Above: Myles Carr apparently goes shirtless when working the triceps. And before anyone clowns the kid, remember this: Dude bench presses 340 pounds. ‘Nuff said.
By Keith Lair, Staff Writer
ARCADIA – The numbers: an eye- popping 26 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
Those numbers are what quarterback Myles Carr put up en route to leading Arcadia High School to a share of the Pacific League title last season.
“We just make the point that his job is to protect the football and make throws that are not detrimental to the team,” Arcadia coach Jon Dimalante said. “That was a lot of reasons for our success last year.
“He did a really good job of managing the games last year. The job of our line and backs is to protect the quarterback, and our quarterback’s job is to protect the football. He’s done a good job of doing that.”
Those numbers hopefully foreshadow what type of statistics Carr can put up heading into his third, and final, varsity football season. Formal practice begins Monday, with the team donning full pads next Thursday.
“I’ve been working hard this offseason,” Carr said. “I think I can pass for at least 2,000 yards and a lot of TDs. I hope all this hard work in the offseason will pay off.”
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The Arcadia season begins Sept. 9 against St. Francis.
Carr’s first year as the starting quarterback was rocky at times, but was certainly a precursor to what came in 2010.
He shared starting duties with Garrett Tuck when Tuck was injured in 2009. Carr passed for 859 yards and threw eight TD passes and 10 interceptions that year. Last year, with the football solely in his hands, Carr passed for 1,872 yards, completing 157 of 236 passes for a team that went 7-4.
“There is not a lot of pressure on us,” Carr said. “We need to live up to what we did last year and go beyond that. I’m really expecting a CIF championship. Everybody is working hard and we’re all working to achieve that goal. I think we can do that.”
Carr’s touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio last year was better than that of any other quarterback in the San Gabriel Valley. And what makes the numbers even more impressive is that more than half of those totals were on passes to Taylor Lagace and David Maldonado.
Lagace, who’s already signed a letter of intent to play at Washington next season, caught 52 passes for 750 yards and nine scores. Maldonado, who’s graduated, caught 31 passes for 313 yards and four scores.
Carr, of course, will have Lagace in his sights, but Dimalante has found that tight end Robby Haines and Alex McElwee and newcomer Darrius Elliot will also be targets whom opponents can’t ignore.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Dimalante said. “We have to be smart and make sure playmakers get the ball.”
And then the Apaches return their top two running backs: junior Sheldon McKinley, who emerged last year when starter Rodney Arnett was injured. Arnett is starting his fourth year on the varsity team. The pair rushed for 1,033 yards last season.
“If the passing game is not going right, we can always run it through Rodney and Sheldon,” Carr said. “If the running game is not right, we can always throw it to Taylor.”
Dimalante said the focus will be to get the ball to the two backs. That will open up the passing lanes.
“He knows his job,” Dimalante said of Carr. “His football quarterbacking IQ has really, really improved. And if the receivers are covered, he can run the football. That makes him dangerous.
“He’s stronger, faster and more powerful than he’s ever been. That’s going to cause the defense to have problems. We don’t want him to run a lot, but this is high school football and you have to do that to be great. When nobody is open and he takes off for a first down, that wears down the defense.”
Carr, who began playing quarterback when he was 8 years old and has never played any other position, has already received a scholarship offer from Sacramento State. He’s had conversations with San Jose State and Montana, but he said he hasn’t made up his mind yet, focusing instead on the start of the season.
“I’m really proud of his work ethic,” Dimalante said.
“He’s doing all the hard work it takes to be really good. A lot of people are really high on him.”
He lifted weights with his teammates the entire summer. Dimalante said Carr can now bench-press 340 pounds and do 225-pound curls.
Carr also grew an inch, to 6-foot-2, and gained 15 pounds, putting him at 200. He also spent a lot of time with Arcadia graduate Nick Ponce, who recently signed to play at New Mexico Highlands University this season.
“Working with Nick Ponce has really helped me become more of a pocket passer,” Carr said.
Dimalante said the chemistry between Carr and the former Arcadia quarterback improved Carr’s game, too.
And a CIF-SS championship?
“We’re all excited about working with each other and making it a season to remember,” Dimalante said. “(Winning the title) is his and his teammates’ expectations. It takes some luck, but that’s a realistic goal. There’s a lot of factors involved: injuries and a good bounce of the ball.”
The Apaches have never won a title, reaching the championship game twice, the last time in 1978 – more than a decade before Carr was born.
keith.lair@sgvn.com
