Herrera Is Helping La Habra Run to Title

Mark Falcioni doesn’t remember throwing any blocks during his freshman football season at La Habra High. All he remembers is watching Josh Herrera run.

“Sometimes I’d just turn around and stare,” said Falcioni, an offensive guard for the Highlanders. “He used to run all over the place.”

Three years later, Herrera is still running wild through opposing defenses. He has rushed for 1,158 yards and 18 touchdowns in seven games this season, and his performance in La Habra’s two Freeway League victories helped put the Highlanders in position for their first playoff berth since 1991.

Should they defeat Fullerton tonight, the Highlanders will be in position for their first league title since 1988.

“I don’t like to make predictions” about a league title,” Herrera said. “I always get asked that same question and I keep saying, ‘We haven’t even gotten into the playoffs yet.’ ”

Herrera was called up from the freshman team to the varsity for the last two games of the 1996 season, which turned out to be two of the more insufferable losses in school history.

La Habra began that season with six consecutive victories and was on track for the playoffs, but cracks began showing in the Highlanders’ defense and they dropped three of their last four.

Herrera started the final game, a last-minute 19-14 loss to Fullerton that officially slammed the door on La Habra’s season.

“We looked up to those guys,” Herrera said. “They went 6-0 and then they fell apart.”

Herrera and Falcioni still trade friendly barbs with Falcioni’s older brother, Chris, a tight end and linebacker on the ’96 team. They like to let him know how close La Habra came to the postseason that year and how far away they’ve been since then.

“My sophomore year was terrible,” Herrera said. “We just got murdered every game in league.”

The Highlanders went 3-7 last season, when Herrera rushed for 832 yards and eight touchdowns. He rushed for 387 yards in the league opener against Troy, but dislocated his elbow the following week against Fullerton and missed the next two games.

“I was trying to go for extra yards on a sweep,” Herrera said. “I got tripped up and when I put my right arm down, it popped out of the socket.”

Herrera was expected to miss the rest of the regular season, but he came back for the last game against Sonora and rushed for 270 yards.

“The doctor said I healed fast, but I was still hurting,” Herrera said. “When I got tackled, I couldn’t put my arm out so I’d just fall straight on my face.”

This season began with high expectations, but it took awhile to get positive results. The Highlanders started 0-4, but two of their losses were by one point and a third by four.

Herrera also started slowly because of an illness that forced him to miss practice time. Frank Mazzotta, in his second year as Highlander coach, keeps players on the sideline during the first quarter if they miss any practices.

“He’s been pretty sick,” Mazzotta said. “During our fourth game, we called timeout and he vomited on the field.”

Herrera finally broke loose against Sonora in the league opener, rushing for 300 yards in 44 carries in a 28-14 victory. Falcioni saw a look in Herrera’s eyes that he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“I think he showed confidence in the line by running hard,” Falcioni said. “That really encouraged us.”

Last week in a pivotal 16-15 victory against Troy, Herrera rushed for 221 yards in 36 carries and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a seven-yard run with 4 minutes 36 seconds remaining.

“Josh is definitely the most polished runner I’ve seen,” Mazzotta said. “He has speed and moves and he knows what to do with the ball.”

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LA HABRA VS. FULLERTON

Featured Game

When: 7 tonight.

Where: Fullerton High.

Records: La Habra 3-4, 2-0; Fullerton 5-2, 1-1.

Rankings: Fullerton is No. 8 in the Southern Section Division IX rankings; La Habra is unranked.

Noteworthy: La Habra is in great position to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1991. The Highlander offense goes through senior Josh Herrera, who rushed for 300 yards in 44 carries against Sonora two weeks ago, then scored the winning touchdown in the final minutes against Troy last week. Fullerton running back Armando Lopez missed two games with a knee injury but has 200 yards and three touchdowns in two games since his return.