Fryer on football: Week 2's games

GAME OF THE WEEK

NO. 14 VILLA PARK (2-0) VS. NO. 6 EDISON (1-0)

Where, when: Huntington Beach High, Thursday, 7 p.m.

The last time: This is the first varsity football meeting of these two schools

The coaches: Edison, Dave White (198-103-3); Villa Park, Dusan Ancich (29-9)

Outlook: Playoff preview? Maybe. Edison and the rest of the Sunset League were moved from the CIF-Southern Section's Pac-5 Division to the Southwest Division. That's an illogical drop. The Pac-5 is what used to be called Division 1; the Southwest used to be Division 6. A Sunset drop to the Inland Division (Division 2) made more sense. This matchup was created before the divisional changes. Villa Park played a soft nonleague schedule en route to going 10-0 in the regular season in 2011. It's good to see the Spartans take this challenge. Villa Park beat Righetti of Santa Maria, 28-21, in its season opener and last week defeated Valencia, 24-7, as ace running back Meki Tafuna rushed for 151 yards, including 110 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. In the Southwest Division rankings, Villa Park is No. 4. Edison, No. 2 behind Tustin, beat Garfield of Los Angeles, 24-0, as Chargers quarterback Alek Torgerson and receiver Jeremy Maxwell hooked up on two long touchdown passes. In this one, Edison needs to put the clamps on Tafuna and force Villa Park into third-and-long situations. If the Chargers do that and display a balanced offense themselves, they will win.

Winner: Edison

OTHER TOP GAMES THIS WEEK

IRVINE (1-0) VS. SANTA ANA VALLEY (2-0)

Where, when: Santa Ana Stadium, Thursday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Irvine's defense last week forced five turnovers and converted two into Vaqueros touchdowns as it beat Rosemead, 20-0. Irvine scored 10 points in 14 seconds in the second quarter. Valley's defense made some big plays, too, in a 27-24 victory over Beckman, a Southern Division finalist the past two seasons. Alex Hernandez rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Joe Mohr threw two touchdown passes for the Falcons. Valley's victory had no impact on the Southern Division rankings. Just like last week, Valley is No. 10, Beckman is No. 5 and Irvine is No. 9. A Valley victory in this game should fix that.

Winner: Santa Ana Valley

Also Thursday (all games 7 p.m.)

Nonleague

Corona (1-0) vs. No. 18 Fountain Valley (1-1) at Westminster High

Long Beach Wilson (0-1) at No. 10 Tustin (2-0)

No. 20 Laguna Hills (1-0) vs. Northwood (0-1) at Irvine Stadium

Hart of Newhall (0-1) vs. Kennedy (0-2) at Western High

California of Whittier (1-0) vs. Troy (1-0) at Fullerton High

Anaheim (0-1) vs. Santa Ana (0-1) at Segerstrom High

Buena Park (2-0) vs. Magnolia (0-1) at Glover Stadium

***     ***     ***

FRIDAY

NO. 11 TRABUCO HILLS VS. NO. 1 SANTA MARGARITA

Where, when: Mission Viejo High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Santa Margarita wins games and loses players. After winning CIF section and state championships last season, two of Santa Margarita's 2011 all-league underclassmen, running back Alex Suchesk and receiver Sean Modster, transferred to Mission Viejo. Starting offensive tackle Erik Bunte, who committed to UCLA, this week started the process of transferring to Mission Viejo. So it's kind of ironic that this Santa Margarita game is at Mission Viejo against a team that, like Mission Viejo, is in the South Coast League. Saddleback College's field was damaged by misapplied fertilizer, and recent resodding needs time to take root. Santa Margarita, No. 2 in the state rankings, opened with a road victory over Brophy College Prep of Phoenix, then last week beat Long Beach Jordan, 35-6. The Eagles defense was particularly good against Jordan, collecting five sacks. Trabuco Hills might have its best team in a few years. The Mustangs beat Newport Harbor, 27-21, last week as J.T. Land rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown and forced a crucial fumble on defense. Trabuco would need several such outstanding individual efforts to beat Santa Margarita. Santa Margarita, though, has the larger number of star players who should deliver an Eagles victory.

Winner: Santa Margarita

NO. 21 CAPISTRANO VALLEY (2-0) VS. NO. 22 ESPERANZA (2-0)

Where, when: Yorba Linda High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Capistrano Valley rallied from a 19-point halftime deficit to beat Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach, 41-39, last week. The Cougars defeated University, 35-13, the previous week. Quarterback Mason Dossey had a good night against Santa Fe Christian, completing 21 of 31 passes for 329 yards and five touchdowns. Esperanza shut out Santa Fe of Santa Fe Springs, 42-0, last week. Aztecs running back Troy Poole, who rushed for more than 1,900 yards last year, missed Esperanza's season-opening victory over Kennedy. He returned last week and scored on an 89-yard run in the first quarter. This game should be as close as our rankings indicate. If Capistrano Valley's passing game is close to as productive as it was last week, the Cougars should win.

Winner: Capistrano Valley

NO. 24 JSERRA (1-0) VS. NO. 17 HUNTINGTON BEACH (1-1)

Where, when: Huntington Beach High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: JSerra owned the second quarter last week, scoring 27 points to beat Long Beach Wilson, 37-21. Lions junior Casey Eugenio won OC Varsity football athlete of the week honors by intercepting two passes, rushing for 78 yards, returning a punt 45 yards for a touchdown and blocking an extra-point kick. Huntington Beach, which lost to No. 6 El Toro two weeks ago, last week hammered Magnolia, 62-0. Oilers quarterback Kai Ross threw four touchdown passes and ran for another. He is one of the county's better playmakers at his position. If Ross keeps it up and Huntington Beach's defense plays better than it did two weeks ago, then the Oilers will win.

Winner: Huntington Beach

DANA HILLS (0-2) VS. NO. 9 SAN CLEMENTE (2-0)

Where, when: San Clemente High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Dana Hills might be the best 0-2 team in county football. The Dolphins have lost two close games, 17-14 to Trabuco Hills and 23-17 to Fountain Valley. They face another tough challenge. San Clemente has beaten its two opponents by a combined score of 93-6. Those victories were against a couple of teams that are 0-2, West Adams Prep of Los Angeles and Cabrillo of Long Beach. But San Clemente does have some stalwart teams coming up on its schedule, La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, Newport Harbor and Edison before playing its South Coast League opener against El Toro (then Mission Viejo, then Tesoro ...). San Clemente's Christian Bailey scored three touchdowns against Cabrillo. The Tritons won't find it so easy in this game, but they likely will be moving to 3-0.

Winner: San Clemente

YORBA LINDA (2-0) VS. BREA OLINDA (1-1)

Where, when: Brea Olinda High, Friday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Yorba Linda was 10-2 last year. A poll of Empire League coaches has the Mustangs finishing second in the league behind defending Southwest Division champion Tustin. But they are off to only a so-so start. Yorba Linda beat El Modena, 28-16, two weeks ago and then had to struggle for a 15-14 victory over El Dorado. We know El Dorado and El Modena have improved, but larger margin of victories were anticipated in those two Yorba Linda victories. Brea Olinda went 9-3 last year, and is expected to again be in the hunt for a playoff berth in the Century League. Brea lost a close one to a good Valencia squad, 21-16, then beat Sonora, 26-14, last week. This will be Yorba Linda's biggest challenge so far. We expect them to use the running game combo of Brayden Massie and Angel Ochoa to produce the yardage and points to make the Mustangs 3-0.

Winner: Yorba Linda

Also Friday (all games 7 p.m. unless noted)

Nonleague

No. 2 Mission Viejo (2-0) at Santiago of Corona (0-1)

Carson (0-2) vs. No. 3 Mater Dei (1-0) at Santa Ana Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

No. 4 Tesoro (2-0) at Chino Hills (1-0-1)

No. 6 El Toro (2-0) vs. Canyon (1-1) at El Modena High

El Modena (1-1) vs. No. 8 Orange Lutheran (2-0) at Orange Coast College, 7:30 p.m.

Charter Oak of Covina (1-0) vs. No. 12 Los Alamitos (1-0) at Veterans Stadium

No. 13 La Habra (1-1) at St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs (0-2), 7:30 p.m.

Loyola of Los Angeles (2-0) at No. 15 Newport Harbor (0-1)

Beckman (0-1) vs. No. 16 Foothill (1-1) at Tustin High

South Region #2 of Los Angeles (0-1) at No. 19 Aliso Niguel (2-0)

No. 23 Valencia (1-1) vs. Sonora (0-1) at La Habra High

Garden Grove (1-0) vs. No. 25 Woodbridge (1-0) at Irvine High

El Dorado (0-2) at Fullerton (1-1)

Capistrano Valley Christian (2-0) at Sage Hill (0-2)

La Quinta (0-1) vs. Calvary Chapel (2-0) at Estancia High

Linfield Christian of Temecula (0-1) at St. Margaret's (1-0)

Costa Mesa (1-1) vs. Katella (0-1) at Glover Stadium

Corona del Mar (0-1) at Western (2-0)

St. John Bosco of Bellflower (2-0) vs. Santa Fe of Santa Fe Springs (1-1) at Pioneer High of Whittier

Pioneer of Whittier (1-0) vs. Rancho Alamitos (1-0) at Bolsa Grande High

San Juan Hills (2-0) at Artesia (1-1)

Pacifica (0-1) at Millikan of Long Beach (0-1)

Orange (1-0) vs. Santiago (0-1) at Garden Grove High

Whittier (1-0) vs. Whittier Christian (2-0) at Whittier College

Marina (1-1) at Westminster (0-1)

Estancia (1-0) at Ocean View (0-1)

Notre Dame Regional of Vancouver, B.C. (0-0) at Segerstrom (2-0)

University (0-2) at Laguna Beach (1-0)

8-man

St. Joseph Academy of San Marcos (0-0) at St. Michael's Prep (1-0), 3:30 p.m.

***     ***     ***

SATURDAY

BOLSA GRANDE (0-1) VS. SADDLEBACK (0-1)

Where, when: Segerstrom High, Saturday, 2 p.m.

Outlook: These teams need a winning season, badly. Heck, they just need a winning anything. The last time Bolsa Grande did not finish with a sub-.500 record was in 1989, a few years before any of the current Matadors were born. Saddleback was 7-5 in 2006. Since then, the Roadrunners are 3-47. Last week, Bolsa Grande was run over by Laguna Beach, 62-14; it was 28-0 in the first quarter. Bolsa had a silver lining provided by Michael Marquez, who rushed for 88 yards. Saddleback opened with a 41-7 loss to Orange, a team that was 2-8 in 2011 but has some good returning talent. This one is a tough one to call. Maybe Saddleback is making enough progress to finally get a chance to celebrate.

Winner: Saddleback

Nonleague

Liberty Christian (1-0) at Valley Christian of Santa Maria (1-0), 1 p.m.

Sunny Hills (1-0) vs. Big Bear (2-0) at Big Bear Middle School, 1:30 p.m.

Los Amigos (1-0) vs. Loara (0-1) at Glover Stadium, 4 p.m.

Brethren Christian (2-0) vs. Century (1-0) at Santa Ana Stadium

St. Anthony of Long Beach (1-1) vs. Fairmont Prep (1-0) at Yorba Linda High

Crean Lutheran (1-1) at Ribet Academy of Los Angeles (2-0)

Fryer on Football last week: 4-4; Season to date: 9-7

Rankings note: The Orange County Media poll provides the 1-10 rankings. Teams ranked 11-25 are from Steve Fryer's personal rankings.