Pacifica-Los Alamitos: Secret Too Good to Keep

Consider a few of Orange County’s best-kept secrets.

The Knott’s Berry Farm jam recipe. The fact that trout fishing was once a Disneyland attraction. The identity of the person inside the UC Irvine anteater suit. The giant onion rings at the Harbor House Cafe in Sunset Beach.

And, in the world of prep football . . . the Pacifica High School Mariners.

Those reluctant to give credit to Pacifica’s reverse claim-to-fame may test themselves with a simple trivia question.

Which two high school football teams have the best records in the county over the last decade?

Nobody wins a deluxe duck-blind for guessing the top team. Of course, it’s El Modena at 113-29-3, a .790 winning percentage.

But the No. 2 team is a brain-buster. Here’s a hint: It is neither Edison, Esperanza, Foothill, Servite, El Dorado, Fountain Valley or even Capistrano Valley.

“If you asked 100 people that question, I bet only about three would know the answer,” said John Barnes, Los Alamitos coach. “But those of us around the (Empire) league know.”

The answer is Pacifica--the quiet company on the local football market.

The Mariners, reflecting the low-profile personality of Coach Bill Craven, usually prefer to let their 95-30-2 record and .756 winning percentage speak for themselves.

But once in a while, somebody from Pacifica will look up from his playbook long enough to break the silence.

“For some reason, most people have ignored how well this school has done in the last 10 years,” said Tom Ressler, Mariner assistant coach. “Part of it is probably that Bill doesn’t push himself. He’s not a salesman, that’s for sure.

“I remember once someone asked him why he didn’t take a job on a college level and he said, ‘No, I could never go sit in some kid’s living room and tell him how great he is.’ ”

Pacifica and Los Alamitos, the only teams undefeated after four Empire League games, play at 7:30 tonight at Gahr High School.

The match-up between Los Alamitos, ranked fifth in the county, and Pacifica, which inched back into the Top 10 this week at No. 9, offers intriguing contrasts.

Pacifica has won six league championships in the past eight seasons, including two since joining the Empire League in 1981. During that same span, Los Alamitos has contended at times, but never won a title.

The last time the Griffins finished in first place was 1976, when they were co-champions of the old Empire League with Loara. In the school’s history, Los Alamitos has won only one title outright--in 1969 in the Orange League.

But the Griffins are riding high, higher than the arc of a pass by quarterback J.T. Snow. Los Alamitos is one of the county’s three undefeated teams.

Barnes and his players are clearly savoring the sensation of being ranked in the top 10 for the first time ever.

“I like jiving with reporters,” Barnes said. “I like talking football, and if it’s Los Alamitos football, I really enjoy it.”

Conversely, reporters and rankings and prognostications seem to make Craven uncomfortable. The former community college All-American quarterback from Pasadena City College is the embodiment of the advice, “Think before you speak.” Consequently, he does a lot more of the former than the latter.

A stocky, square-jawed man with piercing, Pacifica-blue eyes, Craven is much more comfortable puttering around the weight room he designed of “begged-and-borrowed” materials than promoting himself or his team.

Perhaps the closest Craven ever came to media promotion of any sort was in 1976 when he advertised in newspapers for donations of weights--and was deluged with used equipment out of people’s garages.

“I’m not a vociferous type person,” Craven said. “I don’t try to do things with words. I just try to spend a lot of time with the kids and help them win a lot of football games.”

A key to Craven’s coaching style is constructing a superior defense. One of his favorite sayings is, “You may win a lot of games with a good offense, but it’s defense that makes a championship team.”

Typically, the thing he remembers most about 1976, his first year as Pacifica’s head coach, is not that he was named Orange County Coach of the Year--but rather that the Mariners had the county’s most efficient defense.

Another reason for Pacifica’s relative anonymity is its history of early-round losses in the playoffs. In 1978, the Mariners advanced to the final against El Modena, but in four subsequent appearances, the Mariners have been eliminated in the first round.

And maybe that also has something to do with the lack of hype produced by the Mariner coaches.

“It could be a way of protecting ourselves,” Ressler said. “We don’t send out a lot of smoke. It’s almost a tradition here to be understated. We don’t talk a lot about it, but we really prefer coming out as the underdog team.”

The Big Game

Pacifica vs. Los Alamitos

The records--Pacifica (4-0, 5-2), Los Alamitos (4-0, 7-0).

The site--Gahr Stadium

Key to the game--Los Alamitos has one of the most prolific passing offenses in Orange County with league-leading quarterback J.T. Snow, who has thrown 16 touchdowns and only one interception, and Robby Katzaroff, the county’s leading receiver and scorer. The pair produced four touchdowns in the first half last week in a 35-0 win over Kennedy. But Pacifica may possess the perfect antidote to the Griffin offense: the league’s best defense--a big, physical unit that has allowed three points in the last four games. If those two factors create a toss-up, the question becomes: Can the aggressive Griffin defense prevent the well-rounded Mariner offense from controlling the ball and scoring enough to win? Pacifica will be handicapped by the absence of running back Tony Caceda, who suffered a hip pointer early in last week’s 34-3 victory over Cypress. The other Mariner running back, Callen Chase, also missed the game because of strep throat, but should see plenty of action tonight. That will allow safety/fullback Bill Hardesty to concentrate on defending against the Snow-Katzaroff Express.

Consensus--This could be the game that exposes the Griffins’ only flaw--Los Alamitos’ reliance on passing. Los Alamitos has had very little success with rushing, which will provide Pacifica a definite advantage in focusing its defense. If the Mariners can force Snow to commit some turnovers, as they did against Esperanza quarterback Greg Beckman, the methodical Pacifica offense should do its part to produce a victory.

Orange County’s Top 10

(Since 1974)

No. School Record Pct. 1. El Modena 113-29-3 .790 2. Pacifica 95-30-2 .756 3. Edison 96-31-4 .748 4. Capistrano Valley * 56-20-2 .731 5. Mission Viejo 92-34-6 .720 6. Servite 93-36-2 .718 7. Foothill 89-35-5 .709 8. Esperanza 96-41-5 .694 9. El Dorado 89-41-2 .682 10. Fountain Valley 89-43-4 .669

* Since 1979