Unheralded Azimi Ready to Pilot West

OXNARD — Tonight’s Ventura County high school all-star football game is not lacking for high-profile quarterbacks.

Newbury Park’s Chris Czernek, who last year became the first quarterback in the nation to pass for more than 4,000 yards in consecutive seasons, will play for the East team.

Czernek’s East teammate, Scott McEwan of Thousand Oaks, signed with UCLA before his senior season, then threw for 2,180 yards and 14 touchdowns.

On the West team is St. Bonaventure’s Teohua Sanchez, who led the Seraphs to the 1996 Southern Section Division X title by throwing for 3,027 yards and 28 touchdowns.

The game’s fourth quarterback? Farhaad Azimi of Rio Mesa, unheralded but potentially invaluable as the starting quarterback for the West when the game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Moorpark College.

Azimi’s name may not be atop the marquee, but, as the pilot of the West’s Delaware wing T offense, he may find himself in a starring role.

Azimi ran the ground-based misdirection attack for three seasons at Rio Mesa, leading the Spartans to the Southern Section Division III playoffs as a senior. But wing T quarterbacks garner little attention and Azimi’s accomplishments were largely overlooked.

“I’m sure if I threw the ball 40 times a game I’d get more headlines,” said Azimi, who also played varsity basketball and baseball. “It would be nice to see your name in the paper every day but it doesn’t bother me if I don’t.”

Azimi, 6 feet 2 and 195 pounds, frustrated opponents to no end last season. Rio Mesa used an explosive offense to finish 8-3 after going 3-17 in Azimi’s first two years as the quarterback.

Rio Mesa scored at least 34 points in eight games and 50 or more in two others. The Spartans led Division III in regular-season scoring.

Defensively, however, the Spartans were suspect, leaving Azimi to engineer frequent comebacks in high-scoring games.

Azimi threw for 1,161 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 440 yards and seven touchdowns. He was a second-team All-Ventura County selection by The Times.

“We felt the key to our success was the way Farhaad played,” Rio Mesa Coach George Contreras said. “If it had been only our running game, teams could have stopped us with a nine-man front. But if they tried that, Farhaad made pass plays happen.”

Contreras, who has employed the wing T for 14 seasons, said Azimi is one of its polished practitioners.

“He’s one of the top two quarterbacks I’ve had in terms of ballhandling, high-percentage passing and good decisions,” Contreras said. “He pays a lot of attention to detail in terms of faking and that’s crucial.”

West Coach Cliff Farrar has used the wing T at Nordhoff since 1990, winning four Frontier League titles and advancing to two Southern Section title games. He was quick to pick Azimi for the all-star team.

“I was looking for [a wing T quarterback] and he was available,” Farrar said. “He’s got the physical abilities and experience needed to run the offense.”

Azimi, who also kicks extra points, said terminology is the only significant difference between Rio Mesa’s offense and the one Farrar teaches. He added that his new teammates are quick to catch on.

“I really don’t think it’s too tough to learn,” Azimi said. “But you have to get a feel for where everyone’s going to be in the backfield and where the linemen will be blocking.

“You have to keep the defense away from the man with the ball, because if they do fall for the fake that’s less people to beat for a touchdown.”

Azimi will be joined in the backfield by two wing T veterans. Running backs Carl Richardson of Rio Mesa and Russell Farrar of Nordhoff scored a combined 29 touchdowns last season while in the offense.

“We’ll have a whole backfield we can put out there that’s comfortable [with the offense],” Farrar said.

Despite the running emphasis, Cliff Farrar said Sanchez, who ran St. Bonaventure’s no-huddle passing attack to perfection last season, has a sound grasp of the wing T and will not be neglected.

“You usually try and control the ball and the clock but since it’s an all-star game and people come to see offensive fireworks, I’m going to try and be a little more open with the passing game,” Farrar said.

Eager to test his passing arm, Azimi plans to walk on at Brigham Young, a pass-oriented program and the alma mater of professional quarterbacks Steve Young and Ty Detmer.

“It’s nice to run the wing T in [the all-star] game because I know it, but I’d like to see what I can do in another offense,” Azimi said.