Daily Pilot Football Player of the Week, David Stoddard: Who is

this guy?

Barry Faulkner

To see David Stoddard streaking alone in the seam of an opposing

secondary, or blitzing toward a quarterback’s blind side, one might

wonder if the Estancia High senior tight end-outside linebacker has

stealth capability.

Considering he has come out of nowhere to become one of the Eagles’

biggest playmakers this fall, this might not be as far-fetched as it

sounds.

“Last year, I was only on kickoff return,” said the 6-foot, 190-pound

two-way starter, who, just two seasons into organized football, is making

some forget basketball has been his lifelong athletic passion.

“With our offense, sometimes people don’t take the tight end into

account,” Estancia Coach Dave Perkins said. “We have a lot of option

routes and David has done a good job of reading the secondary and finding

the open areas. He has become another weapon for us, who causes the

defense problems.”

Stoddard has found enough open area to average nearly 28 yards on his

11 catches this fall, including three grabs for 102 yards and a touchdown

in a 41-36 Pacific Coast League-opening victory over Northwood Oct. 12.

He also worked his way around Northwood’s offensive radar to collect

three sacks for 12 yards in losses, including back-to-back unsolicited

visits to the pocket to force a first-quarter punt.

For his efforts, Stoddard is the Daily Pilot Football Player of the

Week.

A fiery competitor with ample athleticism (he has started at forward

the last two seasons for the sophomore and junior varsity basketball

teams), Stoddard was penciled in to contribute in 2000, after spending

his debut season on the sidelines.

But by the time fall practice began, Stoddard had yet to ink his way

into the lineup on either side of the ball.

“I was in a battle and there were guys who could have won those jobs,”

Stoddard said. “But the competition motivated me and I really wanted it.”

Perkins said Stoddard received every opportunity to succeed and that

patience is paying off big for the Eagles.

“The one thing we saw was his competitiveness,” Perkins said. “Whether

it’s basketball, or anything else, he really wants to win. His

inexperience shows, at times, but he also makes some big plays.”

Stoddard made a dazzling 67-yard catch and run for a touchdown in Week

4 against Santa Ana Valley and picked off a pair of passes in the Eagles

Week 5 triumph over Orange.

Against Northwood, his first catch was a 20-yard streak up the hash

mark, which ended in an easy over-the-shoulder catch of Kenny Valbuena’s

pass to give the Eagles the lead for good midway through the second

quarter.

Stoddard also fielded Valbuena passes for gains of 35 and 47 yards

against the Timberwolves, the latter keying an 89-yard TD drive. His

third sack slowed Northwood’s final drive, leaving only 33 seconds for

his offense to burn to seal the victory.

Stoddard, who moved to Costa Mesa from the small Sacramento suburb of

Penryn before his freshman year, said his speed (4.7 seconds in the

40-yard dash) is his biggest weapon. But he has added close to 30 pounds

in the weight room, since committing to give football a try.

“He’s blocking much better the last couple games and he does a good

job of taking people on on defense,” Perkins said.

Stoddard said he is flattered by the attention paid to his increasing

football stardom, but, he points out, there are enough shortcomings in

his game to keep him humble.

“Everyone still makes fun of my blocking,” he said. “And I still make

a lot of mistakes on defense.”

Unlike his increasingly less covert contributions, however, those

mistakes are becoming more and more difficult to detect.