Game of the Week: Fountain Valley at La Mirada

Mike Sciacca, Independent

First, came the fire.

Now, comes the frying pan.

When Fountain Valley High takes on La Mirada Friday night in the

Independent’s Game of the Week, the Barons will be playing a top-ranked

team for the second consecutive week.

Their preparation for the Matadores, ranked first in the CIF Southern

Section Division VI poll, began last Saturday against Carson, the L.A.

City Section’s reigning 4-A Division champion.

Fountain Valley Coach Eric Johnson wanted a tough nonleague schedule,

and it couldn’t get any beefier than the one-two punch of Carson and La

Mirada.

The Barons will know what they have this season sometime late Friday

night.

“We wanted a great nonleague schedule, and we’ve got one,” Johnson

said. “When I looked at the schedule, the Carson game jumped out at me as

being the toughest. But La Mirada’s a pretty tough team, too. I think

they’ll be better than last year’s team. It should be a very good game.”

The Matadores weren’t too shabby in 1999, a 9-3 finish that included a

quarterfinal appearance in the Division VI playoffs.

In fact, La Mirada welcomes back 13 starters from that team, including

seven on the offensive side of the ball.

The Matadores’ star returner is fullback/middle linebacker Chris

Rudiger (6-foot-1, 230), who rushed for 787 yards and 13 touchdowns, and

had 120 tackles, as a junior two-way starter.

Rudiger also is one of La Mirada’s strongest players with a 320 bench

press.

Johnson knows that Rudiger’s the key.

“He’s a very good fullback, and we’ll need to stop him,” he said. “A

lot of our success lies in our ability to contain Rudiger.”

But Rudiger isn’t the lone offensive threat awaiting the Barons.

Senior Erik Meyer (6-2, 175) has developed into a steady quarterback, and

his familiarity with the Matadores offense has a lot to do with a deep,

talented core of receivers.

Meyer has five good wide receivers to choose from, but his top target

has been senior Bo Price (5-8, 140).

Fountain Valley will counter with a pretty good offensive game of its

own, a big offensive line, and a defense that can be hard to penetrate.

The Matadores found the going tough in last year’s contest, a tight

defensive struggle that turned around when Steven Fifita scooped up a

fumble and returned it for a touchdown in an eventual 16-7 Fountain

Valley win.

Johnson says he expects more of the same.

“It was a real close game last year, and this game has the makings of

another close game,” he added. “This will be a really good road test for

us.”