JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers HE’S THE MAN NOW—Highlander quarterback Michael Long will get the start tonight against Ventura. Long, a junior, threw for 60 yards and a touchdown last week against Channel Islands. The Highlander football team may be 2-0 heading into tonight’s matchup against Ventura, but head coach Gene Uebelhardt still sees a lot of room for improvement with his squad.

“My anger after last week’s game stemmed from a four-day practice week that I felt at no time were we focused in to what we were doing,” Uebelhardt said. “We were almost in euphoric state that everything was going to be fine even though (quarterback Kevin Harrington) got hurt.

“But the fact is that we’re not okay yet, and we need to keep practicing like a team that is hurt and hungry,” he said.

Uebelhardt has officially named junior quarterback Michael Long as the starter over Joseph Butitta for the matchup against Ventura.

With running back Curtis Marsh rushing for 215 yards and two scores in last weekend’s 44-7 victory over Channel Islands, Long was able to get away with completing only five-of-11 passes for 60 yards and one touchdown.

But Uebelhardt said the passing game has to improve in a hurry if the team wants to keep up its winning ways. F P 10 —

“If you cannot pass in the Marmonte League, don’t make plans for the first playoff game because you won’t be there,” Uebelhardt said.

Getting the passing attack on track against Ventura won’t be easy. Ventura held Moorpark to just 86 yards passing during a 3326 victory in Week Two.

However, Ventura did allow 272 rushing yards, so Marsh could be poised for a big night.

Uebelhardt said tonight’s contest will be a good indicator of exactly where his team is at.

“We’re 2-0, but neither of those opponents are at the same level as Ventura,” he said. “How we perform (tonight) will dictate what kind of year we’re going to have.”