Orange Lutheran's Ayles is top boys athlete

Blake Ayles on occasion wandered into his track and field coach's office. It was the fall of 2007, the off-season for Jack Preus and the season for Ayles, the Orange Lutheran star tight end and defensive end.

Yet, the 18-year-old with a scholarship awaiting him at USC needed to make sure his coach knew he was ready … for the shuttle hurdles.

"He came in and said, 'I can't wait,'" Preus said. "He showed genuine excitement. The second-sport athletes, the guys where their primary sport is football or basketball, track can be treated as a training session. But Blake really took it seriously."

The shuttle hurdles were merely a preseason treat for Ayles, who entered the year as a reigning state finalist in the discus. But his coaches say this is how Ayles approached all competition.

"Blake never ever talked about stats or stuff like that," Orange Lutheran football coach Jim Kunau said. "I honestly don't think he cared about that. I think he just wanted the team to do well, his teammates to do well and to have some fun in the process."

During that process Ayles became the Register's 2007-08 Boys Athlete of the Year.

He finished second in the discus at the state championships after throwing 193 feet, 6 inches, the 10th best mark in county history. He won second consecutive titles at the Orange County Championships, the Trinity League Finals and the CIF-SS Division III finals.

In the shot put he won the Trinity League championship and finished third in the division, while also contributing to the 400-meter relay team early in the season.

One of the best throwers in county history was an even better football player. The two-time All-County member had 45 catches for 697 yards and eight touchdowns in 2007, as his team reached the Pac-5 Division semifinals. He also had eight sacks despite playing about half the Lancers' defensive downs, and was the first player to sack Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley this season, in the Monarchs' eighth game.

His aptitude in blocking and receiving, the way in which he controlled stretches of games, stretching the field and going over the middle and through would-be tacklers, made him arguably the county's best tight end since Tony Gonzalez.

"He is probably the best two-way physical, athletic player, as good as anybody I've coached against in 20 years," Edison coach Dave White said. "Some tight ends you don't even have to guard because they just block. You had to scheme on both sides of the ball for him."

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Ayles said he arrived at Orange Lutheran just two inches shorter but probably 55 pounds lighter. He originally tried out at receiver, but Kunau said his physical nature screamed tight end.

It was the position Ayles played when he began playing football as a kid. He dabbled at quarterback and receiver but kept going back to tight end because he said he liked "being able to hit somebody."

Ayles also played center field and first base for a travel ball team but eventually dropped the sport to focus on football. He started all four years at tight end, his time at defensive end gradually increasing over that time. As for track and field, he said that was "just something I was going to do in high school."

That also proved to be a four-year endeavor at the varsity level, as Ayles filled whatever spot his coach needed. He became a fairly accomplished triple jumper and participated in the 100 and 200.

"He was really unselfish," Preus said. "He has an understanding of his role. Despite the fact that he was a great athlete, he never took himself too seriously."

Ayles shrugged off bad performances with jokes and alternated between a clean shaven face and bald head to a full-grown head of hair and beard. After closing his prep career with a personal best throw in the discus at the state finals Preus said Ayles ran around and pounded his teammates "like a little kid."

"He might be a lot like Manny Ramirez," Preus said.

Ayles added: "That's the way I've been since I was a kid. I've always been that little trouble maker."

County football players and track athletes alike could agree: Blake being Blake made for a lot of trouble.

Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com