Dirksen Plays It Again and Again

NORTH HILLS —  The video tape does not lie and that is why Peter Dirksen watches it so much.

As many as three times a week, the L.A. Baptist High quarterback powers up his VCR and pops in the video tape of his team’s 42-41 loss to Serrano in the first round of last year’s Southern Section Division XI playoffs.

It reminds him of how much harder he will need to work in this, his senior season, to win a Southern Section championship--a goal he has held since the eighth grade when he watched L.A. Baptist win the 1993 Division X title.

It also reminds him of little details that made the difference between victory and defeat in a closely contested football game--the five-yard penalties, the fourth-and-nine pass thrown a little low and getting stuffed on the goal line on a two-point conversion.

But the image emblazoned in Dirksen’s memory by the video tape is the aftermath--watching the tears rolling down the faces of his teammates and knowing his top-seeded Knights had been upset in the first round.

“That was embarrassing,” Dirksen said. “We’ll be watching that game film before every game this season. It’s already planned. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Southern Section teams began practicing this week, and with the onset of the season comes high expectations of returning players. Dirksen is no exception.

In 1996, he led L.A. Baptist to its second consecutive Alpha League championship.

Dirksen passed for 2,081 yards and 17 touchdowns and was an all-league and All-Southern Section Division XI selection for the second time. He needs 1,965 yards to pass Zack Hernandez as L.A. Baptist’s all-time leading passer and 2,889 yards to move into 10th on the all-time Southern Section list.

He has received numerous letters from Division I college coaches but has not yet received a scholarship offer.

Dirksen, while citing the record books as a goal, has just one expectation of himself.

“The only pressure I have is not to get upset in the first round of the playoffs,” he said.

“I use the records as just kind of inspiration. Whenever I don’t want to throw or don’t want to run, I think about that.”

Teammate Tim Feirfeil, a wide receiver, says he wants Dirksen to go after the records.

“I think about the records because it means more catches and more yards for me,” he said with a smile.

The last L.A. Baptist quarterback so highly touted was Hernandez, the 1993 quarterback who led the Knights to a 13-0 record.

Expecting to attract attention from Division I colleges, Hernandez ended up at Division III Cal Lutheran, where he was a redshirt as a freshman.

He then transferred to Valley College and spent the year as a backup. He went back to Cal Lutheran and split time as a starter last season. He has not yet been named the starter for this season.

Dirksen, who once wanted to be like Hernandez, said he prefers not to follow in his former idol’s footsteps.

“I’d rather go someplace and work my way up than transfer three times,” Dirksen said. “I’d like to get a Division I scholarship.

[Pro football] is still a dream but I don’t know if it’s a possibility.

The example of Hernandez shows, however, that attracting Division I attention is difficult at small schools because the transition is so difficult.

Dirksen, using his performance against bigger schools in summer passing leagues and in quarterback camps, said he is confident he has the ability to play at any level.

“We played the big schools and did fine against them,” Dirksen said. “Every passing league we went to we’d go out and get laughed at but I think we were like 15-3. They would just talk and talk and talk and we’d go out and win.”

Dirksen almost didn’t go to a small school. A resident of Valencia, he was so close to attending Hart High that he actually attended off-season workouts at Hart before his freshman season.

But Dirksen had a change of heart when his decision to attend the Newhall school strained his friendship with Feirfeil. They have been friends since third grade.

“I kind of wanted to be back with Tim,” said Dirksen, who attended Hillcrest Christian and Placerita Jr. High in eighth grade while Feirfeil remained at L.A. Baptist. “I started to get the feeling he was mad at me for leaving.”

Dirksen returned, and with Feirfeil (52 catches for 871 yards in 1996) as his main receiver, the two--who as seventh graders would pretend they were John Elway and Jerry Rice--began striking fear into opposing coaches.

“With Dirksen and Feirfeil, LAB can light up the scoreboard with their offense,” Village Christian Coach Mike Plaisance said. “Dirksen is definitely one of the best quarterbacks in Division XI. We like to try and make them run the ball when we play them.”

Running the ball might be a problem for L.A. Baptist, which lost its top two rushers to graduation.

Dirksen doesn’t seem to mind the added pressure on the passing game.

“That’s what we want,” he said. “Last year we rushed for about 2,300 yards and passed for about 2,300 yards. This year we’re hoping to rush for 200 and pass for 4,000.”