Oaks Christian, Oak Park must replace successful, winning quarterbacks
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

After reviewing the Marmonte League starting quarterback scenarios last week, 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 Oak Park and Oaks Christian. Grace Brethren, 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 at quarterback at Oak Park and Oaks Christian as the calendar turns to August:

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 nonleague 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.