Passing Grade

Valencia High’s recent air attack on playoff opponents is no passing fad.

The Vikings’ passing game has been gaining momentum since midseason and suddenly is considered as big a threat as the running of Manuel White.

Valencia (9-3), which plays Saugus (10-2) tonight in a Southern Section Division III semifinal, has passed for 579 yards and eight touchdowns in playoff victories over Crescenta Valley and Notre Dame.

But if anyone is surprised by those numbers, it certainly isn’t the Vikings.

“We’ve always had the potential to do this, but we haven’t really needed to,” said quarterback Kyle Bauer, who has thrown for 484 yards and seven touchdowns in the last two weeks.

“Recently opponents have been keying on Manuel so much, it leaves the passing game wide open.”

A quarterback couldn’t ask for a better decoy than White, who three weeks ago became only the third back in region history to rush for 6,000 yards in a career. He’s a load at 6 feet 3 and 220 pounds, and defenses that don’t make him a priority pay the price.

“Any time [White] touches the ball, he’s a threat,” Valencia Coach Brian Stiman said. “Our feeling is if we can get him past the line of scrimmage, he’s scary. He has to be. He has 6,400 yards.”

With an inexperienced quarterback to start the season, Valencia seemed destined to hand off to White 30, 35 times a game and throw sparingly until its passing game developed.

Then, in the season opener against Highland, quarterback Zack Sapp broke his leg and local “Pass With Caution” street signs suddenly took on a new meaning for the Vikings.

Backup Bauer struggled in his first start, having three passes intercepted and completing only seven of 19 passes for 114 yards and no touchdowns in a 21-7 loss to Peninsula.

Bauer, who has had only one pass intercepted in the last eight games, steadily improved. By midseason, the passing game became a legitimate option and providing opposing defenses with something else to worry about.

Coincidentally, midseason is when Harry Welch, the successful former Canyon coach, began calling plays for the Vikings.

In Welch’s debut against Burroughs in week six, Bauer completed nine of 13 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns.

Before Welch, Valencia averaged 108.2 passing yards a game. Since he’s joined the staff, the Vikings have averaged 188.3 yards passing.

“[Welch] does like to throw the ball a little more than I do,” said Stiman, who called the plays before Welch’s arrival.

But Stiman believes the emergence of the passing game is more a credit to the players’ improvement than to Welch’s play-calling.

“I think we have some good receivers and a quarterback who has steadily progressed and an offensive line that works really hard to give [Bauer] some time,” Stiman said.

The Big Three in Valencia’s passing game are Bauer and speedy senior wide receivers Pedro Fernandez and Stephen Stokes, none of whom are taller than 5 feet 9. . . in cleats.

What the threesome lacks in inches, it makes up in yards. Fernandez and Stokes each average more than 24 yards a catch.

“They run very good routes, so they get open all the time,” said Bauer, a 5-8 junior who has completed 52% of his passes for 1,616 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Bauer found Stokes open last week against defensive-minded Notre Dame for what may be the region’s play of the year.

On fourth and 18 at the Viking 12, Bauer threw about 55 yards downfield to a streaking Stokes, who completed an 88-yard touchdown play with 1:38 remaining to give Valencia a 26-21 victory.

“I was in a zone,” said Stokes, who has 22 catches for 546 yards and nine touchdowns.

“I just ran my route, got behind the guy, caught the ball and ran for a touchdown.”

Who would have thought the Vikings could upset Notre Dame on a night when White was limited to a career-low 52 yards rushing in 17 carries?

“Last week Manuel was literally taken out of the offense and we still won because we had some alternatives,” Stiman said.

Bauer’s other big-play alternative is Fernandez, who averages a region-high 29.4 yards a catch. The 5-9 senior, who has 24 catches for 706 yards and seven touchdowns, said he is not surprised by the Vikings’ recent passing exploits.

“We’ve been doing the same thing all year long, just making little adjustments here and there,” Fernandez said.

Bauer’s biggest target is 6-4 senior tight end Brian Miller, who has 18 catches for 295 yards and three touchdowns.

While Bauer, Stokes, Fernandez and Miller bask in the glow of Valencia’s success, it is White who makes it all possible. And his teammates don’t deny it.

“He’s opened up the play action and everything associated with the passing game,” Bauer said.

White, who averages nearly eight yards a carry, is more than happy to oblige.

“I felt good knowing that my presence was helping to open up the passing game,” White said. “I was proud.”

What began as a disappointment has turned into a season to remember for Bauer, whose feats have exceeded his own expectations.

“I came in here expecting Manuel to be the show,” Bauer said. “But we’ve evened it out pretty good.”