitement; that’s what’s neat about this game--the community gets behind it.”

And the community--and the schools--will be around long after Meiss departs.

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Speaking of rivalries, Mater Dei quarterback John Flynn couldn’t wait to get home after the Monarchs’ victory over Servite.

“My brother went to Servite,” Flynn said. “As soon as I get home, I’m calling him. This is going to be fun.”

Mater Dei beat the Friars, 55-14. Flynn completed 15 of 19 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns.

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Costa Mesa’s DeWayne Crenshaw scored on his first carry against Ocean View, going 70 yards for a touchdown. A year earlier, he scored on his first carry against Ocean View, going 44 yards. Crenshaw had five touchdowns Friday, but it wasn’t a school record--Binh Tran had six last year. And Crenshaw didn’t even score the most touchdowns of the night--Laguna Hills’ Brendan McGraw had six against Sonora.

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Crenshaw wasn’t the only player to score on his team’s first play from scrimmage on the first night of the season:

* Irvine’s Sean Clark ran 22 yards for a touchdown the first time the Vaqueros got the ball.

* Sonora’s Mark Gonzales scored on an 80-yard pass play from Kevin Rodriguez to open its 48-26 loss to Laguna Hills.

* Tustin’s Reggie Curry scored on an 80-yard pass play from Kevin Timone on the first play of its 40-6 loss to Foothill.

But none of those guys could beat Trabuco Hills’ Keith Hocking into the end zone. He took the opening kickoff Thursday and returned it 99 yards for the season’s first score.

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When Elden Gillespie donated the Mayor’s Trophy in 1982 to encourage Westminster and La Quinta to play football against each other, some feared the size disparity in the schools would create mismatches such as Thursday’s 42-0 Westminster victory. It hasn’t happened. In the eight meetings before 1994, six games were decided by eight points or fewer; four were decided by no more than a field goal.

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Best injury story of the week belongs to Santa Margarita lineman Josh Beckett. He left the game against Trabuco Hills in the first half, fearing he had a broken bone in his leg. He got in a car to go to the hospital, but the car wouldn’t start. “Screw this,” Beckett said, “I’m going back.”

He played the second half--with a bone chip in his ankle.

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Foothill’s water polo team, ranked No. 4 in the county preseason coaches poll, will quickly find out how well it measures up. The Knights start their season today against No. 2 San Clemente and play No. 1 Corona del Mar on Friday.

Today’s game, at 6 p.m. at Tustin High, also will mark the high school debut for freshman Robby Arroyo, brother of Gavin Arroyo, a former Villa Park standout and current member of the U.S. national team. Foothill Coach Jim Brumm says Arroyo will start.

“He has so much speed I can’t see how we could not start him,” Brumm said. “And he’s only going to get better.”

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The county’s best volleyball teams will play Friday and Saturday in the two-day Orange County Championships.

In addition to top-seeded Newport Harbor, fans can watch Corona del Mar, Dana Hills, Calvary Chapel, Capistrano Valley, Mater Dei and Huntington Beach. The finals are scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at Edison High.

Martin Beck, Chris Foster, Mike Itagaki, Forrest Lee and Eric Maddy contributed to this report.