DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

There are no time for breaks during a football game for Jason Moreno.

You rarely find him on the Estancia High sideline.

The senior does it all for the Eagles.

Catch balls. Cover wide receivers. Return punts and kicks. Even onside kicks.

When No. 20 is out, he’s literally taking a breather.

“He has asthma,” Estancia senior quarterback Radames Gutierrez said. “You can tell he’s dying and stuff. He can’t breathe and he never comes out.”

The team knows more than an inhaler keeps Moreno motoring. Assistant coach Chris Bargas carries it with him during games.

A couple of puffs and Moreno is back out competing.

In Estancia’s home debut at Jim Scott Stadium last week, he blew past defenders three times for touchdowns.

At the end, Moreno was able to take it easy as the Eagles beat Bolsa Grande, 41-26.

“I actually just went home,” said Moreno, avoiding the post-game parties. “I was too tired.”

With his kind of night, in front of his parents and three siblings, Gutierrez said Moreno deserved to rest.

Gutierrez hit Moreno five times in the air for 137 yards.

Moreno’s first grab went for a 20-yard score, the third a 64-yard touchdown and the fifth a 10-yard TD.

Which one is the 5-foot-9, 160-pounder more proud of?

“I like the first one because I took on two defenders,” Moreno said. “I split the corner and the safety. I caught it right in between them. The corner hit me and the safety hit me.

“I just stretched out and got across the goal line.”

Moreno fought his way through. That’s the only way he knows how to play.

Last year, he played behind two solid senior receivers in Ryan Redding and Eddie Tomasek. Redding caught eight passes for scores and Tomasek five.

None for Moreno.

Moreno’s lone touchdown came on the ground. He understood most of those rushing opportunities belonged to his close friend Carlos Mendez.

Thirteen times Mendez scored.

Mendez is the first to tell you he never saw himself as a running back, or even as a football player in 2005.

Moreno and Mendez laugh about it now.

Mendez set the school’s single-season rushing record with 1,584 yards last season and earned Orange Coast League Co-MVP honors.

As freshmen, Moreno was the starting back and Mendez the backup.

“It was pretty hard,” Mendez said. “It was frustrating. I couldn’t remember the plays, or anything.”

What Mendez does remember is Moreno encouraging him to stick with the sport.

The two are now bona fide first-team all-league standouts for Coach Mike Bargas.

And Mendez is the one pushing Moreno, especially when the two are at Taco Bell.

“We always go out and eat because that guy can eat a lot,” said Moreno of the 5-7, 162-pound Mendez. “We get the Big [Bell] Box meal and devour that, one for each. He usually forces me to finish it.”

Moreno can’t even take a break while eating a burrito, a taco, a crunch wrap, and cinnamon twists.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].