With Santa Margarita’s Harry Welch sharing the stage with Lompoc’s Andrew Jones at CIF Southern Section Football Media Day, two coaches who combined for 27 wins in 2011 spoke highly of the opposite’s program.
Welch, whose coaching career dates back to 1965, praised the quality of football in Lompoc and recalled a rare loss early in his career in the inland city 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara.
He also announced the first fake trade in CIF Southern Section history, reporting that he had an extra offensive lineman and had negotiated successfully for Washington Huskies recruit and Lompoc senior Lavon Coleman, who rushed for over 2,000 yards a season ago.
“We’ll take Johnny,” Jones joked.
He, of course, was referring to senior Johnny Stanton, the dual-threat quarterback who led the Eagles to a late come-from-behind win at Mission Viejo in the Pac-5 semifinals. He accounted for 245 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in a 27-13 win over San Clemente in the Pac-5 championship and scored on a one-yard dive with 16 seconds remaining in a 42-37 victory over San Jose Bellarmine for a Division I CIF state title. The future Nebraska Cornhusker also threw for four scores and showcased so much of the athletic ability that caused his stock to rise sharply in 2011.
While his ability to shed tackles and earn tough yardage on the ground is the characteristic that has many people uttering “Tim Tebow” as they watch, it’s another athletic quarterback he’ll have the luxury of developing under once he arrives in Lincoln.
Stanton speaks occasionally with Taylor Martinez, a 2009 Corona Centennial graduate and a redshirt junior poised to become the Cornhuskers’ third-year starter this fall.
Their last conversation? Nebraska’s recently released alternate jerseys.
As both are in the dog days of training camp, their contact has quieted in preparation of the upcoming season. Stanton instead communicates primarily with a team that will return nine starters on offense, including an intimidating offensive line, and enters its Friday opener at Phoenix’s Brophy College Prep ranked second in the country by USA Today.
“I think all of us are really looking forward to our senior season,” Stanton said. “We were just talking about how all of us ever since freshman year were saying ‘Just wait until our senior year. We’re going to be that good.’ That’s when we didn’t know we were actually going to have Coach Welch, when we didn’t know that we were going to have the seasons that we had and the past few years.”
This has the potential to be among the most talented teams ever coached by Welch, who has won nine state championships across three different schools: Canyon High School, St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano and Santa Margarita.
Eight players currently hold offers from Division I schools, giving Welch an additional title – that of press liaison.
“Every day there are media who wish to have just an hour of the boys’ time, and it’s very difficult to keep them focused forward,” he said.
It’s obvious that the media bottleneck is a labor of love for Welch, who preaches discipline and has been an excellent communicator since taking over the football program of the Catholic school with an enrollment of 1,649 in 2010.
“I hope I can do a good job and focus these young men, have them approach their potential and have them grow, become even better than they would have been had they not come into my life,” he said.
He’ll have the focus of an embarrassment of riches offensively. He has 6-5, 318-pound senior offensive tackle Riley Sorensen, who has been offered scholarships by UCLA, Washington and Washington State. Four-star offensive linemen Erik Bunte and Dane Crane have committed to UCLA and Washington, respectively. Wide receiver River Cracraft is Washington State-bound. Senior running back Ryan Wolpin rushed for 29 touchdowns a season ago.
Though there are holes to plug up defensively, there will be strength in the Santa Margarita secondary. Washington commit Connor O’Brien has grown an inch and a half and now stands 6-3.5 and 211 pounds, more than 30 pounds heavier than he was his junior season. The safety totaled eight interceptions in 2011, including two in a 49-16 Pac-5 quarterfinal victory over Long Beach Poly.
Welch sees O’Brien as a strong safety or outside linebacker in college, should his growth spurt continue. His praise overflowed while discussing his senior defensive leader’s off-the-field habits.
“He has a strong family that has given him values and direction and challenged him, motivated him, set the bar very high for him, and he’s surrounded by people that have enjoyed playing football with him,” he said.
Though such a talented core exists, there’s still the consideration of a team that has already won a championship and features a handful of players already committed to playing collegiately.
If there’s a problem any team would like to have, it’s the issue of trying to avoid complacency the season after winning a division and state title.
“I’ve always had trouble motivating players,” Welch joked. “In all seriousness, I believe that we shouldn’t 'get up.' We should give our best each and every day. Today at practice, we should give our very, very best. And I expect the very best of myself, my assistants, my managers and each of the players each and every day.
"So if we do approach giving our very, very best every day, we don’t need to 'get up' for a game.”
It’s a message that hasn’t escaped his offensive captain.
“He’s really gotten on us all offseason about getting stronger, getting better, and all of us have really bought in,” Stanton said.
Their schedule contains the typical Trinity League battleground, including home games against Servite and Mater Dei on consecutive weekends in early October, as well as a trip to Bellflower to take on St. John Bosco in their regular season finale on Nov. 2.
They’ll also get a visit from Pac-5 newbie and Marmonte League power St. Bonaventure at their home field at Saddleback College on Oct. 21.
These games will showcase one of the most electrifying players in the country in Stanton, someone who figures to factor into the quarterback rotation of a Big Ten team within a few years, yet remains, as described by Welch, as “one of the most grounded young men I have ever met.”
That didn’t stop Stanton from exuding enthusiasm.
“I think I’ve gotten better, and I think all the guys around us have really gotten better,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how well we do.”
