Dreaming Big

Mark Rehling stood in the Marina High dressing room late on the

night of October 8, the Vikings coach searching for something to say to

lift the spirits of his team, which had just walked off the field at

Mission Viejo High after absorbing a 28-20 defeat.

This wasn’t the way the Vikings had hoped to end their nonleague

season. No, a 2-2-1 record was not indicative of the type of team they

were, Marina’s players would tell you. A sense of dejection could be felt

filtering throughout the Viking dressing room.

Then, Rehling came up with a plan.

Better yet, a challenge.

‘The kids really were downcast after losing to Mission Viejo,’ he

said. ‘It was a tough, tough loss, but I knew they had to regroup and get

ready for league play.

‘Losing your final nonleague game isn’t the way to start league

play, but we had lost, and we couldn’t change that. So, I challenged the

kids, asked them to come together as a team and show the rest of the

league just what type of team we are. Forget the record - just go out and

play the way you know you’re capable of playing. And, they responded to

that.’

Rehling first got an inkling of the fighting spirit of his Vikings

at the first team practice that following Monday. It was one of the most

intense sessions he’s seen in his five years as head coach.

‘The kids just took it upon themselves to just lay everything on

the line at practice, and it was just amazing to see the amount of

intensity and focus they came out with that Monday. I always knew this

team had the talent to be successful - it was just a matter of them

believing in that talent and knowing that they could compete with the

other league teams.’

Marina’s confidence has reached an unprecedented level the past

two weeks, a span in which the Vikings overcame past fears and failures.

Their first two Sunset League games came against longtime nemesis

Edison and Fountain Valley, two schools Marina hasn’t had much luck

against.

But just one week following the Mission Viejo loss, the Vikings

raised some eyebrows and ‘stunned themselves’ a little bit, Rehling said,

by beating Edison, 28-20, before 3,000 on homecoming night. It was only

the fourth victory by Marina in the 26-game rivalry with Edison.

Okay, so there was Marina’s upset win of the year. A reality check

would come on Oct. 22, many figured, when the Vikings took on Fountain

Valley, a team they had beaten just six times in 25 previous meetings.

But Marina, taking advantage of some key players missing from the

Fountain Valley starting line-up, pulled off another stunner by winning

going away, 20-3.

Now, the Vikings were starting to believe: at 2-0, Marina was tied

with top-ranked Los Alamitos for the Sunset lead. What’s more, Rehling

says, students are starting to talk football again on campus.

Game crowds, too, have grown in size.

So, you might say, have expectations.

‘Which is nice,’ Rehling said. ‘In the past, we might expect to

lose to an Edison or a Fountain Valley, maybe win one of those games. But

now, the kids have got a taste of this winning thing and have beaten two

of their main rivals, and they want more. Our confidence and enthusiasm

levels are at an all-time high right now.’

Who can blame the Vikings for their giddiness? Marina hasn’t been

2-0 in league play in eight years and hasn’t won two league games in the

same season in more than six, according to Rehling. The Vikings, who

already have matched last year’s win total, can move to 3-0 tonight with

a win over rival Huntington Beach.

Should the Vikings prevail against the Oilers, a game at Esperanza

on Nov. 4 is all that stands in the way of a Nov. 12 home date with Los

Alamitos in a showdown that could determine the final Sunset League

champion of the century.

But, first things first.

‘We are really playing well right now and we’re just taking it a

game at a time,’ outside linebacker Kyle Warren said. ‘Beating Edison and

Fountain Valley is an awesome feeling, but no game right now is more

important than Huntington Beach. That game can only get us closer to our

goals, which is winning league and making the playoffs.’

What a difference a change in attitude and two weeks can make.

In other games tonight, Ocean View, 6-1 overall, will attempt to

go to 3-0 in Golden West League play when they host the Westminster Lions

(3-4) in a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The game, technically, marks the first time in six weeks that the

Seahawks will play a home game, although it will be played on Westminster

High’s Bill Boswell Field.

‘Maybe we’re jinxing ourselves by returning to play a home game,’

said Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers, whose team posted an impressive 4-1

record during that five-game road run. ‘Westminster’s a very talented

team, and this game could be a tricky one for us.’

A victory tonight would all but assure Ocean View a playoff berth.

It would be the school’s first in 11 years.