Prep column: Estancia emotion runs deep

Barry Faulkner

The tears of joy lining the faces of some Estancia High football

players after Friday’s dramatic come-from-behind victory over crosstown

rival Costa Mesa, were not the first they spilled that day.

The initial liquid emotion surfaced about five hours before, when

Eagle players and coaches, in what Coach Dave Perkins said has become a

pre-Battle for the Bell ritual, visited the grave of the late Paul

Troxel.

Troxel, a beloved figure whose career coaching baseball and football

covered 20 years, 17 at Estancia, his alma mater, died suddenly of a

brain aneurysm and heart attack in the spring of 1999 at age 40.

His memory lives in the hearts of most Estancia student-athletes, as

well as Perkins and his assistants, many of whom played for “Trox” at

Estancia.

“It’s really an emotional thing,” Perkins said of the afternoon visit.

“We do it to reaffirm (Troxel’s) belief in the kids, Estancia athletics,

and football in particular. We head over there after our pregame meal and

we give the kids a chance to talk about Paul. It’s a tradition we want to

keep alive and we all take it to heart.”

Perkins, who displayed a framed 8-by-10 photograph of Troxel before

addressing the team huddle following the 34-27 win, frequently references

Troxel with his players. The team still punctuates some of its football

activities by chanting “Trox” in unison and some black labels with Trox

in white letters, are stuck to players’ helmets, as well as coaches’ hats

and jackets.

Perkins said the perseverance his team displayed, overcoming a 20-0

deficit, is the type of lesson which can serve his players the rest of

their lives.

“In everybody’s life, terrible things happen,” Perkins said. “In tough

times, maybe they can use (Friday’s comeback) to draw on. They all did a

great job of responding to adversity, which is what it’s all about. Our

kids never gave up.”

Estancia Principal Tom Antal, during the postgame ceremony to award

the perpetual Bell trophy, said he wants every Estancia student to drop

by the main office where the trophy is displayed and ring the bell some

time during the remainder of the school year.

“For the seniors, it’s a graduation requirement,” he declared.

First-year Costa Mesa Principal Diana Carey congratulated the Eagle

players during the same ceremony, but prompted muffled jeers with a

parting vow that the Mustangs would reclaim the Bell next fall.

And this may not be a hollow promise, since the Mustangs’ junior

varsity defeated the Eagles, 15-7, and the Mesa freshmen prevailed, 32-6.

While rainfall last week did not appear to have any negative effects

on the quick-draining playing surface at Newport Harbor High, the same

was not true at Laguna Beach, where Corona del Mar slogged to a muddy

27-7 football win over the Artists.

CdM Coach Dick Freeman was less than flattering about the lack of

drainage at Laguna’s Red Guyer Field.

“I don’t think they even use gravity,” he quipped.

Homecoming games are usually played against opponents the home school

is confident of beating and a defending CIF Southern Section champion

coming off an unbeaten season would not appear to fit that bill.

But Newport Harbor played four straight homecoming games, including

its own, in October.

The Sailors spoiled the party for Claremont and Woodbridge, handled

Laguna Hills before its alumni, and lost as homecoming guest at Irvine.

The streak ends this week, Coach Jeff Brinkley reports, since

Cathedral City, which hosts the Tars Friday at 7:30 p.m., held its

homecoming last week.

Friday’s CdM win not only clinched a berth in the CIF Southern Section

Division IX playoffs, it also earned the Sea Kings the final spot in this

week’s Division Top 10.

Mesa, ranked No. 1 at one point this fall, fell out of the Top 10 for

the first time in 2000.