Gil Greene’s Dreams Have to Begin Someplace

When he was in elementary school, Gil Greene watched his brother, Greg, play tailback for Orange Lutheran High School and dreamed of doing the same for USC.

Heck, if you’re going to dream . . .

“Hey, I can do that,” Greene said he thought at the time. “I’m going to win the Heisman Trophy, not just once, three times.”

Greene now laughs about his Heisman notions, but he has made part of the dream a reality.

He’s proved he can play tailback for Orange Lutheran, where he has started for the last two years. And Saturday, he ran up some impressive numbers while leading the Lancers to a season-opening 26-12 victory over Pater Noster.

Greene, The Times’ athlete of the week, gained 258 yards in 19 carries and scored Orange Lutheran’s final three touchdowns. His first touchdown came on a nine-yard run in the second quarter and gave the Lancers a 13-0 lead. In the second half, he twice broke through the middle and scored touchdowns of 51 and 60 yards.

Like many backs, Greene credits his offensive line for opening the holes that allowed him to gain the yards. Orange Lutheran has a veteran line, but Coach Bob Dowding said Greene deserves the credit.

“He’ll tell you he had some blocks thrown for him, but he broke some tackles and made the proper cuts,” Dowding said.

Greene’s big game wasn’t that much of a surprise, though. Last season, the Lancers were led by quarterback Jason Neben, who ran for 1,489 yards, second most in Orange County to Servite’s Derek Brown. Greene was Lutheran’s second-leading rusher with 846 yards, so he figured to be the runner the Lancers would count on this year.

“We knew going into the season that he was going to be one of the keys, if not the key, to our offensive attack,” Dowding said. “But I didn’t know he was going to have as good a game as he had Saturday.”

It was Greene’s speed that prompted Dowding to move him to the varsity team as a sophomore, the only one of his class to move up from the junior varsity.

Greene replaced another older brother, Gaylord, at tailback midway through the season. Gaylord moved to receiver, a position he now plays for the junior varsity at Army.

But it took time for the younger Greene to assert himself. He started last season as a junior, but started slowly. He said he was tentative because of a recurring groin injury and that was compounded by the two fumbles he had inside the 20-yard line in the first game of the season.

He recovered from the slow start by heeding the simple advice Gaylord had been giving him since he moved to the varsity as a sophomore, “Just run hard.”

“It just kept ringing in my head, ‘Run hard. Don’t worry about the ball, just run hard,’ ” Greene said.

Dowding noticed the difference as the season progressed and, this year, Greene has developed strength to go with his speed. And that makes him an ideal power tailback.

Because the Lancers lack an experienced quarterback--a sophomore, Lenny Gavin, started Saturday--the team is not running the option as often as it did last year. That means Greene will get the ball more often.

TOP PERFORMERS

Acen Childs of Orange scored four touchdowns and gained 74 yards in 19 carries in the Panthers’ 30-0 victory over Chino Friday.

Tim Manning of Trabuco Hills, who played defensive back and wide receiver last year, completed 12 of 16 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown and ran 27 yards for another score to help the Mustangs rout Rancho Santa Margarita, 50-14, Friday.

Brian Pizula of Sunny Hills rushed for 188 yards in 10 carries and scored two touchdowns--on runs of 55 and 75 yards--in the Lancers’ 31-6 victory over Rowland Friday.

Willy Puga, in his first start as Fountain Valley’s quarterback, completed 13 of 17 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Barons to a 28-22 victory over Mater Dei Friday.

Ben Rooker of Trabuco Hills scored four touchdowns and gained 200 yards in 19 carries in Trabuco Hills’ victory.

Gil Greene

Orange Lutheran

Position: Tailback/linebacker

Height, Weight, Class: 6-0, 180, Senior

Last Week: Greene gained 258 yards in 19 carries, with three touchdowns and an intercepted pass in Orange Lutheran’s victory over Pater Noster.