PLAYOFF PROFILES : Paul Does All at Moorpark

Rob Dearborn, Moorpark High’s football coach, inhales deeply each time his punt-return unit takes the field. That’s because the player catching the ball and dodging defenders is the team’s quarterback, Bryan Paul.

Paul, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior, is Moorpark’s most valuable player. But his almost-constant presence on the field is a big reason why the Musketeers were able to overcome an early slump, win their second Frontier League championship in three years and advance to the Southern Section Division IX quarterfinals. Moorpark (8-3) plays host to Montclair Prep (10-0) tonight at 7:30.

“I was extremely nervous about him returning punts,” Dearborn said. “But we felt like if we were going to win we had to use him as much as possible.”

Paul didn’t hesitate.

“When we started playing badly I went to the coaches and had to talk them into letting me do it,” said Paul, who also starts at safety. “But then in the first game I did it I returned the first punt 75 yards for a touchdown.”

Moorpark has on four consecutive games and six of seven, including a 27-13 first-round playoff victory over Paso Robles.

Paul has completed 116 of 210 passes for 1,725 yards and 14 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He leaves the field only on kickoffs. He has rushed for 357 yards and four touchdowns.

“Bryan’s got a tremendously strong arm; he can throw the ball 70 yards in the air and his shorter passes have no arc at all,” Dearborn said.

“He reads defenses very well and he calls 25% of his own plays, either through [changing the play] or coming to the sidelines and telling us what will work.”

Paul has intercepted six passes, one that sealed the victory over Paso Robles. What position he will play in college in anybody’s guess.

“I want to play quarterback but if a better school wants me to play safety I’ll go there,” Paul said.