Prep football: Building a case

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Estancia High football team is competing

against more than Canyon when the Comanches invade Newport Harbor High

tonight for the 7 o’clock nonleague contest.

The Eagles are also battling perception.

Ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Division IX poll this week,

ending what they considered a wrongful omission, Estancia (2-0) can’t

afford to give doubting poll voters, who likely note the program’s lack

of a CIF playoff victory since 1980, any ammunition to threaten its

upward mobility.

“We got no recognition in the preseason poll and our kids were

disappointed,” Estancia Coach Dave Perkins said. “But we’ve come to

believe we don’t need anything but our own self-respect. We were ranked

No. 10 in the final poll last year and we still didn’t make the playoffs

(losing out on the lone at-large berth).”

The Eagles will, of course, need to keep winning to maintain their

self image, but Canyon (1-1) doesn’t figure to willingly comply.

The Comanches, under the guidance of Brent McKee, the program’s third

coach in three years, bounced back from a season-opening 18-7 loss to

Pomona, by thrashing La Sierra, 35-9. La Sierra has just three wins in

its last 41 games, but Pomona defeated CdM, 41-22, last week.

“(The Comanches) lost to a good Pomona team and I think they’re

playing really well,” Perkins said. “They’re an option and power team,

which doesn’t throw the ball much. They play the same defense as Aliso

Niguel and it’s a plus to face the same defense two weeks in a row.”

Against that Aliso defense, Estancia rolled up 360 yards total offense

en route to a 17-13 win.

Displaying the best run-pass balance any Eagle offense has in a

decade, Estancia should prove a challenge for the Canyon defense.

Senior fullback Fahad Jahid has rushed for 203 yards and one touchdown

on 35 attempts, while senior Andy Romo, moved to tailback last week, has

114 yards on 23 carries. Romo’s shift from receiver was prompted when

Shane McGuire quit the team for personal reasons.

Romo also shares the team lead in receptions with tight end David

Stoddard. Romo’s five catches include a pair of TDs, while Stoddard’s 111

receiving yards lead the team.

Triggering the passing attack is senior quarterback Kenny Valbuena.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder has completed 14 of 23 for 245 yards and two

TDs. He has not thrown an interception and he rushed for 58 yards and the

game-winning TD last week.

Canyon features senior tailback Travis Tolley and senior wingback

Darryl Parker.

Tolly has 158 rushing yards on 17 carries, including TDs of 40, 38 and

37 yards.

Parker, also an All-Century League defensive back, had a 38-yard TD

run against La Sierra. Canyon’s defense also includes senior end Robert

Miller, a 6-6, 220-pound Division I prospect.

Sophomore Brad Lusk is the quarterback. He is 4 of 14 for 37 yards and

one interception.

Defensively, senior ends David Rodriguez and Cesar Romero have been

the anchors for Estancia. They’ll be joined on the three-man front by

junior noseguard Jesse Cardenas, who returns after missing the first two

games with a sprained ankle.

It’s the first meeting between the two school since 1993 and the

series is even, 1-1.