Junior quarterbacks lead the way

Matt Barkley remembers his first varsity game well. He was a freshman and, just a few days before Mater Dei’s season opener against Orange Lutheran, he found out he would be the Monarchs’ starting quarterback.

“I was so fired up, in the pregame I nearly lost my voice,” Barkley said. “I learned from that.”

He also learned from losing his first two starts two years ago.

“There’s nothing like playmaking on the field on a Friday night,” Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson said.

Johnson has a junior quarterback in Allan Bridgford, who became the Diablos’ starter midway through last season and has won nine of 11 games.

At Los Alamitos, junior Clark Evans, maybe the county’s most dangerous quarterback, is going on his second year running and throwing the ball up and down the field.

Bridgford and Barkley, one of Rivals.com’s 100 to watch in the class of 2009, received their first scholarship offers this past spring, Evans in the past month.

“It’s kind of a fun time in the sense that the good programs have real good juniors,” Los Alamitos coach John Barnes said.

A time in which three juniors are playing for three of the county’s most storied programs, and playing beyond their years.

EARLY START

Barkley was a freshman when he earned his first playoff victory. He was a sophomore when he suffered his first playoff defeat.

Now going on his third season of lessons, his numbers are striking. In three games, he has thrown for 1,024 yards and a county-best 14 touchdowns.

“He now has 24 games under his belt,” Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. “There’s absolutely no disadvantages for Matt. People questioned why I did it.

“It was very simple: He won the job as a ninth grader. He won the job as a 10th grader. Now we’re seeing the fruits of those two slightly questioned years.”

Barkley’s physical gifts have been there, the velocity and arm strength to make just about any throw. Rollinson said his junior quarterback is now reading defenses better than ever before.

Combine that with two years of confidence and experience and Barkley has played like the best quarterback in the county this season.

CALL TO ACTION

Bridgford mostly watched from the sideline during the first half of his sophomore season.

His first prominent game action came against California powerhouse De La Salle of Concord, which was about to hand Mission Viejo its second defeat in four games. Bridgford was nearly perfect, completing nine of 10 passes and two touchdowns, and has been the Diabos’ starter since.

“He’s got a calmness about him in big games,” Johnson said. “He tends to keep it real cool about things. Nothing really rattles him.”

In half a season, the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Bridgford finished 2006 with more than 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns to just three interceptions.

He’s had a quick start to 2007, but threw three interceptions in Mission Viejo’s 26-14 defeat to Vista this past weekend.

Next week Mission Viejo plays host to De La Salle.

DUAL THREAT

Evans is the fifth underclassmen to start at quarterback for Barnes in his 29-year tenure at Los Alamitos.

As a sophomore, he won his first three games and seven of his first eight. But the Griffins lost their final three games, including a humbling defeat to Mission Viejo in the first round of the playoffs.

“He made some mistakes. He was learning on the job,” Barnes said. “It hurt him last year. It hurt us last year. But this year he’s playing like a senior. You can tell.”

Barnes’ patience seems to have already made Year Two of the Evans era a success. In three games, the dual threat is averaging about 230 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, while scoring 13 touchdowns.

At 6-foot-4, his athleticism and penchant for running resemble former Orange Lutheran quarterback Aaron Corp. But the 215-pound Evans is also strong enough to be a linebacker, prompting Barnes to liken Evans’ style to that of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Evans showed off this versatility a year ago when he finished his sophomore season with 1,150 passing yards, more than 500 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

Where he has matured the most, Barnes said, is his awareness.

“He sees everything,” Barnes said. “He audibles a lot. He doesn’t seem to be in panic mode. Last year he would get into that.

“He’s a team leader already.”

THE NEXT STEP

A year ago, Edison’s Nick Crissman was the prototypical junior quarterback. He threw for 27 touchdowns and more than 3,000 yards, while leading his team to a CIF championship game. It was one of the finest seasons for a county quarterback of any grade.

Crissman, who remembers getting little attention early on to being interviewed after each game as the season progressed, advised his brethren to be patient.

“When you’re young, people feel a lot of pressure, he said. “If you don’t do so well, you can’t get down on yourself. There’s just a lot more to the game.”

While Barkley, Evans and Bridgford have already begun to excel, their coaches agreed they were each lacking in one area: consistency.

“Their careers are real young,” Johnson said. “Every one of those guys are learning every time they take the field. They’re high school kids that are going to throw their share of picks and have bad games. … There’s a lot of maturing to do.”

There is senior year.

Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com