Prep football: Corrective measures

Barry Faulkner

ORANGE - Football coaches universally believe the greatest amount

of improvement their teams display each season comes between the first

and second games. With 15 days to regroup, due to last week’s game being

canceled after a 35-12 opening-week loss to Magnolia High, Estancia Coach

Jay Noonan hopes this axiom holds true in a big way for his Eagles.

Estancia plays Friday at 7 p.m. at El Modena High, against a Canyon

team which has already displayed its Week 2 progress.

The Comanches followed up a 21-21 tie against Pomona in their opener,

with a 60-33 waxing of La Sierra Saturday.

The 60-point explosion, which included four rushing touchdowns by

fullback Donovan Lopez, pushed second-year coach Brent McKee’s squad into

the Orange County lead in points scored. In its last four games, dating

back to the final two weeks of 2000, Canyon is averaging nearly 46 points

per game.

“Canyon runs the flex option, similar to the one used by the Air Force

Academy,” Noonan said. “It’s an impressive offensive team with a lot of

weapons. They have a two-year starter at quarterback, a big offensive

line and they’re very well coached. We can’t afford to make any mistakes

and we’ll have to tackle better.”

The Eagles will also have to overcome the absence of starters Fernando

Montes, a two-way lineman, and inside linebacker Cullen Crom. Both

players are recovering from dislocated shoulders.

Any losses in personnel are potentially devastating for the Eagles,

who return no starters from last season.

Estancia, however, was bolstered in the offseason by the arrival of

transfers Nate and Sean Harriman from Texas, Lewis Bradshaw from Newport

Harbor, as well as Jermaine Snell from Fountain Valley.

The Harriman brothers, Snell, as well as Elsinore transfer Tim Bates,

sat out the opener while awaiting final eligibility approval. All are

slated to play with Nate Harriman and Jermaine Snell starting on both

sides of the ball.

“Canyon has its weapons, but we have a couple weapons (the Comanches)

haven’t seen yet and we hope to have an opportunity to exploit that,”

Noonan said.

Nate Harriman and Snell will start at receiver and cornerback, while

Bates gets the nod at tight end.

Bradshaw, whom Noonan calls the team’s best player, triggers the

offense at quarterback and doubles up at defensive end. The 6-foot-3,

189-pound junior completed 6 of 15 passes for 46 yards in his prep debut

under center against Magnolia.

The Estancia running game is paced by senior Junior Tanielu, who

gained 57 yards on nine carries in the opener and also caught one pass

for 28 yards.

Senior Raymond Romua (14 yards and a touchdown on six carries) is

another running threat, while senior wingback Mitch Valdes caught two

passes for 23 yards and returned a kickoff 89 yards for the Eagles other

score in the opener.

While Lopez amassed 194 rushing yards on 18 carries against La Sierra,

the Comanches’ trigger man is junior quarterback Brad Lusk.

Lusk, whom McKee has predicted may run for 1,000 yards and pass for

1,000 yards this season, has rushed for 161 yards and two TDs on 30

carries this fall. He has completed half of his 18 passes for 210 yards

and two TDs, without an interception.

Jeff White, a senior running back, is another rushing threat for the

Century League representative. He rushed for 88 yards and a TD in the

opener, behind a line that returns four starters from last year’s 5-5

team.

A loss would give Estancia only its second 0-2 start in the last 15

seasons.

Canyon, which defeated Estancia last season, 24-7, to take a 2-1

series lead, is off to its most successful start since 1996.