Playoff bid still within reach for Eagles

Estancia football preview vs. SaddlebackEstancia plays host to its ‘Super Bowl’ tonight against Saddleback.As improbable as it sounds, the Estancia High football team, with one win all season, is one win away from a berth in the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs.

The Eagles (1-7, 1-3 in the Golden West League) can earn the inside track on the league’s fourth guaranteed playoff berth with a victory over Saddleback (2-6, 1-4) tonight at Orange Coast College.

The game is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Should Estancia win tonight, only a Costa Mesa upset of Orange, or upsets by Ocean View against Orange and Westminster, could prevent the Eagles from making their first postseason appearance since 2000.

“This is our Super Bowl,” said first-year Estancia Coach Brian Barnes, whose team could further help its cause with an upset of Santa Ana in the regular season finale on Nov. 11. “Whatever we do this week, we’ve got to get our kids to believe this is the biggest game of our season.

“We have an opportunity to do something this school hasn’t done in a while, which is go to the playoffs. It’s important for us to play with confidence.”

Until this week, most would consider the Eagles’ Sept. 30 clash with cross-town rival Costa Mesa as the team’s biggest game of the season. Estancia came up big that night, earning a 20-14 victory.

Barnes said he believes a similar effort will be needed against the Roadrunners, coached by Jeoff Meek.

“They’re going to try to run the ball and we’ve had trouble stopping the run,” Barnes said.

The Eagles have also had trouble moving the ball on the ground this season, with just 144 rushing yards all year.

The potentially good news for Estancia is that the Eagles should have as significant an edge in the passing game as they give away in the running game.

Estancia senior quarterback Ryan Watson has thrown for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He has completed 87 of 193 passes with four interceptions.

Watson’s favorite targets are junior Matt Redding (26 catches for 312 yards and six touchdowns) and senior Ezequiel Villalvazo (20 receptions for 274 yards and two touchdowns).

Saddleback is led offensively by sophomore running back Michael Deckard and junior quarterback Joaquin Avalos.

There is another subplot to the game, namely bragging rights among some well-known Orange County football coaching families. The two coaches have famous fathers -- Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes and former Esperanza Coach Gary Meek, now the Aztecs’ athletic director -- who battled each other for years as rivals in the Empire and Sunset leagues.

“I guess they’re billing this as Barnes vs. Meek II,” Brian Barnes said.

ESTANCIA STARTERS