One-on-one with Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau:

Question: Tell us about your team.
JK: On the line we’ve got some good guys returning. Aaron Prindle ended up a two-way starter by the end of the year. Kapono Asuega is one of our leaders. He’ll probably anchor our defensive front. Another returning starter is defensive end Mike Arakelion. On the offensive line we have a couple other starters back: Preston Pemasa, the younger brother of Ricky and Alex, and Moses Peralta. We have a solid nucleus there.

Q: What have been some of your spring goals?
JK: I think you try to go back to recreating a solid team foundation. To reintroduce the fundamentals of our system.

Q: Is Bobby Wheatley going to be your new quarterback?
JK: He’s competing. He certainly has the experience. He’s a year bigger and stronger. He had a good experience playing baseball. He’s a very poised competitor for a young man. There always is a competition at every position. There are four other kids. With Bobby we have confidence.

Q: Are you looking at Exavier Edwards as a 20-carry running back?
JK: Exavier has really improved his strength and his speed. I think he’s sure capable of that. A lot of it depends on how a defense chooses to play you. Physically, he’s capable of doing that. Kyle Dravis is a hybrid, both a running back and receiver. Kyle’s probably our fastest player, a tremendous athlete. He was the anchor on our 4x4 team that came in third in the state meet. He’ll figure big in our plans.

Q: What has Trabuco Hills transfer Gabe Lemon, an All-County defensive back, added to your team?
JK: Well first, he’s worked extremely hard and displayed an unselfish attitude. I think he’ll help us on both sides of the ball, at receiver and running back. I’ve really liked his attitude all spring. At receiver we have a starter back in Scotty Williams, one of our team leaders. He’s our punt returner and may start at safety.

Q: Do you feel like you have the top team in the county again?
JK: To be honest with you, I don’t think a lot of that and worry about that. I focus on our mission, to create an unselfish, unified team. We just don’t get caught up in the ranking stuff. I think anytime you have a decent team, Mater Dei has experienced this for 20 years and Los Alamitos for 25 years, anytime you have a half decent team you’re going to be circled a little bit. But if you focus on that it distracts you from your mission. As long as we’re working as hard as we can on our fundaments, our spiritual development and character development as well football, those things are what we care about most deeply. If those things fall into place, the other things tend to take care of themselves.

Q: Can you comment on the attention your program has received because of all the transfers?
JK: The kids that have come in are very high character. What isn’t written about is we have had a lot of kids that have transferred out. In the last few years, we’ve had three kids go to Santa Margarita, two to Servite, two to El Dorado, including Anthony Laurenzi, the County Defensive Player of the Year. I think overall the transfer thing has kind of balanced out. I don’t think we really give it a lot of thought in our football program. Every year is kind of a new year and a new group of kids. It’s not a big topic on our campus. We don’t dwell on the kids that left, just like we don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the kids that have come in. There are a lot of schools in Orange County that are high profile, and anytime there’s any movement it’s going to bring attention and we understand that.

>> Orange Lutheran's 2007-08 Season Totals

>> More Spring Football Insider articles on Orange Lutheran

>> Insider articles on other O.C. football programs

Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com