In any of the recent normal seasons, the high school football football games between Loara and Rancho Alamitos have had high stakes and league championship implications.
But in this unusual, shortened season, Saxons coach Mitch Olson and Vaqueros coach Mike Enright both have similar sentiments going into Thursday night’s showdown at Glover Stadium: Getting the inside track on a potential league title is secondary after all that both teams have gone through due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We know it’s a big game, but it’s kinda secondary to, ‘hey, let’s get out there and let them go after it,’ ” Olson said. “It’s not so much a buildup of, this is Rancho and we gotta beat them, we just gotta do better than last week and do the best we can.”
“It’s always about winning and losing,” Enright said. “But that doesn’t take as much priority as it normally would. It’s more about letting them play games than it is about anything else.”
The Vaqueros haven’t lost to Loara since 2013, two years before Olson took the helm for the Saxons.
Enright, who has been the coach at Rancho Alamitos since 2000, wouldn’t mind claiming a third consecutive Garden Grove League title but his perspective is different this year.
“It’s great for my seniors,” he said, “they’re getting to play again and that’s what’s important.”
The Vaqueros started 11 seniors on defense in their season-opening victory against Westminster including last season’s Garden Grove League defensive player of the year Kyle Culbert and all-league returners defensive end Kevin Torres and linebacker Frank Nguyen.
Rancho Alamitos has not been immune to the injury bug as several players will be “game-time decisions,” but Enright is not making excuses.
“We’ll go out and battle, but we’ll need some guys to step up,” Enright said.
On offense, senior Jacob Castro won the quarterback job over last year’s starter Isaac Plata, who will primarily be used at wide receiver and defensive back this season. Oye Akerele and Jason Nguyen will be the featured running backs and will get blocks from players like Andrew Arechiga and Ethan Cable. Castro’s main passing targets include twins Ethan and Stephan Monge and Seymore Brown.
Loara had a memorable season in 2019 that included 10-victories and a trip to the Division 14 semifinals, but beating Rancho Alamitos was one thing that eluded the Saxons. They lost last year’s matchup 21-10.
The possibility of a loss on Thursday doesn’t seem to faze Olson.
“It’s not going to be as devastating as it normally would because we’re playing football and we got three more games left,” he said. “It is important but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t have quite the oomph that it’s had in the past.”
The Saxons boast a defense that features Ahmed Hassanein, a 6-4 defensive end who committed to Boise State, defensive end Devin Garcia and linebackers Miguel Gonzalez and Raul Chavez.
Isaiah Muniz will be under center for Loara, which also has returning running backs Preston Lopez and Manny Salgado in the backfield and Kyle Weiser, a wide receiver/free safety on the outside.
“Rancho has dominated the league pretty much,” Olson said. “We’ve come on the last couple of years, but Santiago has a really good ballclub, La Quinta played Rancho really well. It’s one of those leagues where anybody can beat probably beat anybody on any given night.”
Olson reiterated his thoughts on Thursday’s contest.
“Bottom line, it’s not the normal season where you get 10 games and a couple playoff games. You know this is it, so it is important in that regard, but on the other side, hey, just get them ready to play and have some fun, and whatever happens, happens.”
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