Baby steps continue

Patrick Laverty

Craig Fertig, in his first season as a high school coach, has

Estancia High’s football team off to a 2-0 start. But the Eagles’

toughest test of the young season should come Friday night in their

final tuneup before opening Golden West League play next week.

Estancia travels to La Palma Park in Anaheim to battle Katella at

7 p.m. The Knights (1-1) will present a different look, and more

talent, than either of Estancia’s first two opponents.

After holding off a Century team that was without a true passing

game, the Eagles will be facing a team that not only loves to pass,

it’s about all it does.

“They look like the University of Hawaii,” Fertig said about

Katella, which uses a shotgun formation, spreading the field with

four wide receivers.

Through two games, Fertig said, Katella has run the ball nine

times. The Knights have 70 yards rushing in those two games, but have

completed 40 of 75 passes for 556 yards. Starting quarterback Ethan

Haller has seven touchdown passes. Interceptions -- the Knights have

thrown seven this fall -- don’t seem to have slowed down the passing

attack.

“Now we see how we play pass defense,” Fertig said. “We’ll put an

extra back in there at times, but we want to play our normal package

too because we need to get a pass rush on him.”

Magnolia and Century, Estancia’s first two opponents, combined to

complete 9 of 29 passes for 149 yards and were intercepted three

times.

Katella may also present a challenge to the Eagles’ offense.

Through two games, Estancia has pounded the ball up the middle

with 230-pound senior running backs Bubba Kapko and Mike Cahill.

Fertig knows teams are going to stack the defensive front with the

intent to limit the Eagles’ running game.

“If I’m Katella, I’m trying to stop our running game,” Fertig

said. “I’m putting eight or nine men at the line of scrimmage and

saying, ‘Estancia’s not going to run the ball.’ ”

To combat that, the Eagles will need better efficiency in their

passing game. Senior quarterback Brad Young is 19 of 40 for 213 yards

and a touchdown this season, but has thrown four interceptions.

If Young is able to complete passes to wideouts Geo Macias and

Jason Johnston, both are athletic enough to turn them into big gains.

But Fertig does not want to turn this game into a shootout. Rather,

Young simply needs to keep the Katella defense honest as the Eagles

look to control time of possession and keep the ball away from the

Knights offense.

“We’ve got to take care of us,” Fertig said. “We can’t be making

mistakes. They’re a big play team. They can strike from any part of

the field.”

Estancia expects the return of junior tailback David Moreno, who

gained 44 yards on eight carries in the opener, before separating a

shoulder. He sat out last week. He should help the ball-control

offense, particularly by giving two-way players Kapko and Cahill a

breather.

Another key for the Eagles could be the confidence they have

developed with two straight victories after going 1-18 the previous

two seasons. Nowhere was that confidence more evident than in the

final drive of last week’s win over Century, which ate up the final

5:48 of the fourth quarter.

“When we had to have it, with 5:48 remaining in the game, we took

the football and they never saw it again,” Fertig said. “That

solidified us as a football team. We’ve got a long way to go, don’t

get me wrong. But that was a big step.”