Blackamore Is the Best Option

Quarterback Seth Blackamore of Orange Lutheran has needed to play in the fourth quarter in only two of 13 games, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready to deal with the stress and exhaustion of an epic battle.

While fishing for bluefin tuna on a boat in the Pacific Ocean as a 13-year-old, Blackamore spent 45 agonizing minutes trying to reel in The Big One.

“I was thinking about throwing the pole in,” he said. “I was on my fifth [fish], and this guy wouldn’t come up, and I was exhausted. I stuck with it, just like in the fourth quarter.”

Blackamore pulled in a 50-pound tuna, and he’ll be seeking his biggest conquest yet Saturday when he tries to lead Orange Lutheran (13-0) past Hacienda Heights Los Altos (13-0) in the Southern Section Division VI championship game at Home Depot Center.

Blackamore is a 6-foot, 180-pound junior who might be the most effective option quarterback in Southern California. Last week in the semifinals, he rushed for 200 yards and threw two touchdowns. For the season, he has passed for 1,460 yards and run for 716 yards.

Los Altos Coach Greg Gano said, “He’s the guy you have to stop. If you don’t account for him, you have no chance. His speed is deceptive. If he gets around the corner, he’s gone.”

Blackamore is entrusted with making split-second decisions whether to pull the ball out of the hands of a running back, keep it himself or pitch it to another back. The Lancers have numerous option plays, even out of shotgun formation.

Blackamore walks up to the line of scrimmage, looks at the defense and decides which side to attack. A wrong decision by the quarterback could prove disastrous.

“He’s a tremendous decision-maker,” Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau said.

Said Blackamore: “It’s not always going to be 100% [correct], but you try to get all the reads you can.”

Thanks to Blackamore’s running ability, some coaches might underestimate his passing skills. That would be a mistake, Notre Dame-bound receiver Anthony Vernaglia said.

“He’s got a cannon for an arm,” Vernaglia said.

And, as if his football success wasn’t impressive enough, Blackamore has a 4.0 grade-point average and is as good a fisherman as he is a quarterback.

At least he receives stiff competition in the fishing department from his mother, Barbara, who claimed the No. 1 mantle a couple of years ago when she landed a 15-inch rainbow trout on a family trip.

Her always competitive oldest son countered, “She had the biggest but didn’t catch the most.”

And then there’s 12-year-old brother J.D., a sixth-grader who’s going around boasting that he’s No. 1 in the family because he quarterbacked his youth football team, the Yorba Linda Ravens, to an unbeaten season.

Blackamore doesn’t mind letting others take the spotlight. He lets his performance speak for itself, and his play as an option quarterback has been nothing short of sensational.

“I love running the ball,” he said. “I also love passing the ball.”

Blackamore is going to have a difficult time duplicating the fun and excitement he has enjoyed with his teammates this season.

“We’re all best friends,” he said. “When everyone has that one heartbeat, you can accomplish a lot.”

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With apologies to the Rose Bowl, the Coliseum and Edison Field, it’s clear that the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center in Carson has become the best facility for high school football in the Southland.

Virtually every coach and player who participated in games last weekend at Home Depot Center gave it rave reviews.

“It was a great facility,” L.A. Loyola quarterback Scott Deke said. “The locker rooms were amazing. I liked it more than Anaheim because it was more enclosed and the fans were on top of you. It’s fantastic.”

Added Long Beach Poly Coach Raul Lara: “I love it. They might think it’s a soccer stadium, but I love it as a football stadium.”

Los Altos defensive end Brigham Harwell went to watch the Division I doubleheader and concluded, “It’s an amazing place to play.”

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Stunning. That’s my impression of the first varsity basketball start for 6-8 sophomore Alex Stephenson of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake after watching him score 10 points, grab 15 rebounds and block three shots in a 67-53 win over Westlake Village Westlake on Tuesday.

Possessing long arms and tremendous athleticism, Stephenson projects as the Wolverines’ best big man since Jason Collins of the New Jersey Nets. He’s going to be rejecting shots en masse this season.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.