Prep football: Background check

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Though the high school football teams from Corona del

Mar and Costa Mesa occupy the same district and league, they wound up

miles apart philosophically on an age-old scheduling question this fall.

So, when the reigning Pacific Coast League co-champions square off to

open league play Friday at 7 p.m. at Orange Coast College, the winner

will help further one side of the debate over which preleague experience

best prepares a team for the games that truly count.

CdM (2-3) took plenty of lumps on its preleague road, but Coach Dick

Freeman believes the consistently strong competition helped his team

improve.

Meanwhile, Costa Mesa Coach Jerry Howell isn’t quite sure what to make

of his squad (4-1 and ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division IV),

after a five-week run that included a pair of patsies, such as tiny

Brethren Christian, a 55-14 victim last week.

“We’re still kind of up in the air,” Howell said. “I thought

Saddleback (a 48-23 victory) and Ocean View (a 29-7 loss) were pretty

tough games and we played well in one and poorly in the other. We’ll see

how we play against a team like Corona del Mar.”

Freeman hopes his team is ready to extend its two-game winning streak,

which helped build morale after losing the first three weeks to teams

that are now a combined 13-2.

“We’ve played some good opponents and we don’t want to let that go to

waste,” Freeman said. “If we aren’t ready to play now, then I have to

wonder why we were beating ourselves up.”

Both teams will aim to deliver a physical beating, though both have

been more productive than last season through the air.

Mesa’s passing game, however, could suffer if senior Patrick Hulliger

is sidelined for missing classes.

Hulliger has completed 44 of 84 for 523 yards and three touchdowns,

but Howell said junior Andrew Strickland will start. Strickland has

completed both his passes, for 18 yards and a TD, in mop-up duty this

season.

CdM junior quarterback Dylan Hendy has thrown for 379 yards and five

TDs (22 of 47), but both offenses have been most effective on the ground.

“It’s going to be smashmouth,” Howell said.

The emergence of the Sea Kings’ ground game has coincided with the

two-game win streak. Senior tailback Blake Hacker has collected most of

his 526 rushing yards the last two weeks.

Mesa has four players with more than 200 rushing yards, but sophomore

Keola Asuega (454 yards and nine TDs on 83 carries), has emerged as the

featured weapon.

Senior Alvin Nguyen (345 yards and seven TDs) is another running

threat for Mesa, which welcomed back All-CIF offensive lineman Luther

Mitchell to the starting lineup last week. The 5-8, 300-pound senior had

been sidelined by academic difficulties.

Mesa has piled up more than 1,400 yards on the ground, while allowing

only 470 rushing yards (1,242 total) to opponents.

CdM has rushed for 677 yards and thrown for 614, while surrendering

1,700 combined yards to the opposition.

Both teams like to attack defensively, though CdM, as it has in recent

years against Mesa, figures to alter its traditional 4-3 front. CdM has

used five- and six-man lines against the Mustangs.

Defenses dominated last year’s meeting, a 14-0 Mesa win in the

regular-season finale, which pulled it into a first-place tie. The winner

will join the league leaders, while the loser takes a step backward in

its quest for the playoffs.

“In a six-team league, it makes a big difference whether you start off

1-0 or 0-1,” Freeman said. “You don’t want to find yourself in a hole you

may be digging yourself out of the rest of the season.”

Howell said it may come down to an individual effort.

“We’re hoping one of our kids, whether it be a running back or a wide

receiver or a defensive tackle, can make a play to change the game. It

may be a turnover, but we’re hoping one of our kids forces the issue.”

CdM leads the series, 23-7.