Onto Every Aztec, a Little Rain Must Fall

The Southern Section football luncheon was in full swing Monday afternoon, yet Esperanza Coach Gary Meek was looking a wee bit glum. Naturally, we have a few theories on the matter:

--Meek, making his third such luncheon appearance in as many years, is sick and tired of glazed chicken with wild rice medley.

--Los Alamitos quarterback Tim Carey, sitting at the next table, spent much of the luncheon tossing dinner rolls at wide receiver George Sagen. To Meek’s dismay, Carey finished a scintillating 20 of 20.

--Meek neglected to consult his daily horoscope Monday. According to syndicated astrologer Sydney Omar, Meek--a Scorpio--was to focus on “celebration, fun and frolic.”

Granted, it’s a little tough to picture Meek doing much frolicking five days before the biggest football game of the year in Orange County. Especially with thunderstorms predicted for Friday, and more rain possibly for Saturday--when Esperanza plays Los Alamitos at Cerritos College for the Division II championship.

Six weeks ago, as you might recall, Esperanza lost the Empire League championship to Los Alamitos on a rain-soaked field at Valencia High. Los Alamitos managed to run amok in the muck--and won, 34-14. But Esperanza struggled with every slippery step.

Those memories were no doubt playing on Meek’s mind Monday as rain swamped everything from the Costa Mesa Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway. The county was waterlogged. Football fields were filling up fast. For Meek, every drop of rain had to have been water torture. Drip, drip, drip.

Now this isn’t to say rain--or the likelihood thereof--will make this game a washout. There’s too much on the line for either team to simply roll over like a pig in the mud.

Los Al has a 20-game winning streak to protect and fortify. Esperanza has its mighty reputation to win back. And both teams fancy this silly little thing called a Division II trophy.

Those are the obvious motivations. The more subtle inspirations are as follows:

--The Travis Kirschke factor. No one is going to argue that Kirschke, Esperanza’s mammoth tackle, is one of the strongest, most talented linemen to stomp through Orange County. But where did he go the night of Oct. 30? Carey surely didn’t see much of him.

Was the mud that bad that night? Or were the Los Al linemen that good? Saturday will tell.

--Los Al and its less-than-perfect tendencies. The Griffins are one of the hottest, most feared teams in the section. But did you catch that first half they played against Crescenta Valley last weekend? Gimme a ‘U,” gimme a “G,” gimme an “H.”

Sure, they overcame a 10-7 halftime deficit to win, 28-10. But for a while, Los Al fans were debating whether they’d spend the night of Dec. 12 watching football or “Home Alone 2.” It’s that window of mistake-prone opportunity that Esperanza is hoping to crash through Saturday.

--Dahrin Footman and Bill Ross. Heard of these guys? Probably not. Maybe if Footman played football for Foothill, he’d be more of a headline grabber. As it is, he and Ross--of Esperanza--are perhaps the first running backs to receive less press than their line. Watch them make a run from obscurity.

--Los Al Coach John Barnes and his lucky underwear. That’s right. According to Anita Barnes, her straight-faced husband is as superstitious as the rest of us. Come game time, Anita says, John’s got to wear his lucky blue briefs.

“He hasn’t lost since he bought them,” she says.

That’s 20 consecutive victories, folks. Jockey underwear execs, are you listening?

--Putting hype to rest. For Barnes, this is a big-ticket item. Ask him what this game, this rematch, this opportunity of a lifetime means to him one more time and he’ll probably blow his eardrums out with his coaching whistle--just so he doesn’t have to hear it anymore.

This isn’t to say Barnes doesn’t enjoy some of the hoopla--after all, this is a man whose mother gave birth to him while his father listened to the Notre Dame-USC game on the radio--but he can’t wait for the day when the only calls he gets from the newspapers are in reference to a subscription.

--Singing in the rain. Neither team wants to play another Mud Bowl, but let’s face it: a hard rain, in all likelihood, is gonna fall. For the Aztecs, a rain-soaked field will mean twice the opportunity. They can win a championship and prove they’re no weather wimps, all in the same outing.

Of course, if their opponent has it their way, the Aztecs will be feeling a wee bit glum.