Big-play passing game helps Saddleback football team jump out to best start since 2015

Quarterback Alberto Marquez has led Saddleback’s passing game. (Photo TIm Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Saddleback High School’s football team has relied on an efficient passing game to win three of its first four games under first-year coach Glenn Campbell.

Leading the way has been senior quarterback Alberto Marquez who time and time again has hooked up with senior receiver Isaias Ramirez. The latest outstanding performance came on Thursday night when Marquez completed nine passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns. All the touchdowns were caught by Ramirez in a 41-14 victory over Bolsa Grande at Segerstrom.

Saddleback is 3-1 for the first time since 2015 and hopes to continue winning Friday when it hosts La Sierra (1-2) on homecoming in the final non-league game of the season.

Marquez had earned the plaudits of Campbell, considering that he hasn’t played much football before this season.

“Albert is amazing to me,” Campbell said. “We knew we were going to get a heavy dose of blitzing tonight. He did a fabulous job.”

Campbell gave indications after Thursday’s game the Roadrunners will keep passing too.

“Our strengths are our strengths,” he said. “I think we can run the ball when we want to run the ball. But I like our skills against anybody’s skills. When we do have capabilities of running the ball, we have a nice sized line and they’re getting better.

“It’s amazing when you’re dealing with a team that does not have a lot of football experience, we’re coaching a lot more than one would think because it’s football and these guys don’t know as much as we would like them to know.”

Campbell said the Roadrunners can also run the ball when they have to. Carlos Carro and Rodrigo Nieves had touchdown runs last week.

“Rigo and Carlos are good solid backs, we lost our other back last week, he’s done for the season,” he said. “So I got Rigo and Carlos, those are my guys.”

Defensively, Saddleback was able to bounce back from the previous week’s loss to Los Amigos.

“Defense was pretty mad about what we did last week,” Campbell said. “They kind of stepped up. They had some scores to settle. this week. They knew it was going to be a tough Monday if they didn’t.

“We’re learning, we’re getting better. This is all for our regular season. These are pre-season games and it’s something that Saddleback hasn’t done in a long time, which is to win more than one game.”

Saddleback opens Orange Coast League play at Estancia on Friday, Oct. 1. Defending champion Santa Ana and Orange are expected to once again battle for the league title with the rest of the squads hoping to contend for the third and final playoff berth.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com