 Steve Fryer can be seen Thursday and Friday mornings on Fox 11's "Good Day L.A."
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O.C. athletes making difference off the field
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Some O.C. programs use attention they receive to help causes.
The games are so important to the high school athletes involved.
Many of those athletes are learning this school year about what is really important.
Several Orange County football teams have taken remarkable interest in what is going on outside of the game and in their communities.
Mission Viejo will have a pregame ceremony at Mission Viejo High, where the Diablos play Vista on Friday, at which a donation will be made to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, just part of the Diablos football program's participation in raising funds and awareness of PCRF. Coach Bob Johnson and five team captains will present the donation to Kim and John Weiner and their daughter Samantha, longtime friends of Mission Viejo quarterback Allan Bridgford's family, the Guinane family and PCRF director Nancy Franks (visit pcrf-kids.com for more information).
The Edison-Servite game Friday at Cerritos College is Servite's home game, but Servite is donating half of the income from game programs to help cover the medical costs of Edison football player Luke Gane, who is fighting aplastic anemia, a condition in which bone marrow does not produce enough new cells to replenish blood cells; Gane recently had a bone-marrow transplant. Servite wants to sell all of the 1,000 programs printed – twice the usual number printed – that are $10 apiece.
Edison, too, has raised several thousands of dollars to help cover Gane's medical bills (insurance often only goes only so far in many cases). Among the projects was a "Locks for Luke" event at which players and their family and friends had their hair cut to provide wig material for Gane anD other cancer patients, much like the familiar "Locks of Love" program. That event also pulled in cash donations.
San Clemente's football team participated in a Habitat For Humanity project during the Labor Day weekend. Tritons players and coaches landscaped an area surrounding a unit of six homes that had been built by Habitat For Humanity. There are not too many weekends for high school football players, but the Tritons gave up one of theirs for a great cause.
Mater Dei is continuing its Monarchs For Marines program. Last year and this year, the Monarchs football program has raised funds to assist Marines and their families secure housing, transportation, medical care and other needs and has been a friend of Marines at Camp Pendleton and elsewhere in many ways. I have been told that Monarchs For Marines helps ex-Marines too, but that can't be true because from my experience there is no such thing as an ex-Marine.
Calvary Chapel's girls tennis program is helping the Santa Ana girls tennis program. Calvary players got the shoe sizes of the Santa Ana players who needed better tennis footwear and purchased shoes and even rackets to give to the Saints girls Thursday.
All of these activities have benefitted, and will benefit, so many. And there have been additional rewards, too, to everyone in the Calvary Chapel, Edison, Mater Dei, Mission Viejo, San Clemente and Servite programs. As Mission Viejo football coach Bob Johnson said, "This has made our kids and us coaches more aware of how lucky so many of us really are."
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
•Corona del Mar's Dillon Norton had quite a game last Friday when the Sea Kings beat Troy, 49-20. He scored on a touchdown reception, a 57-yard punt return and a 92-yard kickoff return. Norton also made a touchdown-saving tackle at Corona del Mar's 2-yard line.
•A fundraiser Friday at Santa Ana High: the Harlem Legends basketball team, made up of former Globetrotters, will play the Santa Ana All-Stars at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10.
•Los Alamitos' girls volleyball team is ranked No. 18 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com. Newport Harbor is No. 39 and El Dorado is No. 54.
•Your "FryDay Night" guy will be blogging live from the Edison-Servite game, a 7:30 p.m. Friday game at Cerritos College, at ocvarsity.com. As usual, we will provide instant updates of plenty of other big games tonight.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
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