Receiving Attention

When No. 1 Los Alamitos meets No. 2 Esperanza Friday night in their Sunset League showdown, fans at Long Beach Veterans Stadium will be treated to two great offenses, two bend-but-seldom-break defenses, two excellent special teams and two of the county’s most respected coaching staffs.

If that’s not enough, each team also has a bona fide “game-breaker,” a player who has enough talent to win the game by himself.

At Los Alamitos, that’s senior wide receiver Keenan Howry. At Esperanza, it’s Aaron Hill, also a senior wide receiver.

Outside of their physical differences--Hill, at 6 feet 2, 180 pounds, is taller and heavier than Howry, who is 5-10, 165--there’s little that separates them.

Both have excellent speed, great hands and can go anywhere on the field to catch the ball. And both play in offensive systems that emphasize the pass.

Los Alamitos and Esperanza each has so much talent that neither Hill nor Howry needs to have a big game for his team to win. Yet, each team’s defensive coordinator said he wants someone other than Hill or Howry to beat them.

“Hill is a gifted kid--great speed, big and tall,” Los Alamitos defensive coordinator Jim Van Groter said. “I went to a Long Beach City combine this summer and watched him run pass routes. He’s like our Austin Guyness; you don’t think they’re moving fast until you realize they only need two strides for five yards.

“And he makes great adjustments to the ball. He’s very good at catches over the wrong shoulder, which are the hardest catches to make.”

Bill Pendleton, Esperanza’s defensive coordinator, raved about Howry.

“They have four good receivers, but Howry is the best of the four,” Pendleton said. “He’s the most dangerous because he runs with the ball after the catch better than the others.

“You have to put your best cover guy on him, but you still can’t expect to shut him out,” Pendleton said. “Even if he didn’t catch a pass, they would find a way to get the ball to him.”

The two have never met off the field, but each has watched countless hours of game film of the other. They must feel as if they’re looking into a mirror.

“Aaron catches the ball well and is real aggressive,” Howry said. “He’s deceptively fast and can break away from guys.”

Said Hill: “Keenan has great skills. He runs well with the ball after he catches it. He does great things.”

Great things--and close games--usually happen when these teams play each other. Esperanza and Los Alamitos have met 19 times since 1981 (playing each other twice in 1991 and ‘92), when they were part of the Empire League. The series stands at 9-9-1. Esperanza has scored 378 points, Los Alamitos 361.

Friday’s game is the first of five Sunset League contests for each this season, but its importance can’t be overemphasized. The winner has gone on to win or share a league championship every year since 1983.

Esperanza has won the game each of the last three seasons.

So who’s going to win Friday?

“It will probably come down to who has the ball last,” Howry said. “That’s the way it’s happened the last three years.”

Hill is a bit more coy. “The team that plays their game Friday will win.”

Especially if Howry or Hill can play his game. . .

The Playmaker

Howry credits the Griffins’ four-receiver, one-back offensive scheme and the pinpoint passing of quarterback Ryan Hanson for his success.

“I am getting some double coverage. Defenses will roll an extra man to my side or Ryan Godfrey’s,” Howry said. “But we have many good receivers--Godfrey, Austin Guyness and Blasi Ritacco--so it’s hard to double us. Guess the wrong way, and Ryan has been great at finding the open man.”

Hanson, however, is firm regarding Howry’s value.

“I always feel if I throw the ball near him, he’ll come down with it,” Hanson said. “You need that playmaker, like Jerry Rice. Keenan’s our playmaker.”

Going into Friday’s game, Howry--who made The Times all-county first team last year--has caught 28 passes and is tied with Fountain Valley’s Aaron Carter for the most receiving yardage (583) in the county. He has scored 13 touchdowns, 10 on pass receptions. He also has scored on two punt returns and a recovered fumble.

Howry’s father, Daniel, a defensive back at Cal State Hayward in the 1970s, said Keenan showed a knack for catching a ball as a child.

“He’s had good hand-eye coordination since he was 4,” Daniel said. “I was playing in an adult flag football league and would take him to the games. As soon as his hands got big enough, he was catching footballs when we warmed up.”

Daniel did not let his son play tackle football until the seventh grade. Instead, Howry played flag football, and quarterback at that.

“There was this regional championship game,” Daniel recalled. “His team was behind by a touchdown, so he was switched to wide receiver. As the pass went to the end zone, Keenan went up between three guys and came down with the ball for the tying touchdown.

“Then he went back to quarterback and ran in the winning point.”

The family--Daniel, his wife Glenda and Keenan--moved from Long Beach to Los Alamitos so Keenan could attend high school there. Daniel fretted that his son would get overlooked at his first football practice because “Keenan’s not the pushy or outgoing type and sometimes those kids can get lost in the shuffle.”

But Coach John Barnes, whose staff has developed a long list of outstanding high school wide receivers this decade--George Sagan, Brad Melsby, Tony Hartley and Stan Guyness among them--soon realized Howry had something special.

“Keenan is as good as anyone we’ve had,” Barnes said. “He’s very quick, has great hands and has great moves. He can really shake guys. And he jumps well. He makes himself taller than his 5-10.”

Last year as a junior, Howry led the county in receptions with 72, and was second in yardage with 1,194, and scored eight touchdowns. He did not run track during the spring, deciding instead to work in the weight room on adding strength.

“Teams like to bump-and-run us since our receivers are small,” Howry said. “So we work hard on strength and being able to get free.”

Opponents tired of eating Howry’s dust have tried other tactics, including beating on his legs when in a pile, trying to make him lose his temper and get ejected.

But Howry said he has trained himself not to respond, and rarely changes his expression during a game. He also doesn’t believe in trash talk.

“I let my actions speak for me,” Howry said. “My dad told me there’s really nothing to say out there. Just play the game.”

A Family Business

Football would appear to be in Hill’s destiny.

His father, David, played tight end for 13 seasons in the NFL with the Lions and Rams. He has two uncles, Jim Hill (now a CBS sportscaster) and Gary Green, who were NFL defensive backs.

Like Howry, Hill--who was born in Detroit and came to California when his father was traded to the Rams in 1983--did not play football early. He preferred soccer and baseball.

“One day he told us, ‘When I get to high school I’ll play football,’ ” Hill’s mother, Ann, said. “So David said he needed one year of Pop Warner. He didn’t want him to go into high school without playing, get hit a couple times and quit.

“He was tentative at first, but by his third game, Aaron was playing both ways.”

With the family settled in Yorba Linda, Aaron, the oldest of four children, caught the eye of Pendleton, whose son Travis was a teammate on Hill’s Pop Warner team.

Hill’s climb up the Aztecs’ depth chart wasn’t without some bumps along the way. Esperanza Coach Gary Meek benched him for the first varsity game last year because he thought Hill wasn’t putting enough effort into practice. That got Hill’s attention.

“He decided he never wanted to be in that position again,” Ann said.

Hill went on to catch 42 passes for 691 yards and six touchdowns in 1997. He is right around that pace this season--17 receptions for 277 yards and five touchdowns.

Meek said Hill would have “all-county numbers” if the Aztec staff designed most of the pass plays his way.

“We have three kids with almost 20 catches each,” Meek said. “Because there’s not just one guy we throw to, it keeps defenses from ganging up on one guy. But Aaron is definitely Division I quality.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Game

ESPERANZA VS. LOS ALAMITOS

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Veterans Stadium, Long Beach

Records: Los Alamitos 5-0, 0-0; Esperanza 5-0, 0-0.

Rankings: Los Alamitos is No. 1 in Orange County; Esperanza is No. 2.

Noteworthy: This game has it all--rankings, rivalry, Esperanza’s three-game winning streak that Los Alamitos is tired of hearing about and the pole position in the Sunset League race. These teams have it all too--powerful offenses, above-average defenses, excellent coaching. The outcome will probably be decided in the game’s final moments.