Fryer on football: That crazy Trinity League
The Trinity League has been living up to its reputation as an ultra-competitive league. Servite and St. John Bosco of Bellflower are on top, both with 2-0 records, and they play each other Friday at Bosco. Santa Margarita bounced back from its loss to Mater Dei by beating Orange Lutheran, and Mater Dei was shut down by Bosco, so Santa Margarita and Mater Dei are at 1-1, and then there are Lutheran and JSerra at 0-2. Lutheran plays Mater Dei this week; whoever loses that one probably won't go to the playoffs. So what we are going to have is a non-playoff Trinity League team that would be good enough to win the championship of just about every one of the other 12 11-man football playoff divisions in the CIF-Southern Section.
THOSE RUNNIN' MUSTANGS
Costa Mesa has won six in a row since a season-opening loss to Buena Park, and the Mustangs are tied with Estancia for first place in the Orange Coast League. It's a running back's league – Orange Coast running backs are ranked third, fourth and fifth in rushing yardage in the county, led by Mustangs senior Mario Smith who is averaging 172 yards a game and 10 yards a carry. Costa Mesa also has a terrific receiver/defensive back, Jordan Walden, who had four interceptions in the first half two weeks ago in the Mustangs' victory over Godinez. If Walden had played in the second half of that game, perhaps he would have had another interception to tie the CIF-Southern Section record.
THIS IS A LEADER
Isaac Silvas plays quarterback, fullback and linebacker for Santa Ana. The Saints got hammered by Segerstrom, 31-0, on Friday and this is what Silvas had to say: "We've just got to push a little big harder." Santa Ana, with no chance to win the game, still put together a Silvas-led drive at the end of the game that came just a few yards short of producing a touchdown as time expired. Santa Ana is 0-7 overall and 0-2 in the Golden West League. The Saints might finish 0-10. I saw a player last week draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for showboating 30 yards from the end zone on a long touchdown run. I would like to put Isaac Silvas on that team, cut him loose for a touchdown run like that and watch his reaction – which probably would not be much to see, because Silvas is a team-first guy.
THE WEEK'S GAMES
Outside of the usual weekly wars in the Trinity League, Week 8 brings us some beautiful matchups: No. 2 San Clemente (8-0 overall, 2-0 in league) at No. 3 Mission Viejo (5-2, 1-0) on Friday, when San Clemente perhaps has its best chance to beat Mission Viejo for the first time since 1999; No. 7 Edison (5-2, 2-0) at Huntington Beach (6-1, 2-0) on Thursday, with Huntington going for its first non-forfeit victory over Edison since '93; Cypress (6-1, 3-0) at Tustin (5-3, 3-1) on Friday, a game in which there could be something like 400 rushing yards between the two teams; and Anaheim (3-4, 1-1) against Savanna (4-3, 1-1) on Friday in the Orange League, in which four of the six teams are 1-1 and Anaheim shoved itself into the mix with its victory over Katella last week. It's going to be another wild week of county football.
