Lee Runs From a Poor Start to Make Up for Lost Time

When Santa Ana High School meets Foothill on Northrup Field in Tustin at 7:30 tonight, the question will be which Robert Lee will show up for the Saints.

Will it be the Robert Lee who struggled earlier this year, who looked slow, who seemed almost uninterested in the games that were going on around him?

That Robert Lee gained only 189 yards in 63 carries in the first four games, far below the expectations of a player who some observers were touting as Orange County’s next great running back, one who would follow the likes of Ray Pallares, Myron White and Issac Curtis.

In Santa Ana’s fifth game of the season, a 22-17 victory over Ocean View, Lee sat out with what he termed personal problems.

Since then, however, Lee has played the way he did last year in helping the Saints gain a playoff berth and eventually win the Southern Section championship.

In Santa Ana’s first two Century League games against Villa Park and Canyon, the Saints outscored those opponents, 70-14, with Lee rushing for 421 yards and 8 touchdowns in 41 carries. On the season, Lee has a respectable 610 yards and 11 touchdowns in 104 carries (an average of 5.9 yards per carry).

Lee’s turnabout couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for Santa Ana (2-0 in league, 6-1 overall). Besides tonight’s game at Foothill (2-0, 5-2), Santa Ana plays host next week to El Modena, which recovered from a rocky nonleague start to also post a 2-0 league record.

What are the reasons for Lee’s resurgence?

“He’s always been a slow starter,” Santa Ana Coach Dick Hill said. Lee also missed all or part of the first five games of last season with various injuries. “But he’s running well lately and the (offensive) line picks up on that. They encourage each other.”

Hill is fortunate in that the Saints are talented enough to win without Lee--quarterback Richard Fanti (355 yards in 59 attempts) carried the bulk of the offense at the beginning of the season.

“Sure, I was a little bit shaky at first,” Lee said. “I wasn’t really running hard. It was me--the concentration just wasn’t there.

“The coaches just talked to me and told me what I was doing wrong and what I was doing right, and to concentrate on the right things, like hitting the hole hard. I wasn’t running that way at first.

“But since then I’ve just decided that it’s time to run (hard). My confidence is back now. I know that if you want to win, you have to work hard.”

Said Charlie Lee, Robert’s mother: “Robert has always been a joke-around and kid-around type. He’s kind of like me--he likes to make people laugh.”

He also is open and honest. Lee talks about his successes and struggles with equal ease.

Lee moved with his family from Shreveport, La., to Orange County in 1967. Lee’s interest in football was piqued by watching games on TV with his father, who died in 1984.

“I still watch a lot of games on TV now,” Lee said. “Sometimes you can learn a lot just by watching. I love watching Walter Payton and Marcus Allen run.”

Why Payton?

“ Power, “ said Lee, becoming animated. “And Marcus Allen has that swiftness--he puts out his all on every play. I try to give it my all now on every play.”

Which, of course, is bad news for Century League opponents. Lee’s recent play has not escaped notice.

“We’re very impressed with him,” Foothill Coach Ted Mullen said. “He’s quick and he’s huge--he’s easily the biggest and best back we’ve played so far this season. You just have to try to bring him down with more than one player. He breaks most one-on-one tackles.”

Foothill’s defense will be the toughest that Lee faces in the Century League this year. But he doesn’t seem intimidated.

“The only thing you can do is attack,” Lee said. “Hit them before they hit me.” Robert Lee’s 1986 Game-by-Game Statistics

GAME, SCORE Att-Yds TDs Santa Ana 29, Newport Harbor 6 12-47 1 Saddleback 25, Santa Ana 6 18-59 1 Santa Ana 31, Mater Dei 20 19-74 1 Santa Ana 19, Mission Viejo 0 14-9 0 Santa Ana 22, Ocean View 17 DNP -- Santa Ana 33, Villa Park 14 22-208 4 Santa Ana 37, Canyon 0 19-213 4 Totals 104-610 11