Prep football: Eagles employing patience

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Though the Estancia High football team has failed to

get the job done in four games this season, first-year coach Jay Noonan’s

certainly likes his players’ resumes a lot better now than he did five

weeks ago.

“I’m glad we played the preseason we did,” Noonan said of losses to

Magnolia, Canyon, Santa Ana Valley and Orange, which enter their

respective league seasons a combined 10-8-1.

“We saw some talent that is at least comparable to what we’ll see in

the Pacific Coast League. We saw some very good running backs and a

couple senior-dominated teams and I think it really helped our kids. I

think we have a pretty good idea where we’re headed.”

The most recent learning experience came Friday in a 41-28 nonleague

loss to Orange.

Estancia played the Panthers even through three quarters, but gave up

14 points within a span of 2:29 early in the final period and was

outscored, 21-8, in the quarter.

“Our offense did not give our defense the best advantage,” Noonan said

of Orange’s late surge. “Our offense needs to stay on the field for more

than two minutes a shot. Our defense was on the field for five and six

minutes at a time. Who isn’t going to get tired doing that?”

Noonan, however, saw continued progress from his squad, which will

enter Friday’s PCL opener against Corona del Mar healthy and bolstered by

some late additions.

“Our offense did some things well and I thought our defense did a

great job,” Noonan said. “I thought that was the best game our defense

played all year. (Orange standout Durrell Moss) had three big runs,

including a couple he just slipped out of tackles. If not for those, he

would have had about 120 yards. I felt very good about that.”

Moss, who continues to lead Orange County in rushing, surpassed the

1,000-yard mark for the season and scored on runs of 66, 30, 5 and 1

yards.

“It may not look like it, but when you compare our game to the ones

Moss has had against other teams (including 385 rushing yards against PCL

title contender University), I thought our guys did a heck of a job,”

Noonan said.

Noonan singled out the defensive work of Jermaine Snell, Sean

Harriman, Joey Mueller, Eric Anderson, Bubba Kapko, Tim Bates and Chad

Sherril.

Mueller, Anderson and Sherril have all joined the team since the

season began and Noonan said Kyle Casillas, another late addition who

played last year as a sophomore, should also bolster the Eagles quest for

their first victory.

“We were talking about this as a staff Saturday and we think we

finally have our personnel in place,” said Noonan, who considers the

return of lineman Fernando Montes still more good news. Montes, a senior

who started the opener at offensive tackle and defensive end, had been

out since with a dislocated shoulder.

“Fernando will assume his role at defensive end,” Noonan said. “And

Kyle will be eligible to play this week. He’s going to be a backup

quarterback and he’ll wind up playing some at cornerback.”