Football: 7 transfers arrive at Orange Lutheran

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Orange Lutheran’s football team might have become the favorite to win the Southern Section Pac-5 Division title this fall when seven transfer students -- four of whom could be immediate starters on the Lancers’ football team -- enrolled this week for the spring semester.

Among the new arrivals are kickers Mike and Connor Loftus from Servite. Mike will be a senior this fall and Connor a sophomore. Both are projected as college prospects.

The other transfers:

--Defensive back Gabe Lemon from Trabuco Hills had nine interceptions as a junior.

--Linebacker Donyae Fields from Los Angeles Verbum Dei was his team’s second-leading tackler as a sophomore.

--Quarterback Ryan Orozco from Chino Hills was a 6-foot-3 backup as a sophomore, passing for close to 400 yards.

--Mike Nelson is a 6-1 defensive end who started on the freshman team at Long Beach Poly.

The other transfer is Chance Baker, a freshman from Norco.

Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau said it was ‘very unusual’ for the Lancers to gain so many transfers, and he insisted the school does not recruit.

Principal Greg Pinick said, ‘We take pride in trying to do things the right way.’

Lutheran’s success the last two seasons, winning the Pac-5 title in 2006 and losing in the semifinals in 2007, could be a factor in attracting talent. The school is also the only non-Catholic Christian school in Orange County that competes at the Division I level

Whether coincidence or not, the players will make Lutheran an attractive team both in the Trinity League and Pac-5 for 2008. And the transfers also figure to add to the growing debate about whether to have separate playoff divisions for public and private schools.

-- Eric Sondheimer