South Orange County is the hotbed for Southern Section football this week

Forget “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” The next reality TV show should be the Real High School Football Players from South Orange County.

If you think Texas is serious about its football, come to the 10-mile radius that incorporates Mission Viejo, Tesoro and Santa Margarita high schools.

From coaching to booster clubs to player commitment, it’s an area where no one wants to settle for being second.

“It’s a different world out here,” Tesoro Coach Brian Barnes said. “The support is wonderful. People want to be successful.”

Harry Welch’s arrival at Santa Margarita has helped create a perfect storm where all three football programs have reached the Pac-5 Division quarterfinals, highlighted by a Friday showdown between Santa Margarita (9-2) and Mission Viejo (11-0) at Saddleback College.

The only time Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo have met was 2006, and there were more than 8,500 fans who filled Saddleback College to see the Eagles pull out a 25-24 victory.

Welch’s offensive line coach, Marty Spaulding, is a teacher at Mission Viejo and was a long-time assistant under Coach Bob Johnson at Mission Viejo and El Toro. He supposedly was going to take a break from coaching. Then Welch convinced him to come to Santa Margarita.

“I called him up,” Welch said. “We met at a local diner. He went, ‘Hey, it’s never going to work. Our personalities are too much the same.’ With support from his wife and my insistence, it’s worked. It’s been beautiful. He’s the most prepared coach I’ve worked with.”

When Welch looks out at Mission Viejo, he’ll see one of his top players from his days coaching at San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s, linebacker Michael Schmall, playing for the Diablos.

Tesoro gets to host Santa Ana Mater Dei in a quarterfinal, and Barnes starts nine sophomores, which means the Titans are building a powerhouse. Safety Nick Crouch is one of those rising sophomores. He had 17 tackles in his first start earlier this season.

But make no mistake about it. Mission Viejo remains the program at the top. The Diablos have been tested from zero week through Week 11 and haven’t lost. They have talent throughout their lineup, and Johnson and the players seem determined to win a Pac-5 title.

It sets the stage for some terrific football in South Orange County on Thanksgiving weekend.

Traffic mess

For anyone who hasn’t attended a Tesoro home football game, beware of where you park. Whomever designed the high school apparently forgot that more than one way is needed to get out of the school parking lot. Cars have been stuck for more than an hour in the lot after games. Maybe someone knows a secret way out, but not me.

Dedicated coach

Perry Jones lives not far from Vista Murrieta. Every weekday morning, he wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and drives 85 miles to Palisades High, where he’s a teacher and football coach. He gets home around 8:30 p.m.

He arrived from Oklahoma two years ago with his wife, who’s in the Air Force and was transferred to a Marine base in the Inland Empire. Palisades was too good a teaching job to turn down, and now the question is how long he’ll be able to keep the commute. The Dolphins don’t want him to leave any time soon.

Palisades is 6-5 and won its first playoff game since 1999 last week using Jones’ wishbone offense, led by talented senior running back Malcolm Creer. Jones’ father, Pat, who was an assistant at Oxnard Rio Mesa in the 1970s, is the team’s offensive coordinator.

Asked why he’s running the wishbone attack, Perry Jones said, “If you have one really fast kid and two others that are good quality backs, you can make a living on it.”

Those who hate the pass will love Friday’s City Section Division II quarterfinal game. It will be Palisades’ wishbone against Sun Valley Poly’s wing-T.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

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