This week the Calhoun Countdown spotlight shines on Orange Lutheran.
The old saying goes that familiarity breeds contempt. For Orange Lutheran, it is hopeful that familiarity delivers a victory.
After taking care of St. Bonaventure in the first round of the CIF-SS Pac-5 playoffs, the Lancers will play Centennial of Corona on Friday night at Orange Coast College.
It will be the teams’ third meeting in two years.
Last year, Centennial edged Orange Lutheran, 52-49. Earlier this season, the Huskies got the best of the Lancers, winning 35-14.
“They’re a great football and they’re very well-coached,” Orange Lutheran coach Chuck Petersen said. “We saw them obviously early in the year, and I thought they were much better than when we played them last year, and that’s scary.”
That’s very scary.
The Huskies are averaging 58 points a game and allowing just 14. The Lancers are averaging 28.7, but giving up 31.8.
If you look at the teams’ meeting in September, there are some things the Lancers need to improve on and some things they should be encouraged by.
The Lancers allowed JJ Taylor and Anthony Catalano to rush for a combined 277 yards. Catalano passed for 271 yards, and Javon McKinley had 10 catches for 201 yards.
The Lancers forced three turnovers and passed for more than 250 yards.
I don’t expect the Lancers to gain nearly 500 yards again on the ground as they did last week against St. Bonaventure, but if they can get half of that from their assortment of backs (Dominik Austin, Markell Quinn, Malone Matele), then who knows, maybe they’re in the game with a chance to pull off the upset.
As the other old saying goes, “this is high school football and crazy things happen sometimes.”
Here is the rest of the Calhoun Countdown:
Checking to see if my CIF-SS predictions are still intact: Yup … St. John Bosco (Pac-5), Mission Viejo (West Valley), La Habra (Southwest), Canyon (Southern) and Grace Brethren (East Valley) all survived the first round. They won their first-round games by a combined score of 285-43.
Southern Division upsets: I went 5-3 in my Southern Division first-round predictions. Godinez knocked off Westminster, Santa Ana Valley took down Santa Ana and El Modena knocked out Rancho Alamitos. Make sure to check the capsules this week to see which games I get wrong.
But should these really be considered upsets? As Garden Grove coach Ricardo Cepeda told me last week: “We play some good football in the Southern Division. The Santa Ana schools are better. … El Modena almost beat Villa Park … There are good teams in this division.”
The Countdown Showdown of the Week: Buena Park vs. Corona del Mar. There are some pretty insane second-round matchups in the Southwest Division. This one between the Coyotes and Sea Kings could end up 65-63.
This features two of the best quarterbacks in the county – Zach Taylor (Buena Park) and Chase Garbers (CdM). Taylor has completed 70 percent of his passes and has 28 touchdowns. Garbers has completed 72.8 percent of his passes and he has 32 touchdowns, with just four interceptions.
This should be fun. I don’t expect it to end 10-7.
Jordan Leonard held under 100 … by his own team: Brethren Christian’s Jordan Leonard only had two carries last week. He rushed for 89 yards, but that was it. The reason? The Warriors scored 41 points in the first quarter and they running-clocked Sherman Indian in the second quarter.
Second quarter running clock is the most impressive feat accomplished this season.
Leonard leads the county in rushing with 2,312 yards. Jacob Fimbres (Sonora) rushed for 133 in the Raiders’ 42-13 victory over Tustin and is still in second place, albeit, a bit closer, with 2,135 yards.
We can’t go on without giving props to Bryan Ibarra’s performance. Godinez’s quarterback rushed for 401 yards in the victory over Westminster and is now in fourth place in the county. Talk about making big moves.
My vote in the O.C. Top 10 looked like this: 1. Mission Viejo; 2. Mater Dei; 3. Orange Lutheran; 4. Tesoro; 5. Servite; 6. Santa Margarita; 7. JSerra; 8. La Habra; 9. San Juan Hills; 10. San Clemente.
The player to watch this week: Bryan Ibarra, Godinez. As I mentioned earlier, Ibarra rushed for 401 yards last week. What can you possibly do this week? 500? 600?
