PREP FOOTBALL ’99 : SUNSET LEAGUE : A League Favorite? It’s Anybody’s Guess : Graduation hits perennial powers Los Alamitos, Esperanza and Fountain Valley the hardest, leaving the title race wide open.

Maybe, you think, John Barnes is trying to pull one over on the rest of the Sunset League when the coach of defending league champion Los Alamitos says he doesn’t know what to expect out of his team this year.

When Esperanza Coach Gary Meeks also plays possum with predictions, you chalk it up to more gamesmanship.

Eric Johnson of Fountain Valley also pleads ignorance, but you let him slide because he’s in his first year.

But when Dave White of Edison, Mark Rehling of Marina and Tony Ciarelli of Huntington Beach all give similar responses, you know this is much more than coincidence.

The truth is, they don’t know. There is barely more than summer passing league performances and conditioning drills on which these coaches can base assessments.

Almost always among the state’s top football leagues, a senior-dominated Sunset League produced three of the county’s top six teams last season. But this year, team rosters are threatening to replace play sheets as the most important pieces of paper in the league’s stadiums.

“It was a real high league last year,” Barnes said. “Everybody knew everybody and there were some big names in here, but I don’t see that this year. Nobody’s got a bunch where you say, ‘Oh my goodness, look at these guys.’ Anybody in the league could win it.”

The Griffins were hit the hardest, losing 21 of 22 starters from last year’s league championship team. Eight of those players are currently on Division I college rosters. Runner-up Esperanza lost 15 starters. Third-place Fountain Valley also lost 15.

It’s a long way from this time last year, when those teams entered the season loaded with such big-name players as Ryan Hanson and Keenan Howry at Los Alamitos, Grant Wagner and Jarrod Schuster at Esperanza, and Aaron Carter and Ryan Breska at Fountain Valley.

Only two first-team all-league selections return: Marina’s Ray Mietkiewicz, who rushed for 1,544 yards as a junior, and Fountain Valley defensive end Steven Fifita.

“I don’t have any idea what everyone has,” said Rehling, Marina’s coach. “I mean, I know Esperanza lost all of their guys and Los Al lost more than Esperanza.”

One league coach who is looking forward to a season with no clear-cut favorite is White at Edison. The Chargers, four-time Southern Section champions and nine-time league champions, were 0-4-1 in league last season. It marked the first winless league season since Edison joined the Sunset in 1974.

“This was an unbelievable league last year,” White said. “Los Alamitos and Esperanza will probably reload, but I think it’s going to be much more balanced this year. All six teams can beat each other. I don’t think anyone this year will go undefeated.”

Of the new starters, the one everybody wants to know about is Mike Sanford, who is slated to play quarterback at Los Alamitos.

Sanford, a 6-foot-4 senior, returns to Los Alamitos after playing two years in Indiana, where his family moved after his freshman year as a Griffin.

Barnes said Sanford was impressive as a freshman and has progressed nicely in the Los Alamitos system this summer, after spending two years running a run-based veer offense in Indiana.

“He showed incredible potential as a freshman,” Barnes said. “He has a tremendous arm, and all the rest of the physical tools. There’s no doubt in my mind that if he had been here for all four years, we would all be screaming about him.”

At least they’d be screaming about something.