Ryan
Hilinski continues to blossom into a star quarterback at Orange Lutheran
By Eric
Sondheimer LA TIMES July 7, 2018 4:50 PM
Ryan
Hilinski is growing up fast. He has sprouted to 6 feet 4 and 230 pounds. He has
blond stubble growing on his chin. He “looks like a college quarterback playing
with kids,” as one observer said Saturday during the Huntington Beach Edison
seven-on-seven passing tournament.
My first
time meeting Hilinski was in 2011 when he was 10 and his two older brothers,
Kelly and Tyler, assured me Ryan would be the best quarterback from their
family of quarterbacks.
They were
right.
Going into
his senior year at Orange Lutheran, Hilinski is blossoming into a player who’s
going to produce big plays and plenty of touchdowns on a weekly basis this
fall.
“The football field is like his office,” coach
J.P. Presley said. “He comes to play.”
The
Lancers have back nine of their 11 starting players on offense. Their receiving
group is exceptional, led by Kyle Ford and tight ends Ethan Rae and Elijah
Mojarro. Rae sat out last season because of a knee injury, so Orange Lutheran
can’t wait to unleash its new double tight end formations.
“I think
we have a chance of doing big things this year,” running back Reggie Strong
said.
Asked
whether Hilinski has improved — he passed for 3,749 yards and 33 touchdowns as
a junior — Strong said Hilinski was more decisive and less hesitant on his
throws.
“We’re
going to be pretty good and a force to reckon with,” Hilinski said.
Lots of
people have been coming up to Hilinski and asking, “How are you doing?” He was
thrust into the national spotlight after the January suicide of Tyler, a
quarterback at Washington State.
His
response has been to play for his brother and stay busy. He traveled to Texas
last week for a camp. He’s leaving soon for Ohio for another camp. He has
committed to South Carolina for the following season.
“There’s
always those moments, but he keeps busy and on top of everything,” Presley
said. “He’s a real good communicator.”
Although
the Trinity League still looks like a duel between Santa Ana Mater Dei and
Bellflower St. John Bosco, don’t overlook the Lancers. Their quarterback is
eager to take on the challenge of playing against the best.
:::::::::::::::::::::
WSU
COUGARS FOOTBALL
Which
Cougar Football team was the best ever?
1997?
2002? 2009?
By PJ
Kendall Coug Center July 8, 2018
Good
morning. In our everlasting search for offseason #content, we often canvas the
various college football sites. This week, manna from heaven appeared, courtesy
of CBS Sports. They went through the Power Five conferences and ranked each
school’s best team of all time. At many schools, there are several years from
which to choose. At WSU, it probably comes down to two teams.
One
interesting part of the ranking is the number of draft picks that particular
team produced. It’s a testament to both Mike Price and Ryan Leaf that CBS’s
pick for the best WSU team yielded just six draft picks. That’s the least of
any Pac-12 team on the list. For a bit of context, the sort-of national
champion 1991 Washington Huskies had 20 future draftees on their roster, while
2005 USC produced a staggering 35 (!!!!!!!) draft picks. Of course, the funny
thing is that the greatest USC team ever didn’t win the national title.
Back to
the Cougs. For most of us, any debate around the greatest WSU team ever comes
down to either 1997 or 2002. An argument could be made for either, and there
probably isn’t a wrong answer. Most of us are probably very familiar with the
merits of the two teams, so I won’t bore you with a Nick Bakay-style “tale of
the tape.”
If you ask
me (you didn’t) both teams have one defining play that could be used by the
other in this argument.
Aside: I’m
only considering teams from the modern era. Don’t @ me with team from the 60s
or 70s or whenever because I’m not old enough to have seen them and both the
1997 and 2002 teams would have laid waste to them. Oh, and there aren’t any
national title teams to consider from way back when, either.
1997 - The
Cougs were inside the Arizona State 25 yard line, down by five and facing 4th
and three. In a play I remember as if it were yesterday, WSU went 5-wide (I
think) with ASU showing a blitz look. For some reason, Leaf went under center,
and he never had a chance. Future rapist Mitchell Freedman blitzed and stripped
Leaf. ASU recovered and took it to the end zone, and that would be the only
game WSU lost before the Rose Bowl. Things may have turned out differently if
WSU hadn’t let the Sun Devils get out to a 24-0 lead.
2002 -
This time, it wasn’t a fumble (though it could be argued that a fumble ruling
was the decisive play) but an injury that decided the outcome. In an Apple Cup
that WSU should have won by at least two touchdowns, and an Apple Cup they led
by 10 points with fewer than five minutes left, WSU still found a way to lose
after Jason Gesser suffered a high-ankle sprain and Matt Kegel threw up all
over himself. Mike Price left and you know the rest.
The
forgotten sequence in that game came at the end of the first half, when WSU was
inside the Washington 5 yard line, and didn’t score as the half ended. Think
three points there would have helped?
One mark
in 1997’s favor: In order to get to the Rose Bowl, they had to beat a pretty
good Washington team, one that had been in the top five earlier in the year, on
the road. They did. The 2002 Cougs would’ve clinched a spot in the Rose Bowl
with an Apple Cup win also, but couldn’t manage to beat a much worse Washington
squad at home.
If I can be
allowed to play the “what if” game for a second (wait, this is my own space, so
yes I will), there is one other WSU team which could have challenged 1997 and
2002.
I thought
about this a lot as the Palouse Posse was murdering just about every offense it
opposed. What if Mike Price hadn’t burned Drew Bledsoe’s redshirt in 1990, and
he played out his eligibility? Yep, you have the #1 NFL draft pick paired with
the greatest defense in school history. That defense was a national
championship-level unit, and was paired with the worst Mike Price-led offense
at WSU.
Take out
Chad Davis and insert Bledsoe. Do they lose 10-9 to Tennessee? No. Do they lose
10-7 to Arizona? Not a chance. Do they lose to a terrible Oregon State team? I
doubt it. Hell, with Chad Davis at the helm, they practically dominated future
Pac-10 champ Oregon. The Cougs may very well have lost to USC, but they’d still
have been 10-1 and faced Penn State in the Rose Bowl. You may recall that Penn
State was unbeaten that season. I’d have given just about anything to see Kerry
Collins and Ki-Jana Carter against Mark Fields and DeWayne Patterson. Alas, it
wasn’t meant to be.
There is
probably an argument to be made for the 2003 team, if we play “what if” with
them also. What if they hadn’t melted down at Notre Dame? Aside number two: I
was at that game, and will never forget Bill Doba’s comments afterward, in
which he said the staff was surprised by the heat and humidity...in
Indiana...in early September, and the players probably weren’t hydrated enough,
so they ran out of gas down the stretch.
DID I
MENTION THAT BILL DOBA GREW UP IN INDIANA, WENT TO COLLEGE IN INDIANA, AND
SOMEHOW FORGOT THAT IT IS HOT AND HUMID IN INDIANA IN EARLY SEPTEMBER? AM I
YELLING? I AM? I AM NOT AT ALL UPSET ABOUT THE RESULT OF THIS DUMB SPORTING
EVENT THAT OCCURRED 15 YEARS AGO IN WHICH LITTLE OL’ WSU SHOULD HAVE WON AT
NOTRE DAME. NOPE NOT AT ALL.
It also
didn’t help that Cougar kicker Drew Dunning missed an extra point that may have
helped in a game that went to OT, and had a really bad game over all. Anyway,
WSU’s quarterback situation that season was mediocre at best. With better
production, and without Chris Jordan’s devastating knee injury in the Apple
Cup, and without Bill Doba’s amnesia prior to the Notre Dame game, that may
very well be a Rose Bowl team. But this is Cougar football, so we aren’t
allowed nice things.
Now that
I’ve said my piece, what do you all think? Was the 1997 version of Cougar
Football the best ever? I’m inclined to say “yes.”
