Orange County High School Football PREP EXTRA : Stein Leads No. 1 Los Alamitos

One of these days, somebody, somehow will catch those sneaky Los Alamitos High football coaches assembling yet another seemingly perfect human quarterback.

And what a happy day it will be for the rest of the Southland’s football coaches when someone reveals where the Griffins get the parts for these guys, because nobody else can find the store.

Until this whistle-blower emerges, however, the opposition will endure the same problems L.A. Washington faced Friday night in Los Alamitos’ 38-7 victory before 3,000 at Cerritos College.

The Griffins (2-0), ranked first in a poll of Orange County sportswriters, extended their unbeaten streak to 37. What’s more, Los Alamitos’ offense ran in precision despite the neophyte varsity signal-caller at its controls.

Sophomore quarterback Sean Stein, starting in place of injured junior Kevin Feterik, completed six of 12 passes for 112 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Stein (6 feet 1, 183 pounds) was especially effective in the game’s first 24 minutes, leading Los Alamitos to touchdowns on all five of its possessions. His only incompletion of the first half came on his last attempt.

The Griffins eased off in the second half. Mike Phillips’ 28-yard field goal in the third quarter was the only second-half scoring.

“I had a whole week of practice and it went great,” Stein said. “I was really confident; wasn’t nervous at all.”

Likewise, Griffin Coach John Barnes was pleased with Stein, who made his varsity debut last week after the left-handed Feterik broke a bone in his throwing hand in the first half of the Griffins’ 24-14 season-opening victory over Kennedy.

“You would be hard pressed to find a better sophomore quarterback around,” Barnes said. “He got tons of work this week and he’s handled it great.”

Senior receiver Brad Melsby caught four passes for 93 yards and one touchdown. Junior receiver Tony Hartley had two catches for 19 yards and one touchdown, and intercepted two passes while playing defensive back. Senior running back Phil Cruz gained 115 yards in 14 carries and rushed for three touchdowns--all in the first half.

Stein was removed from the game with 10 minutes 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. Many of the Griffins’ other starters were relaxing on the sidelines for quite a while before Stein arrived.

Los Alamitos outscored Washington, 22-7, to put the game out of reach in the first quarter. Los Alamitos actually trailed early, 7-0, thanks to a spectacular 91-yard opening kickoff return by Dennis Northcutt and a successful point-after kick by Vester Ellison.

The scoring ended there, though, for Washington (0-2), which was penalized 10 times for 60 yards in the opening half.