Seahawks aiming high

Harold Eggers said he has no idea as to any of the school football

records held at Ocean View High.

You might forgive Eggers for that oversight, seeing as how this is

just the beginning of his second year on the Huntington Beach campus.

As a matter of fact, the Seahawk coaching staff can’t ever

recalled seeing any past statistics.

“I don’t even know if the school has kept records,” Eggers

explained. “You’re asking the wrong guy, although it would be nice to

know what’s gone on in the past at this school.

“Somebody, somewhere out there has to have some information on our

football records.”

With nothing to go on, Eggers and Ocean View hope to write their

own history in 1999 with a Golden West League championship.

The Seahawks have never laid claim to the league title but begin

their first step towards a possible crown Friday night when they take on

the Saddleback Roadrunners at Santa Ana Bowl.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Prior to Ocean View’s arrival in the Golden West League in 1992,

the Seahawks resided in the Sunset League. Again, their trophy case was

barren, with the Barons of Fountain Valley and Edison’s Chargers normally

walked away with the Sunset title.

But a 4-1 start to the ’99 campaign has spirits high and

enthusiasm running rampant at Ocean View, which is in an unaccustomed

spot as league play approaches.

Never in its previous nonleague journeys this decade has an Ocean

View team won this many games after five weeks in the season. In fact,

those four victories account for nearly one-fifth of the wins (21) the

school has recorded in the 1990s.

Eggers wasn’t around during those lean years, although his first

Seahawk team finished 3-7 last year.

He is aware, however, of the futility the school has endured.

Ocean View’s best ever mark in 22 years of playing football was

Coach Howard Isom’s 7-4 squad of 1989. The most wins an Ocean View team

has posted in a single season this decade is five, when Isom’s team

compiled a 5-4-1 mark in ’90.

The next four years saw a major draught hit the school as it

suffered through a 3-37 mark during the span, which included consecutive

0-10 seasons in ’92 (Isom’s last year) and ’93 (the first year of John

Donnelly’s three-year coaching stint).

“The success we’ve had this season has had a big impact on the

kid’s psyche,” Eggers said. “The kids are coming fired up to practice,

and it carries over to game day.

“We’re 4-1 right now, but we’re not looking forward to anything

but Saddleback. We have to take this season one game at a time and if we

do that, then we’ll be successful.”

After Friday’s date with Saddleback, Ocean View closes out October

with league games against Santa Ana and Westminster. A nonleague game

with Santiago welcomes in the month of November, and then comes the

biggie: a Nov. 12 showdown with league favorite Tustin at Huntington

Beach High’s Sheue Field.

“There’s no way we can look that far ahead, and last week’s loss

(a 66-37 setback to Troy) is a prime example of that,” Eggers added.

“Sure, these kids are gunning to make the playoffs, but we need to stay

focused and just worry about ourselves. Like I said, it all starts with

Saddleback.”