Week 0: Big questions, few answers

Is Carson that good? Or is Mater Dei that bad?

Is Mission Viejo that good? Or is Morningside of Inglewood that bad?

And is Servite that good, and Long Beach Poly that bad, and is Orange Lutheran really that bad is Pickerington Central of Ohio really that good, and ...

It was a typical opening week. A few questions answered, but not nearly enough to get a clear picture of Orange County football in 2009.

Many wondered how Mater Dei would fare in its first game in five years without Matt Barkley at quarterback. Perhaps it was predictable. The Monarchs, rotating two juniors at a position that is important in every program but is particularly crucial at Mater Dei, struggled and struggled a lot in a 14-2 loss to Carson.

In the NFL, teams get four preseason games to tinker with these plays and those positions. In high school and college football, there are no exhibition games. The first game counts.

Mater Dei has a savvy coaching staff that will figure it out. Whether that means altering or reducing the playbook, or rotating the quarterbacks more or less or not at all, we shall see. Talented junior receiver Victor Blackwell did not play, because of a sprained ankle, and when he returns the offense will improve immediately.

Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson probably doesn't have any such drastic revisions in mind. He knew this Diablos team is good, and they went out and proved it with a 55-0 drubbing of Morningside of Inglewood.

It was 49-0 at halftime. The second half was played with a running clock, and Mission Viejo scored only six in the second half. That was a great display of sportsmanship by Mission Viejo, a Victory With Honor moment if there ever was.

If you look at the box score of the Mission Viejo game and see that a kid named Bridgford played well at quarterback, that's no typo. We know that Allan Bridgford, a great quarterback at Mission the past two years (and my personal pick for county offensive player of the year in '08; I got outvoted) graduated. That's little brother Alex Bridgford, a sophomore reserve.

People were still buzzing Friday about Servite's 30-7 victory over Long Beach Poly on Thursday. Sure, we figured Servite could win. But 30-7? Over the defending Pac-5 champs?

Here is what I saw Thursday: Servite was super-excited to play Poly, but somebody who stayed cool through the whole thing was quarterback Cody Fajardo. He completed his first 11 passes Thursday, and there are playmakers all over the field to whom he can send the ball. Two-way lineman Kirifi Taula, when on defense, might be impossible to block one-on-one.

Tustin senior running back Anthony Wilkerson is going to live up to the hype. He rushed for 354 yards and five touchdowns as Tustin rolled over Kennedy, 56-28.

Dana Hills beat Santa Margarita by a big margin, 34-19. A guy we had fun watching in that game: Dana Hills senior running back/defensive back Brandon Howe. He likes to hit, and looks like one of those guys who approaches every play like it's his last.

Canyon coach Brent McKee did the right thing when he decided to go for two points and the victory. "You play to win the game," an agitated Tony Dungy says in that TV commercial. After the Comanches scored on the final play of regulation to pull within one point of Fullerton, they played to win the game and went for two points but a pass was incomplete: Fullerton 21, Canyon 20.

Tesoro lost its season opener to Mission Hills of San Marcos (San Diego County), 13-10. The Titans have lost as many games this year as they did all of last year. They lost a ton of fine players to graduation, so this kind of slow start perhaps was expected.

But, then, we don't know yet how good Tesoro really will be. Is Mission Hills that good, or is Tesoro that not-as-good?

The only thing we could count on: St. Margaret's 68, Blair of Pasadena 0. Last year, St. Margaret's beat Mammoth, 59-0, in the season opener.

The Tartans will win more by similar scores. That, we know for sure.

But there remains a lot we can't be sure about. It's still too early.