Foltz Emerges as Latest Cover Boy for Westlake High

WESTLAKE VILLAGE —  For once, Ryan Foltz isn’t supplying his trademark bump-and-run coverage.

The Westlake High football field is empty, a slight chill in the air. Foltz, the Warriors’ outstanding cornerback-receiver, is stepping down from a challenge, almost as if he’s backpedaling into a soft zone coverage.

Asked to compare himself to past greats at Westlake--names like Gary Wellman, Billy Miller, Joey Cuppari, Travis Campbell, Michael Brignac and Chris Catalano--Foltz doesn’t take the bait.

He’d rather be respectful and save his comments when his Warrior career ends this year.

“It’s kind of an honor to play here,” he said. “There’s real big shoes to fill when you come in. That was a big question of mine, whether I’d be able to fill them.

“I think so far I’ve done everything to the best of my ability to make plays to help this team win games. But we’re not halfway through the season yet. The production needs to keep going. You can’t play half a season and call it quits.”

He probably won’t. In fact, when all is said and done, his name might be added to the Westlake football honor roll--at the top.

Quite simply, Foltz is the best cover corner in the region.

For three years, he has been assigned the opponent’s best receiver. He has rarely disappointed, turning star receivers into nonentities with his physical style.

Quarterbacks rarely glance at his side of the field, effectively shutting off a third of the available passing lanes.

“In film you don’t really see him because the wide receiver runs out of the picture and so does he and that’s the last you see of them,” Westlake Coach Jim Benkert said. “It’s a given.”

On offense, Foltz’s speed, soft hands and precise route-running make him a quarterback’s best buddy. He has 18 receptions for 385 yards and six touchdowns, none of them more timely or awe-inspiring than one last week at Thousand Oaks.

With the Warriors facing second and 52 thanks to penalties, Foltz turned a simple slant pattern into an 87-yard touchdown, blowing past All-Marmonte League defensive back Dave Anderson.

The Warriors won, 49-0.

Recruiters have taken notice. California and Arizona State have offered scholarships, as has Fresno State, resulting in a story as amusing as it is true.

Three weeks ago, Westlake played at Clovis West. The son of Fresno State Coach Pat Hill plays for Clovis West.

Foltz had six catches for 169 yards and three touchdowns, and was approached by Hill’s son after the game.

“My dad wanted me to let you know that you played a great game and that he was extremely impressed with your play,” Michael Hill said.

The next day, the elder Hill called Foltz and offered him a scholarship.

That’s Foltz. You see him play, you want him on your team.

Then you find out about his character and you really want him on your team.

Foltz played third fiddle to Brignac and Catalano as a receiver last season but never grumbled.

Brignac and Catalano combined for 128 receptions and 30 touchdowns. Both ended up at Division I schools, Catalano at Wisconsin, Brignac at Utah State.

Foltz was happy with a starting job on defense and spot duty on offense (16 catches, 274 yards, three touchdowns).

“He just did his job,” Benkert said. “He never whines. Last year, we had two great receivers and he never asked to play offense. He just did what he was told.”

He’s talented. He never complains. He’s perfectly normal . . . except for a couple of cavities, a somewhat surprising fact because his father, Jeff, is an oral surgeon and his mother, Lisa, is a former dental hygienist.

And there are a few superstitions of Foltz’s that either make you chuckle or scratch your head.

On game days, he wears the same pair of jeans and eats the same dinner--a ham and cheese sub, no condiments.

And he insists on parking his car on the left side of the parking lot before a game. When he was a sophomore, his mother drove him to his first varsity game. As they were pulling into the lot, Foltz saw the car of former Westlake star Travis Campbell and couldn’t help himself.

“That’s Travis’ car,” he blurted out. “Park there.”

His mother obliged and slid into the spot next to Campbell’s car on the left side of the lot. Foltz had a solid varsity debut and a parking idiosyncrasy was born.

The versatile Foltz should be allowed to park on the 50-yard line if he wants.

Last spring, Foltz was waiting for a volleyball match to begin. An accomplished outside hitter, he was a few hours away from taking the court when Benkert asked him to help set up public-address speakers for a Westlake track meet.

Foltz uncrossed wires, carried heavy equipment and completed tasks that would impress an electronics-store employee.

Shortly thereafter, the Westlake track coach approached Foltz and informed him that the anchor for the 400-meter relay team could not compete. He asked Foltz to fill in and handed him a track jersey.

Foltz, who was clocked in 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the Ventura County combine last summer, stretched for 15 minutes and walked to his place on the track. He outraced Simi Valley star Calvin Bell, a freshman football player at Michigan, down the stretch in a Westlake relay victory.

Later that day, Foltz helped lead the volleyball team to victory.

“That’s the kind of kid he is,” Benkert said. “Whatever you need, he gives it to you.”

He gives Benkert plenty on offense and defense.

The latest in a long line of stellar skill-position players at Westlake, Foltz might be the best.

Miller had 33 touchdown receptions and nearly 3,000 receiving yards for the Warriors before playing at USC. He is a reserve tight end for the Denver Broncos.

Cuppari had 37 touchdown catches and four interceptions before heading to Colorado State.

Campbell, at Cal State Northridge, had 16 interceptions at Westlake.

But Foltz edges them in all-around ability.

“People have to remember that Billy [Miller] only played offense,” said Benkert, in his 12th season at Westlake. “And Cuppari was a great free safety for us, but we never put him on an island like we do Foltz.

“We don’t put a guy in the slant zone or deep zone to help him. Foltz is on one guy and that’s that.”

And then, a final statement, as hard-hitting as Foltz on a corner blitz.

“I’m telling all the recruiters,” Benkert said, “that he’s the best I’ve ever had.”