PREP FOOTBALL ’95 / PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE : University’s Roberts Makes Some Big Noise : Football: His passion is contagious as he and his teammates target a league championship.

There was a game last year when a ball carrier got a little too close to University’s Fred Roberts--or let Roberts get a little too close to him--and he paid for it.

The helmet went flying, the runner needed 14 stitches and Roberts went back to the huddle with a huge adrenaline rush.

Those are the moments that Roberts loves, when he can bury his shoulder into a guy’s jersey and make the crowd go, “Oooooh.”

“I love to go one-one-one with someone,” Roberts said. “Most of the time I get my guy--I just need to be patient. But I love it when a running back turns the corner and I can just wake him up.”

Which is a lot like putting him to sleep.

Roberts is one of the reasons University is such an intriguing Pacific Coast League team as it tries to win its first league title in 20 years; it shared the Sea View title with Irvine in 1975.

The Trojans are bigger and faster than usual. And so is Roberts, who isn’t caught up in finesse as much as he’s caught up in the passion of the game.

He is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound tight end and linebacker.

“Maybe sometimes I get carried away with football,” Roberts said. “If I came home, and we had a game the next night, and I had the choice of studying game film or doing my homework, I’d probably go study film for the game.

“Honestly, I don’t worry about it.”

And that causes concern for his coach, Mark Cunningham, who thinks Roberts has a lot to offer--and could get a lot back--if he was more interested in something like . . . school. He’s the kind of player who could get a scholarship to a four-year school, but will probably wind up at a junior college instead.

“I’ve always set goals for myself on the field,” Roberts said. “Athletic-wise, I hate not being No. 1. I can’t stand finishing last. I worked at it and worked at it, and it’s been tough, especially when I was a sophomore and we were 1-9 on the varsity, but that made me realize that you have to work hard to get what you want.”

Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan said Roberts’ only weakness last year was his strength: “If he’s done anything at all, he’s going to be a fine football player.”

This is what Roberts, an all-league selection last year, did: He lifted every day in the off-season from 6:30-7:30 a.m., then lifted again in the afternoon with the bulk of his teammates. That commitment helped him improve his bench press by 50 pounds, to 250, and he improved significantly on his squats (405 pounds) and clean (260 pounds).

In all, he added 30 pounds to his frame and lowered his 40-yard dash time from 4.85 seconds to 4.73.

And even though he’s a senior, he turned only 16 on Aug. 3.

The baby fat has been replaced by muscle.

“He’s a character--he has a lot of personality,” Cunningham said. “That’s why I work hard to get him to go off into other avenues because I know that once he does, he’s going to be a real success in life. He’s a people person. He’ll be a hell of a salesman.

Instead, Cunningham is worried that Roberts’ interests are skewed too much toward football and not enough toward the diversions that attract most 16-year-olds.

Meanwhile, Roberts plays on.

“His strongest trait is his sense for the ball,” Cunningham said. “He has an uncanny sense of knowing where the ball is going to be. . . . He’s an excitable player. In no way, shape or form is he a cheap shot artist; he just looks for that opportunity.”

He is also a decent tight end.

“He can make the spectacular catch,” Cunningham said, “but what he does really well is when the ball is thrown into a crowd, he’ll be the guy who comes out with the ball.”

And he’s also the guy who gets his man. Back to that ball-carrier who needed 14 stitches.

“I’m not saying that’s a good thing to happen,” Cunningham said, “but Fred’s an impact player.”

In more ways than one.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1994 IN REVIEW

Standings

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League Overall School W L T W L T Laguna Hills 5 0 0 10 3 0 Costa Mesa 3 1 1 7 3 1 University 2 2 1 4 6 1 Aliso Niguel 2 3 0 4 6 0 Laguna Beach 1 4 0 2 8 0 Estancia 1 4 0 4 6 0

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Highlights

Laguna Hills’ Brendan McGraw rushed for a county-high 2,511 yards, averaging 8.9 yards and a county-record 42 touchdowns (252 points). McGraw’s rushing exploits just edged Costa Mesa’s Charles Chatman, who rushed for 2,500 yards (9.3 per carry), 29 touchdowns and 12 extra points (186 points); they finished 1-2 in the county in rushing and scoring, and shared the league’s player of the year award. Laguna Hills won the league title with a 27-14 victory over host Costa Mesa. Aliso Niguel’s Scott Nemeth led the league in passing, throwing for 1,356 yards and 10 touchdowns with only six interceptions; he completed 46.9% of his passes. His favorite receiver also was the league’s best, Joe Valenti (38 catches, 528 yards, 17.5 average). Laguna Beach’s Nate Pivaroff passed for a league-high 1,530 yards and 10 touchdowns but had 11 interceptions.