Defensive Ends Help Santa Ana Reach Strawberry Bowl

The Santa Ana coaching staff didn’t know what to expect from defensive ends Gabe Padayao and Pete Frousiakis this season.

Neither was a lock to start when football practice began in late summer, but each has emerged as a key part of the emotion-driven defense that helped the Dons win the Mission Conference Central Division title.

The two will play their final game as Dons when Santa Ana (7-3) takes on host Cerritos (7-3) at 7 tonight in the Pontiac GMC Strawberry Bowl.

Padayao grew up in Hawaii and was a high school standout. He wanted to play football in college and when no scholarship offers came, he made a quick study of California community colleges.

His brother lives in Anaheim, so he visited several area colleges and picked Santa Ana because he felt the coaching staff had been honest with him.

He said he got no promises, and he didn’t play much as a freshman. But he went to every workout in the spring and summer and put in extra time at the gym after practice.

As a result, he came back this season stronger and faster and earned the starting job at strong-side defensive end.

His role is to get in the way of as many offensive players as possible, thereby freeing up his teammates to make tackles. That has left him a little frustrated with the lack of tangible proof of the solid season he is having. But the coaching staff knows how well he is playing.

“Every time the defensive guys come out of films, I ask who played well,” Santa Ana Coach Dave Ogas said, “and they say ‘Coach, it was Gabe again.’ ”

Padayao has a sack, three quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery this season--numbers he wishes were higher.

“It has not quite been as good a year as I expected,” Padayao said. “It’s been pretty good, but I’m always hard on myself and expecting more.”

Frousiakis really didn’t know what to expect this season because he was coming off a serious knee injury.

He was the Century League’s defensive player of the year in 1996 as a linebacker at Canyon High. He continued to play linebacker at Santa Ana in 1997 but suffered a season-ending knee injury in the eighth week of the season.

He had reconstructive surgery in December 1997 and was running in the spring. He kept working out and expected to return to the Dons last season.

But during the first conditioning practice, he could tell that his knee wasn’t back at full strength. After a few more practices, Frousiakis decided he would wait another year.

This season, he moved to weak-side defensive end and has flourished. Frousiakis has six sacks, five pass deflections and has caused one fumble, which was a turning point in a victory over Riverside.

“It’s been a great year,” Frousiakis said. “When you take a year off, you really miss it. I thought I was ready to play last year, but it just didn’t feel right. But now I’m back to feeling good.”

GAME NOTES

Santa Ana running back Camron King could set two rushing records in tonight’s game.

King, from Savanna High, has gained 1,418 yards this season and 2,384 in two years. He needs only 13 yards to break the Santa Ana single-season record and 69 yards for the career mark.

But Cerritos has a strong rushing defense that includes all-conference linebacker Jack Tucker (Kennedy High). The Falcons have given up 88 yards a game and opponents have scored only nine rushing touchdowns, half as many as King has, in 10 games.

Santa Ana has averaged 181 yards rushing per game and scored 27 touchdowns.

Cerritos, which is 3-0 in this bowl game, is led on the ground by former Buena Park High standout Brian McDonald, who has gained 1,032 yards and scored nine touchdowns.