On long or short of it

Rick Devereux

Following a season opening loss, Estancia High only had five days to

prepare for its contest against Magnolia last Thursday. This week,

Coach Craig Fertig and his staff have eight days to prepare for

Saturday’s game against Buena Park.

“You don’t do anything different if you have a short week of

practice or a long week of practice,” Fertig said. “You keep your

same routine and either shorten or lengthen it a bit.”

The short week proved effective, with the Eagles (1-1) beating

Magnolia, 33-26, for their first victory of the year. Estancia, which

rebounded nicely from a 35-14 loss to Corona del Mar in the season

opener, was led by running back Bryce McKendry’s 188 rushing yards

and four touchdown runs.

Buena Park (0-1) lost, 14-6, to Century last week and allowed

running back Simon Son rush for 185 yards and two touchdowns, so

McKendry might be in for another big game.

Fertig said that he wants to give all three of his quarterbacks

playing time before Golden West League play starts Oct. 1. Because

Estancia has a bye next week, it could be a revolving door behind

center.

Junior Ryan Watson played all of the Magnolia game and started the

season opener against CdM, senior Nick Cox played the second half of

the game against the Sea Kings, and sophomore Tim Morley has yet to

see any action.

“Watson is a great leader and popular guy with the team. He knows

exactly what he has to do and where he has to be,” Fertig said. “Cox

didn’t play football the last couple years and has played only

freshman football, but he has best arm of the group. He has a real

good grasp of the game and different situations. I think Morley has

the arm and the intelligence needed to play the position. He only

lacks the experience.”

Whomever is taking the snaps should be well away of what the

Coyotes run defensively having played Buena Park in a passing league

during the summer.

But the quarterbacks may not have to decipher the secondary

coverage if McKendry runs like he did against Magnolia and the

Coyotes defend like they did against Century.

“We didn’t throw the ball well [against Magnolia],” Fertig said.

“But we didn’t need to.”