Prep football: The replacements

Barry Faulkner

SANTA ANA - Tonight’s season-opening football game between Costa

Mesa High and Saddleback -- 7 o’clock at the Santa Ana Bowl -- could be

as notable for who won’t be in uniform as who will.

Call it the What Might Have Been Bowl.

When last season concluded, the Mustang-Roadrunner matchup figured to

feature two of Orange County’s top senior running backs.

But Costa Mesa’s C.J. Zuniga, who rushed for 2,005 yards and scored 28

touchdowns en route to All-CIF Southern Section Division IX honors as a

junior, did not return to school.

Saddleback senior Joel Gonzalez, an All-Golden West League first-team

pick who rushed for 1,235 yards last fall, will at least be on the

sideline. But he may miss the entire season after a mid-August stabbing

left him with a collapsed lung.

As if that weren’t enough luster off the marquee, it appears Mesa’s

All-CIF senior offensive guard, Luther Mitchell, could sit out, while

still trying to finalize a summer school class that would restore his

eligibility.

Even without its two All-CIF returners, Coach Jerry Howell’s Mustangs,

ranked No. 2 in the CIF Division IX preseason poll, welcome back eight

combined starters, including All-PCL linemen Antony Grubisich and Charlie

Amburgey, as well as all-league kicker Luis Avalos.

The defending PCL co-champions, 8-3 a year ago en route to a

school-record fourth straight CIF playoff appearance, also have a notable

replacement for Zuniga in junior Nick Cabico.

Cabico saw varsity playoff action as a Mesa freshman, but spent his

sophomore season at Mater Dei. He returned in the offseason and is poised

to join what has become a string of noteworthy ball carriers at the

school, beginning with Binh “Runaway” Tran in the early 1990s.

Cabico will also start at cornerback, making him one of the Mustangs’

six two-way starters.

Senior Patrick Hulliger is another two-way starter. He’ll open at

quarterback and free safety, after starting all 11 games last season at

outside linebacker.

Hulliger made the most of his only varsity completion last season, a

19-yard touchdown, and will be asked to increase the passing efficiency

for an offense which gained just 24% of its 3,506 total yards through the

air in 1999.

Hulliger’s receiving targets will include wideouts Josh Strickland,

Michael McGuire and Andrew Strickland, as well as

reciever-turned-tight-end Louis Day. Day, a senior, caught 12 passes for

130 yards and a TD as a junior, including at least one reception in nine

games.

Senior Lenny Lukela, a Saddleback transfer expected to be the

Mustangs’ top receiver, will not start and might not play, after missing

a practice this week.

Amburgey, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound tackle, and senior center Scott

Schepens (5-10, 215) anchor an offensive front which includes Grubisich,

a 5-10, 245-pound converted fullback, in place of Mitchell. Sophomores

Andrew Carich (6-1, 240) and Paul Martin (6-1, 265) round out the hole

punchers.

Saddleback will look for an unproven running back to step forward,

while counting more heavily on the passing skills of senior returning

quarterback Ramon Saavedra.

Saavedra throw for 867 yards and eight TDs in ‘99, despite battling

injuries which allowed him to start only three games.

His top target should be senior Ismael Isais, who caught nine balls

for 114 yards last season.

The Roadrunners, coached by 27th-year head man Jerry Witte, the dean

of county coaches, lost all four of their all-league players (including

Gonzalez) off a team that finished 4-6, including a 28-19 setback to

Mesa.

The Mustangs have won three straight openers to even the school record

to 20-20 in debut contests. Mesa also leads the series, 7-2.