“The kid is the top quarterback in the Valley, bar none. He’s the best quarterback I’ve seen in a long time and he’s the best quarterback they’ve ever had throwing the ball. There’s no question. He’s a weapon. You go into a game trying to contain that guy and you can’t contain him. I think everybody they’ve played has said the same thing. And guess what, 63 points later they’re still saying the same thing, `We should have contained him.’ “ — Damien coach Greg Gano on Travis Santiago

By Aram Tolegian
Damien High School football coach Greg Gano knows it’s no secret his team has to stop Charter Oak quarterback Travis Santiago to have a chance to upset the Valley’s top-ranked Chargers. But doing it may be another story.
“The kid is the top quarterback in the Valley, bar none,” Gano said of Santiago. “He’s the best quarterback I’ve seen in a long time and he’s the best quarterback they’ve ever had throwing the ball. There’s no question. He’s a weapon.
“You go into a game trying to contain that guy and you can’t contain him. I think everybody they’ve played has said the same thing. And guess what, 63 points later they’re still saying the same thing, `We should have contained him.’ ”

Damien (6-2, 2-1) can put itself back in the league title hunt if it can upset Charter Oak. The Spartans did themselves no favors last week by blowing a 13-point lead against Chino Hills in a 28-27 loss. Should Charter Oak beat the Spartans on Friday and Chino Hills beats South Hills, the two teams would meet in Week 10 for the league championship. And Damien likely would go in as the third-place team, which means a very difficult game on the road against an Inland Division powerhouse of the CIF’s choosing.

But getting off the mat after last week’s collapse isn’t going to be a problem for his team, according to Gano.

“We had one of our best practices of the season on Monday,” Gano said. “We’re not scared to death of them. What else are we going to do? We’re not going to fold our tents up.

“We’re not going to be flat. We should have won the game the other night. We made a coaching mistake. We should have been in a prevent (defense). We weren’t and it cost us a football game.”

Damien’s team-speed improvements probably will have little impact on Charter Oak, which would love nothing more than to get in a track meet with the Spartans. So Gano thinks his team’s best chance is to take time off the clock and keep Santiago and his weapons off the field.

“We don’t match up very well, so we have to put drives together and run the clock,” Gano said.