It's time to step up
Tri-Valley League QBs will be under the microscope this season
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers IN GOOD HANDS- Grace Brethren junior quarterback Kevin Ramay will have plenty of offensive weapons at his disposal in the Lancers' high-flying aerial attack.

After reviewing the Marmonte League starting quarterback scenarios two weeks ago, let's now focus our attention on a few of the local Tri-Valley League schools and detail how their quarterback competitions are shaping up.

Of the six schools that compete in the TVL for football, we'll focus on Grace Brethren, Oak Park and Oaks Christian. Nordhoff, Carpinteria and Santa Paula also play in the Tri-Valley League, but will not be covered in this report.

Here's how things shape up behind center at Grace Brethren, Oak Park and Oaks Christian as the calendar reaches the midway point in August:

Grace Brethren

The Chad Kackert days are long gone at Grace Brethren.

Kackert, the powerful running back who now attends the University of New Hampshire, rushed for 6,734 yards and scored 131 touchdowns from 2002 through 2004.

Since Kackert left the program, however, Lancer head coach Terry Gourley has installed a completely new offensive philosophy, one that's predicated on the passing game.

"Our goal is to pass about 73 percent of the time," Gourley said. "Sometimes we have two backs, but we're always in shotgun. We may send out four wideouts, sometimes even five."

Running the Grace Brethren offense will be junior quarterback Kevin Ramay, who's entering his second season as the team's fulltime starting signal-caller.

As a sophomore, Ramay completed 153-of-266 passes for 1,530 yards with 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also saw playing time as a freshman.

Ramay missed almost three full games last year because of injury, as the Lancers limped to a 28 overall record, including a 14 mark in the Tri-Valley League.

Gourley said he expects Ramay to be much better this season, and for good reason.

Grace Brethren's offense has more than held its own during 7on-7 passing tournaments this summer. The team's wide receivers, led by standout Travis Sproat, are very fast, and the offensive line has matured, Gourley said.

"It's hard to say how happy I am with where we are offensively," Gourley said. "It's really working. We've got guys who can contribute right away."

Ramay has become physically stronger with the help of an offseason workout regimen. On the field, Gourley said his quarterback can read defenses well and is doing a great job of spreading the ball to different receivers.

"If he can get 11 or 12 games in, he's got a really, really good shot of putting up some seriously large numbers," Gourley said.

With only 19 players on the Lancer roster, Ramay may have to contribute on defense, where he'll likely work as a safety or outside linebacker.

"We want to protect Kevin as much as we can," Gourley said. "At the same time, if the team needs him in there for defense, he'll have to go out and play."

Oak Park

Following an exceptional 2006 season in which the Eagles posted a 122 record and advanced to the CIFSouthern Section Northwest Division title game against Oaks Christian, Oak Park must now replace its starting signal-caller from that team, Darren McGee.

McGee threw for 1,871 yards and accounted for 17 touchdowns a year ago. Filling his cleats won't be an easy task for either Nick Dipaolo or Kyle Andrus, the leading candidates to replace McGee for the upcoming campaign.

Dipaolo is a senior who spent time as McGee's backup last season. He attempted only two passes, one of which was intercepted. Andrus, a sophomore, started on the junior varsity squad in '06, helping guide the Eagles to a 7-3 record.

According to Oak Park head coach Dick Billingsley, both Dipaolo and Andrus posted similar results during spring practices and summer passing camps. The competition for the starting job, he said, remains wide open.

"I talked with both of them at the end of summer workouts and told them we probably won't select a starter until the end of twoa-days," Billingsley said. "We haven't run the option against any live defenses. That will probably be the determining factor."

The pound-it-on-the-ground option attack is a major part of Oak Park's offense, and Billingsley said he anticipates it will take about two weeks for each quarterback to learn the system, perhaps more so for Andrus, who didn't have the luxury of working with the varsity team a year ago.

"At the freshman level the option is a big play, but defenses are not keyed on it and not keyed on the quarterback as much," Billingsley said.

"At the sophomore level it's a little faster. But at the varsity level it's bigtime contact and quickness. Because they haven't had a lot of work with (the option), it will be a major challenge for both of them."

Oak Park's quarterback must be able to read defenses well, change plays at the line of scrimmage and have enough toughness to take hit after hit during the season.

With that in mind, Billingsley said he'd prefer to name a starter before the Eagles open their non-league schedule, although he may extend the evaluation process into the first few games of the year if need be.

Oaks Christian

It's Chris Potter's job to replace one of the greatest high school quarterbacks in California history, Jimmy Clausen, the state's all-time touchdown leader with 145 scoring tosses.

Oh yeah, the Lions also have a 46-game winning streak to maintain- tied for the fourth longest in California history- and are the reigning CIF Division III state champions.

Those may seem like heavy expectations for a senior signalcaller who's already accepted a scholarship to play wide receiver at Boise State, but Oaks Christian head coach Bill Redell believes Potter is up to the challenges that lie ahead.

"He's waited his turn, patiently," Redell said. "He really prefers to play quarterback, a position he was great at in youth football."

According to Redell, during his time in Pop Warner Potter started at quarterback ahead of Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks senior standout Dayne Crist. Crist has already accepted a college scholarship to Notre Dame, where he'll join Clausen next season.

As Clausen's backup a year ago, Potter completed 16-of-25 passes for 261 yards with two touchdowns. A starting receiver for the Lions, Potter hauled in 49 receptions for 822 yards and 10 scores.

Redell said he's never had a player earn a college scholarship at one position and then play almost exclusively at a different position during his senior year.

"It's the first time it's ever happened to me in my 20 years of coaching high school," Redell said.

With a talented corps of receivers returning, the Lions' offense shouldn't suffer too much on the outside with Potter moving behind center. Although his arm strength can't match Clausen's, Redell believes Potter will add a new dimension to Oaks Christian's attack.

"We've had to change the offense a little bit to feature Potter's talents," Redell said. "Jimmy Clausen wasn't much of a runner, but the thing about Chris is he can run inside or outside. He's not only quick- he's very fast and he can throw. He's a real threat."

With senior Isaiah Kempf and junior Anthony Vitto serving as backups, Redell said the depth chart at OCHS has never been better. Kempf could see a good number of snaps if the Lions choose to line Potter up as a wideout on certain occasions.