PREP FOOTBALL ’95 / GOLDEN WEST LEAGUE : First Cut Toughens Up Servite’s Paul, Salerno : Football: Childhood friends didn’t make eighth-grade team, but five years later they could lead Friars to league title.

Damien Salerno and Matt Paul can laugh about it now that they are highly touted linebackers at Servite High.

They were cut the first time they tried to play tackle football back in the eighth grade.

“They said I was too small,” said Paul, now a 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior who is being courted by many major colleges, including those in the Pacific 10 and WAC. “They said I wasn’t fast enough.”

That was five years ago. This is now.

Paul and Salerno, expected to anchor the middle of Servite’s 3-4 defensive front, could be among the county’s best by season’s end. So could the Friars.

Servite is the unanimous choice among the league’s six coaches to win its second consecutive title in the Golden West League, which was formed in 1994. Tustin, Saddleback and possibly Westminster, according to coaches, are expected to give the Friars’ a run for the money.

“Servite has to be the favorite,” Westminster Coach Stan Clark said.

Paul and Salerno agree.

“We look pretty good,” Paul said.

That’s a point Friar Coach Larry Toner disputes, sort of tongue in cheek.

“I’m glad they think we’ll do well. I’d call that youthful exuberance,” he said. “We have nine new offensive and five new defensive players. I appreciate their confidence, however.”

Salerno, 6-2, 195 pounds, and Paul have a lot to be confident about after getting off to a rough start in the sport they have since excelled in.

Friends since kindergarten when they met at Villa Park Elementary School, they hung out and played tee-ball together in the Villa Park Little League. By eighth grade, Paul, a catcher, and Salerno, a third baseman, thought they’d give football a try in a youth league in Orange.

“We got cut,” Salerno said. “They said we weren’t good enough.”

That was tough news for the underdeveloped Salerno, youngest of three brothers who have attended Servite. He was looking to forge his own identity at home. Brian was a wide receiver on the Friars’ 1982 football team. Kevin played baseball and graduated in 1984. Both were excellent athletes.

“With my first two boys there was a sibling rivalry,” said Art Salerno, their father. “Both were pretty good kids and tough competitors.”

Paul, as well, was frustrated by being cut. But at 5-9, 130 pounds, he knew he was on the skinny side. He just didn’t want to admit it.

To their credit, neither Paul nor Salerno let early failings as youth players get them down when they enrolled at Servite as freshmen in 1992.

“Looking back, it was a good learning experience for us,” Salerno said of being cut from the youth team. “It was our first experience with football. The first time we had put on pads.”

Toner thinks he knows why they weren’t considered for that team.

“Kids develop differently,” he said. “Sometimes early in their careers they haven’t developed the coordination or they don’t have the growth. Maybe kids are clumsy, not so fleet of foot.”

Conversely, time has a way of making amends.

“Those who have the edge as freshmen coming into high school don’t necessarily have the edge when they are seniors,” Toner said.

Servite has benefited from the development of Paul and Salerno, who would like to play football at Colorado State or Colorado, where Salerno attended a summer camp recently.

Salerno recalls the first time he donned a Friar uniform on his first day of practice. “At first I was frightened,” he said. “But after the first hit I liked it.”

As childhood friends do, both speak highly of each other.

“Damien is real quick and strong. He’s always around the ball,” Paul said.

Expect to see both around the ball often this fall for Servite.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1994 In Review

Standings

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League Overall School W L T W L T Servite 5 0 0 11 3 0 Westminster 3 2 0 6 5 0 Saddleback 3 2 0 4 7 0 Ocean View 2 3 0 2 8 0 Santa Ana 1 4 0 1 9 0 Tustin 1 4 0 1 9 0

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Highlights

A fresh start did wonders for Servite. The Friars finished fifth in the Sunset League in 1993, but were by far the class of the Golden West League. The Friars outscored their league opponents, 208-48, for an average score of 42-10 per game. They scored fewer than 40 points in a league game only once, defeating Westminster, 32-8, on Nov. 4. Servite advanced to the championship game of the Southern Section Division V playoffs, losing, 20-15, to Newport Harbor. The powerful backfield tandem of seniors David Bedard and Frank Patti combined for 2,088 yards rushing. Senior quarterback David Martin passed for 1,001 yards. The drop-off from Servite to Westminster, the league’s second-place finisher, was marked. However, Westminster had its best season in five years. Westminster quarterback Jerry Allison completed 53.4% of his passes for 1,205 yards as the team qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1990. Saddleback recovered from a 1-4 start to earn the league’s final playoff berth. After losing 36 consecutive games over four seasons, Ocean View finally won Oct. 28. The Seahawks defeated Santa Ana, 20-12, which also ended a string of 22 consecutive league losses. Ocean View upset Westminster, 7-6, in a league finale. Sophomore defensive lineman Mike Ketcham broke the Ocean View single-season sack record with 11.