Orange Lutheran's Hyepock still learning as an all-star

Playing in a high school all-star game marks the culmination of many players' athletic education. For Blake Hyepock, it's an additional semester.

Hyepock had not been a starting quarterback since he was on Orange Lutheran's freshman "B" team until he became Lutheran's varsity starter for his senior year this past fall. All he had to do was replace the previous year's Orange County offensive player of the year, Aaron Corp, as the quarterback of the Lancers who had won CIF-Southern Section and state championships with Corp in 2006.

Hyepock was better than just good enough. He completed 67 percent of his passes - 143 for 215 - for 2,104 yards and 14 touchdowns with only three interceptions and was a Trinity League offensive player of the year. Lutheran had another excellent season in '07, winning a share of the Trinity championship and advancing to the CIF-SS Pac-5 Division semifinals in which the Lancers lost to eventual champion Long Beach Poly by the odd score of 2-0. (Click here to see Hyepock's stats)

On Friday, Hyepock will play for the North in the Brea Lions Orange County North-South Prep All-Star Football game. Kickoff at Orange Coast College is 7:15 p.m.

Hyepock, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound right-hander who is going to Colorado State, said practicing and preparing to play in Friday's game has given him another opportunity to work on areas in which he feels he most needs to improve, footwork and speed.

"I'm working on that constantly," he said, "and in this all-star game, we will be using a lot of rollouts so that's helping me, too."

North coach Brent McKee of Canyon likes what he sees with Hyepock. McKee also likes what he hears.

"Blake's a very quiet and very poised leader," McKee said. "He's a yes-sir, no-sir kid."

Coaches appreciate a quarterback who is an on-field coach, and McKee also appreciates that about Hyepock.

"We're throwing a lot of stuff at these kids in practice," McKee said, "stuff that's new to them. But Blake knows it all already. He'll tell another guy, 'No, you're supposed to run that route.'"

Even with his senior-year success that included a 15-for-19 effort that produced 194 yards and two touchdowns without an interception in a 31-8 nonleague victory over Los Alamitos, Hyepock was uncertain if he would be selected for the county all-star game.

"I knew I had a solid season," said Hyepock, who declared himself completely recovered from the broken right ankle suffered in the loss to Poly. "But I also knew there were some great quarterbacks out there, guys like Chris Morales (of La Habra) and Tyler Swaney (of Troy) and some others."

Hyepock said Tuesday he did not know if he or the other North quarterback, Morales, would start Friday. But he is accustomed to competing for playing time. He battled Bobby Wheatley for the Lutheran starting role in '07.

"That was tough," Hyepock said. "We were neck and neck all the way through. I just edged him out at the end a little bit."

Hyepock was in good hands. Lutheran quarterbacks coach Greg Cicero helped mold Daniel Klein into a two-time league offensive player of the year as Servite's quarterbacks coach in 2005 and '06 before joining the Lutheran staff last summer.

The challenge for all was to keep Hyepock from trying to become a replica of Corp, who possessed a superior arm and excellent running skills and now is rising on the depth chart at USC.

"Just try not to do much," Hyepock explained his approach to running the Lutheran offense. "Keep it simple. Make good plays, don't make too many turnovers, don't make too many mistakes."The education continues Friday.

• O.C. All-Star Game Insider

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com