Fryer's Week 5 football notes

Uh, no. Not enough voters put La Habra on their ballots Monday morning.

Newport Harbor, with 14 points, edged out the Highlanders, with 11 points, for the No. 10 position. The O.C. Top 10 is a poll of 11 media members. A team gets 10 points for a No. 1 vote, nine points for a No. 2 vote, etc.

I had La Habra on my top 10 ballot - but I had Newport Harbor on my top 10, too. For my vote, click here.

Just last week, it was written in this space that long-struggling 11-man programs should consider following Liberty Christian, which made the switch to 8-man. This past Saturday, La Quinta ended a 27-game losing streak with a 17-0 victory over Estancia.

Estancia is a decent Division IX-level team, a playoff candidate in the Orange Coast League. All of those kids at La Quinta who did not quit during that losing streak when some of their friends, including some ex-teammates, thought they were nuts for sticking it out should be treated like heroes on that campus.

La Habra at San Clemente, Friday. The county's northernmost school vs. its southernmost. La Habra proved it can compete with the county's top teams last week when the Highlanders lost to Los Alamitos, 28-21.

Sure, the Griffins had a three-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter and might have coasted, but La Habra did not quit. Good, well-coached teams look at a big deficit and take the one-play-at-a-time approach, and that's what the Highlanders did.

When the going gets tough, the tough get excited. San Clemente is 4-0 but tough to figure out. The cumulative record of teams San Clemente has beaten: 4-14.

We'll know a lot more about San Clemente, and La Habra, too, this week.

The Titans have a big offensive line, a good quarterback (Robbie Picazo), a grind-out-the-yards running back (Zach Mitchell), and a playmaker receiver (Preston King).

But can Tesoro's defense control Mission Viejo's excellent offense?

That will be the big question when those teams play on Oct. 17, at Tesoro. Both teams have byes this week before that huge matchup, the South Coast League opener for both.

WHY ALL THE TRINITY LEAGUE COVERAGE?

A partial answer to that frequent question/complaint: Servite on Monday sold all of its $12 premium seats for the Mater Dei-Servite game, although that game is still more than a week away - Oct. 17, at Cal State Fullerton.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com