Finally coming of age
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Running Back Josh Ireland, left, and linebacker Mike Farris are expected to play key roles for Santa Margarita this season Photos: |
Santa Margarita gets its first seniors
No player from the 1989 Santa Margarita High School football team graduated last spring.
There wasn't a CIF investigation, a call for head coach Jim Hartigan's job or even a fuss raised. It was expected.
The Eagles begin their second season of varsity football, but the team, like the school itself, will have seniors for the first time. The team was successful last year, going 8-4 and reaching the second round of the playoffs.
The Catholic high school opened in the fall of 1987 with only freshmen and has added a new freshman class each year. Now, that first freshman class will make up the school's first graduating class.
Included in that class will be 23 football players, highlighted by wide receiver/defensive back David Shearer and inside linebackers Jason Ortiz and Mike Farris, voted by team members as the first varsity football captains.
Others will be quarterback Trevor Yankoff, who passed for more than 1,000 yards last year, and All-CIF junior running back Josh Ireland, who was the ninth-most prolific runner in the county after the regular season in 1989 with 1,079 yards and 11 touchdowns.
"It's great to be captain, especially since the players voted on it," Farris said. “I'm not always really vocal, but I know the team will be expecting the leadership. I like to think we're like three extra coaches on the field."
All three say they will feel some pressure as captains, but not much, mainly because the team has been together for their entire high school career.
“It's not pressure; it's more excitement of our senior year,” Shearer said. “We've been together since we were freshmen, with the same coaches, and it's all built up to this year.”
Said Ortiz: “These guys (teammates) are our friends, so if we have to holler, we'll be positive. We have to respect their needs, so they'll respect us."
Hartigan is happy to get the group through to its senior year and is intrigued to see how the players will react as seniors.
"I don't know how they'll react," Hartigan said. “I don't think it's sunk in yet that this is their season year. I don't think it will until Sept. 7 (when the Eagles open their season against Rancho Bernardo of San Diego County).
"In terms of leadership, our team is unique because we didn't have any seniors around to work with these guys. They've always looked to the coaches. We've been looking for someone to step forward and show it before the game and at halftime, depending on the situation. Now, I think we have them."
In addition to the three elected captains (which the coaches had to approve), there are five other line leaders for practice and pregame drills – offensive tackle Nathan Beckett, wide receiver/strong safety Eric Brown, fullback/linebacker Sergio Muniz, center Shane Mielke and offensive tackle/outside linebacker Ryan Mummert.
"They have experience in leadership off the field," Hartigan said. “A lot of these guys are involved in ASB (Associated Student Body) government and have gone to leadership camps. As coaches, we encourage it. They were appointed because we think the kids will respond to them."
As to playing their final year of high school football, all three captains say that they are trying not to think about it.
"I don't want to think about it until it's over," Ortiz said. “I don't think it will hit me until two weeks after the last game or until the (postseason awards) banquet."
Said Shearer: "It'll be in the back of our minds. It has been a great time, but it will be sad, because we're a lot like a family."
By Chris Monahan
Tuesday, September 4, 1990
The Orange County Register - D11
