Senior Quarterback Rosenkranz Has Done Little to Disappoint Servite

Leo Hand, Servite High School football coach, doesn’t think of Tim Rosenkranz as the prototype quarterback.

Actually, he doesn’t think of Rosenkranz as a quarterback at all.

“He’s more like a linebacker playing quarterback,” Hand said. “He’s just a tough kid . . . hates to lose.”

Despite his less than classic molding, the Friars have yet to lose with Rosenkranz in the backfield. Servite (3-0) has outscored its first three opponents, 80-32.

The Friars renew one of the Big Five Conference’s better rivalries when they play Fountain Valley (2-1) at 7:30 tonight in Santa Ana Stadium.

Last week, in a 27-6 win over Damien, Rosenkranz completed 8 of 12 passes for 222 yards. Not bad for a guy who spent most of his time last season keeping track of starting quarterback Eric Buechele’s statistics.

With little varsity experience, Rosenkranz was, for the most part, an unknown commodity coming into the 1985 season.

“Tim and I had a joke during the off-season,” Servite offensive coordinator Bob Walker said. “ ‘Does Servite have a quarterback?’ I think Orange County is surprised by what he’s done. But we aren’t.”

Rosenkranz has completed more than 53% of his passes for 634 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s averaging more than 22 yards a completion. He has several talented receivers, most notably Jeff Fieldhouse who’s averaging 23.5 yards on 10 receptions.

Hand credits Walker with much of Servite’s offensive success.

Hand was the offensive coordinator last season. He admitted that his offensive game plan, though effective, was pretty predictable.

So predictable one newspaper account of last year’s Friar-Baron game (won by Servite, 16-15) described Hand’s offense as “(Brian) Booker to the right, Booker to the left, a short pass to keep things honest, and, eventually, Booker in the end zone.”

Booker scored the winning touchdown of last year’s game. But this year he has carried for only 127 yards.

“It’s not that we’ve radically changed anything offensively,” Walker said. “We have a more aggressive attitude offensively. We’re emphasizing different phases of our offense every game.”

A big-play offense is probably the last thing Fountain Valley wants to see after losing last week, 17-15, to a Mission Viejo team that piled up 341 yards of offense.

The Diablos’ Bill Doran caught 5 passes for 82 yards and 1 touchdown. He also broke free on runs of 37 and 48 yards.

“We’ll have to do some adjusting,” Fountain Valley Coach Mike Milner said. “Mission Viejo completed a lot of balls on us but they didn’t try to go deep as often as I think Servite will.”

This won’t be the first time Fountain Valley has faced a pass-happy Angelus League team. In their opening game, the Barons beat Mater Dei, 20-10, intercepting the Monarchs’ highly touted sophomore quarterback Todd Marinovich, three times.

In that game, the Barons showed they have some explosiveness themselves. Quarterback John Peart threw touchdown passes of 22, 88 and 7 yards to Dennis Arey.

“I think we’re a good football team,” Milner said. “This game will give us a chance to redeem ourselves.”

In other nonleague action:

La Quinta (2-1) vs. Sonora (1-2) in La Habra Stadium--Before the season, first-year Raider Coach Gordon Blakeley said, “We want to stay away from peaking too early.” The Raiders have succeeded at the task. Their 6-3 loss to Don Lugo last week dropped their record to 1-2. As that score suggests, the Raiders are tough to score on, but have had just as many problems scoring themselves.

After La Quinta lost starting quarterback Eric Zeno with a broken leg, and running back Darrel Crain with a knee injury, it was thought the Aztecs might have some trouble scoring. But defensive back Bart Recktenwald stepped in at running back and scored touchdowns on runs of 21, 78, and 60 yards. He also returned the second-half kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in La Quinta’s 47-3 win over Gahr.

Sunny Hills (1-2) at Nogales (2-1)--The Lancers returned only three offensive starters from last season. Offense wasn’t the problem last week, as Sunny Hills allowed Cypress to come from behind to win, 31-21. Running back David Wackerman has carried the majority of the load for the Lancers. He has rushed for 419 yards on 73 carries this season.

After losing its season opener to Diamond Bar, 14-9, Nogales outscored its next two opponents--Alta Loma and Garey--71-0. Running back Darryl Lewis has rushed for 413 yards, averaging more than nine yards a carry. Receiver Ron Lattimore has caught only five passes but accounted for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Empire League

Loara (3-0) vs. Los Alamitos (3-0) in Gahr Stadium--This league opener for both teams features, statistically, the top passer, rusher and receiver in the Empire League. Also the three top scorers in the league. Los Alamitos quarterback J.T. Snow has completed more than 50% of his pass attempts for 452 yards. His main target, Robbie Katzaroff has caught 25 passes for 358 yards. Katzaroff also returns kicks, punts and is the Griffins’ kicker. He leads the league with 31 points scored.

Loara running back Chris Wright has gained 399 yards this season. He had 108 yards against Garden Grove last week as the Saxons easily won, 23-0. Though Saxon quarterback Wade Clester has completed only 17 passes, he has run for three touchdowns and kicked two field goals.

Sea View League

Woodbridge (2-1) vs. Corona del Mar (1-2) on Davidson Field--It was probably of little consolence to the Sea Kings after their 27-0 loss to Capistrano Valley, but they were the first team to hold Cougar quarterback Scott Stark to under 300 yards passing. Stark threw for only 245 yards.

Woodbridge quarterback John Yurkovich, though not on Stark’s level, could provide some problems for the Sea Kings. He proved to be a clutch performer as the Warriors defeated San Marcos, 8-7. With Woodbridge trailing, 7-0, and less than four minutes remaining, Yurkovich engineered a 60-yard drive that culminated with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Bill York with 2:05 remaining. Yurkovich then completed a two-point conversion pass to Dave Townsend to give the Warriors the win.