Stein Is Starting to Make an Impact

Sean Stein began his first season at New Mexico as the Lobos’ No. 3 quarterback.

“I wasn’t very happy about that,” said Stein, a junior who transferred from Long Beach College. “I’m a competitive person, and it was awfully frustrating being on the sidelines knowing I could help the team.”

But Stein’s outlook has brightened considerably since then. He led New Mexico to a 24-21 victory over Mountain West Conference rival San Diego State two weeks ago and apparently has won the starting job.

Stein, who played at Los Alamitos High School, sat out New Mexico’s first two games before making an appearance late in the third game of the season against Northern Arizona. Stein played only four series, but completed four of eight passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

That gave Stein an opportunity to play more the following week against Boise State, and the results were even better. Playing all but one series in the second half, Stein completed 13 of 26 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, although Boise State won the game, 20-9.

Stein got his shot in the starting lineup a week later at San Diego State, and completed 16 of 26 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He accounted for 199 of New Mexico’s 243 total yards despite missing all of the fourth quarter with a mild concussion.

“I think I’ve come a long way this season,” Stein said. “I have all the confidence in the world right now. It took awhile for me to get adjusted to the offense. When we started the season, the offense was more option-oriented. But we’ve always had the passing game in our offense, and we’re using it more now.”

Stein hopes the performance against San Diego State, along with his effort against Brigham Young last weekend, will assure him the starting spot. Coach Rocky Long said Stein has earned the job, based on his improvement this season.

The Lobos were off Saturday and play Nevada Las Vegas at home next weekend.

“I’m excited about the way everything has been going the last few weeks,” Stein said. “I didn’t play as well as I wanted last week against BYU, but they’re always tough. That’s why they’re ranked in the top 25.”

Stein completed 13 of 35 passes for 134 yards against the Cougars. He had hoped for better results in a matchup with former Los Alamitos teammate Kevin Feterik, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Feterik also wasn’t at his best, completing 15 of 27 for 211 yards, a season low that dropped him out of the national lead in total offense.

“I really didn’t feel like I was playing against Kevin,” Stein said. “I was playing against the BYU defense. But it was awesome that we got to see each other. We had a chance to talk after the game, and I enjoyed that. We’ve been friends almost all our lives.”

Stein was a wide receiver his sophomore and junior years at Los Alamitos when Feterik was the quarterback. Stein also was Feterik’s backup and played five games at quarterback during his sophomore year after Feterik broke his throwing hand. He took over at quarterback after Feterik graduated.

The two also played on the Los Alamitos baseball team, with Feterik pitching and playing first base and Stein playing third.

“I learned a lot from Kevin,” Stein said. “I’d watch the way he did things, and he’d point out little things to me that I could work on.”

BODEN GOING STRONG

Quarterback Chris Boden, who played at San Clemente High, continues to have a standout senior season at Villanova.

Boden went over 2,000 yards passing for the season Saturday in the Wildcats’ 45-16 Division I-AA victory over Northeastern in an Atlantic 10 Conference game, completing 22 of 36 passes without an interception for 242 yards.

The effort gave him the conference career passing record with 9,328 yards. And he is only 13 completions short of the conference career record in that category.

Boden, who has 2,240 yards for the season, had one of the best efforts of his career a week ago, throwing for 444 yards and four touchdowns in Villanova’s triple-overtime victory over Connecticut. He completed 43 passes, a conference single-game record, in 69 attempts, without an interception.

Boden has started 32 consecutive games at Villanova and has at least one touchdown pass in each game.

Another former Orange County quarterback is waiting in the wings at Villanova. Freshman Scott Lukash, who played at Mater Dei, is a redshirt this season.

NOTEWORTHY

Araceli Martinez of Cal State Dominguez Hills finished fourth in the UC San Diego Invitational cross-country meet last weekend. Martinez, an NCAA Division II All-American from Estancia High, had a time of 18 minutes 19 seconds for the 5,000-meter race.