Pass Experience Isn’t Necessary, but It Helps

It’s bad enough for overmatched opponents who had to face Garrett Green last year, when the quarterback led Sherman Oaks Notre Dame to its third consecutive Southern Section Division III championship.

This year, it could be worse.

Green returns for his senior season, and Notre Dame is expected to win a fourth consecutive title -- its third behind the athletic passer, who threw for 1,716 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 876 yards and nine scores in 2004.

“Garrett’s always been a great leader,” said Coach Kevin Rooney, whose team has won 22 in a row and is ranked No. 4 in the Southland by The Times. “He’s a competitor, he’s tough physically and mentally, is a good runner, an accurate passer and knows how to come through in clutch situations in big games.

“We’re generally a pretty young team, lots of juniors and sophomores. An experienced quarterback really helps those guys become more confident. He essentially can help coach them.”

The most likely challenger to Notre Dame’s title run is Compton Dominguez, which fell to the Knights in last year’s championship game, 38-21. Dominguez again has quarterback Marvin Johnson, who carried the ball 12 times for touchdowns in 2004.

“Any time you have the quarterback back, it’s a big deal,” Rooney said.

“He’s the guy who has to run the show, and the more experienced he is, the better it’s going to be for the entire offense.”

In fact, among the 26 teams that played for 13 Southern Section titles last season, 15 come into this first full weekend of play with the same quarterback.

It would have been more, but Ventura St. Bonaventure’s Matt Evans, who started last year’s Division IV semifinal, broke his arm and didn’t play in the title game, and Norco moved Kirk Philbrook from quarterback to fullback, no doubt figuring that anyone could hand the ball off to running back Toby Gerhart.

“Most teams count on that senior leadership and guidance, and quarterback is a pivotal position,” said Corona Centennial Coach Matt Logan, who won the Division V title with junior quarterback Chris Scott, who didn’t start until the fourth game. “You would think that most teams that made it to the championship game already had a senior quarterback.”

Not last year. The only title matchups that featured opposing senior quarterbacks were in Division I, with Long Beach Poly and Los Alamitos, and in Division IX, with Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro and Anaheim Western.

The advantage of a non-senior leading his team into the playoffs is more game experience. In the case of Scott, the extra four games gave him 11 as a starter.

He completed 67.5% of his passes for 16 touchdowns with only four interceptions in leading Centennial to the Division V championship.

“If they’re talented, and you’ve gone deep into the playoffs, it really puts them a year ahead,” said Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley, who lost to Orange Lutheran and its sophomore quarterback Aaron Corp in the Division VI title game. “As each week goes on, it’s more intense competition, and any time you can put a quarterback into game-like situations under that kind of pressure, it helps them.”

Corp was one of last season’s great success stories. He was a backup to senior Seth Blackamore, who was injured the first week of August. Corp responded by completing 63.8% of his passes for 2,039 yards and 13 touchdowns with only four interceptions. The Lancers finished 13-1.

But success does not ride on the quarterback alone. Even though Michael Herrick of Valencia threw for 4,069 yards and 33 touchdowns last season -- he needs another 2,768 yards to become California’s first 10,000-yard passer -- he will have four new receivers and four new offensive linemen as the Vikings look to return to the Division II finals, where they lost to Mission Viejo.

“In high school if you’ve got your quarterback returning, it’s huge,” said Mission Viejo Coach Bob Johnson, whose two sons, Rob and Brett, played professionally at the position and whose quarterback last season, Mark Sanchez, was Parade magazine’s player of the year and is now at USC.

In their opener on Monday in Seattle, the top-ranked Diablos were led by senior quarterback R.J. Toman, who was making his first start. On his first play from scrimmage, Toman completed a pass that went for an 80-yard touchdown. He finished with three scoring passes in a 55-36 victory over Issaquah (Wash.)

Dave White, coach of No. 3 Huntington Beach Edison said most good programs need to have a good quarterback.

“If you don’t, you’re probably not going to win the league and probably not going to go very far in the playoffs,” he said.

Brian Shrock, who passed for 2,334 yards and 20 touchdowns, is back for the Chargers, who have six returning starters on offense.

A few others who could lead their teams a long way into the playoffs:

* Scott Saunders of Palm Springs, who completed 69.3% of his passes, threw for 3,301 yards and 26 touchdowns and also rushed for about 895 to reach the Division VIII finals last season.

* Jimmy Clausen of No. 14 Westlake Village Oaks Christian, who threw for 58 touchdowns, often skipping the second half of blowouts, as a sophomore to lead the Lions to the Division XI title.

* Ryan Cloney of No. 24 Thousand Oaks, who completed 67.7% of his passes for 2,964 yards and 20 touchdowns as a freshman.

* Tyler Lyon of No. 10 Newhall Hart, who threw for 27 touchdowns as a junior.

* Sean Sudol of Riverside La Sierra, who completed 60.9% of his passes for 30 touchdowns but lost a first-round Division V playoff shootout to Temecula Valley, 56-34.