Like noise-cancelling headphones for air travel, it is a concept that was long overdue.
The first Orange County vs. Inland Empire All-Star Football Classic will be played Saturday. It is a great way to settle any “who’s better” disagreement in Southern California football.
The 7 p.m. game will be at Corona High. That’s the inland Corona High, not the coastal Corona del Mar High, which has space for a stadium but does not have a stadium and never will have a stadium because the neighbors who have the power to stifle noise from airplanes way up in the sky certainly would not allow a high school stadium in their vicinity.
(If I was Southwest Airlines, I would issue free noise-cancelling headphones to all of the Corona del Mar residents so my planes could take off normally. But I digress … )
There are high-quality players on both rosters. Considering that the game didn’t get the green light until late last month, securing such talent and two outstanding coaches, too – El Toro’s Robert Frith is Orange County head coach and Centennial of Corona’s Matt Logan is the I.E. coach – this game is off to a great start.
Frith jumped at the opportunity for three reasons: the timing, the concept and his opposite number. January is a slow time for high school football coaches. The “O.C. vs. I.E.” is a natural and Frith is pumped to be coaching against Logan.
“It’s better to have this game now,” Frith said, “than when we’re going to college clinics in spring and getting closer to starting our own team’s workouts in the spring, and then getting really busy in the summer. And when I found out this was Inland Empire vs. Orange County, that was very intriguing.”
We have seen many all-star football games come and go. The Orange County game that is organized and managed each summer by the Brea Lions has been played for more than 50 years. But many all-star football games have collapsed after one year.
Even the old Shrine Game passed away about 10 years ago because that game’s organizers had allowed financial donors and other volunteers to get their sons in the Shrine Game although those sons were not of Shrine Game quality.
Sometimes, the county’s top players don’t play in the county all-star game because the colleges with which they signed a letter of intent bar the signees from playing in all-star competition. The football letter-of-intent signing period begins in February, so coaches can’t yet tell their recruits what they can and cannot do.
Cypress All-County, multi-purpose star Quinten Pounds, who committed to Washington, is among those committed to big-school programs who is on the Orange County roster for Saturday’s game.
“I’m confident this won’t be a flash in the pan,” Frith said. “I think this game will continue to get kids who are committed to four-year schools because of the timing.”
The O.C. vs. I.E. game likely won’t lower interest in this summer’s county game.
Connor Hill, an All-County receiver at Mission Viejo who recently committed to Penn, said he is almost certain he would play in the county game if invited.
“I would do it because it would get back into high school football for another week,” Hill said.
Hill likes the O.C. vs. I.E. angle.
“There’s always been kind of a back-and-forth between the areas about who’s better,” Hill said. “I think this is going to be pretty cool.”
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Tickets for the game are $10 for adults and $7 for children, according to the game’s poster that heralds it as “The Biggest Game In History.” Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
• Dane Jako, longtime freshman football head coach at Servite, said via email that he intends to apply for the school’s varsity football head coaching job. Servite boys basketball coach John Morris, who has been an assistant football coach at Servite and was an all-league player there, said he will not apply.
• Before a Servite varsity football practice several years ago, the players were standing around and talking when suddenly they went silent as a man walked past them. All of the players began applauding. That man was Jako, who had been their freshman coach.
• Varsity football head coaching openings remain at several other schools including Costa Mesa, El Dorado and St. Margaret’s.
• Former Angels pitcher Don Aase will be inducted by into the sports hall of fame of his alma mater, Savanna, at halftime of the school’s boys basketball home game against Katella on Feb. 6.
• One of the better girls basketball events of every season, the Tony Matson Memorial, will be played Saturday at Orange Lutheran where the late Matson was an outstanding coach. The schedule: Rosary vs. Esperanza, noon; Foothill, No. 3 in the Orange County top 10, vs. Bishop Amat of La Puente, 1:30 p.m.; No. 6 Orange Lutheran vs. No. 2 Brea Olinda, 3 p.m.; and No. 1 Mater Dei vs. No. 7 Fairmont Prep, 4:30 p.m. Admission for the fundraising event is $10 for adults, $5 for students and $3 for children 12 and younger.
• Adjusting some statistics: Orange Lutheran’s Chris Nordstrom became the school’s leader in boys basketball coaching history this season, his 11th with the Lancers, to break the record held by Jerry Simmons, who had 208 coaching wins there in 14 seasons. Nordstrom has 211 wins at Lutheran, which is 16-3 overall this season.
• Follow me at twitter.com/stevefryer for updates and breaking news on county high school sports and more. Also, on game nights use #ocvupdates for the ocvarsity.com live updates Twitter feed.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
