Prep football: Steep learning curve

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - The learning process continues for the Estancia High

football team, which obtained a 58-13 nonleague lesson from Canyon Friday

night.

As the inexperienced Eagles continue to develop, one might think the

patience of first-year coach Jay Noonan and his staff is being most

severely tested.

Noonan, however, remains positive and reports his players and

assistants are doing the same.

“The good news is, we’re making mistakes we can fix,” Noonan said

after his Eagles (0-2) fumbled 11 times against the Comanches, who

recovered three to start short touchdown drives. “The problem is, we are

asking our kids to go from the lab (practice) to the test (games). And,

when you play good football teams like Canyon, there isn’t much margin

for error.

“The kids realize there is a learning curve involved, but they’re also

competitive and they want to win. I think their spirits are good and

they’ll keep working to get better.”

Noonan and his assistants are also motivated by progress, which Noonan

saw specifically in several areas Friday.

“I thought we improved a great deal from the Magnolia game,” Noonan

said of the team’s season-opening loss Sept. 6. The Eagles game last week

against Aliso Niguel was canceled.

“We used our personnel better and it was nice to have some of that

personnel there. I thought (quarterback) Lewis Bradshaw improved on his

reads and our running backs ran very hard. With our type of offense, the

ball is in motion a lot, so there is some risk involved. And Canyon was

much quicker on the defensive line than we thought going in.

“When it clicks, our offense should help keep our defense off the

field. But when we put our defense in a bad position by repeatedly losing

fumbles, we’re cutting our own throat.”

The education process includes videotape study, both of their own

mistakes, as well as what opponents will present, Noonan said.

“In education, any type of visual aid is very valuable to the learning

process,” he explained. “Sometimes, the film shows kids the things they

aren’t even aware they’re doing. When they can see it for themselves, it

sinks in much better than if I were to walk them through things on the

field.”

Noonan said his team escaped without injury against Canyon and has

even received some potential reinforcements, with a small number of kids

who had played in previous years, electing to rejoin the program.

“Some of the (new additions) have good instincts from having played

before,” Noonan said. “We should have a better idea this week about how

they might be able to fit in for us.

“The good news against Canyon, was that I thought schemed these guys

well,” Noonan said. “We thought we had guys in position to do some

things, but we continue to show our youth. In a lot of ways, we’re

beating ourselves.”