The Bottom Line

It’s a safe assumption to say that the 1999 prep football season

has been kind thus far to the Ocean View High Seahawks.

If nothing else, the Seahawks have been highly entertaining.

Entering the seventh week of the season, Ocean View comes into

their Saturday night meeting with Golden West League rival Santa Ana with

a 5-1 record, 1-0 in league play. The Seahawks’ explosive offense has

averaged 45 points per game - tops in the county. But their defense,

which yielded 68 points in its first four games, has been hit for 115 in

its last two outings.

One of those two games was a 66-37 loss at Troy and the latest saw

Ocean View outlast Saddleback, 55-49, in last week’s league opener.

“We couldn’t stop the run against Troy and our defense took the

week in its pass defense against Saddleback,” Ocean View Coach Harold

Eggers said. “We can’t afford any more defensive performances like those

two. We felt good about getting the win against Saddleback, and we felt

we really needed a win in that game after what happened at Troy to get

morale back up.”

Another confidence boost would come with a win over Santa Ana at

Santa Ana Bowl in a game that marks the end of five consecutive road

dates for the Seahawks.

Has fatigue taken its toll on Ocean View? Or, will the Seahawks

take out their road rage against the Saints, who, like Ocean View, are

enjoying a rare successful season.

At 4-2 overall, Santa Ana already has topped last year’s three-win

total.

Saturday’s game will be the Saints’ season opener.

“It will be nice to get back home - to put on a different colored

jersey than our road white, if anything else,” Eggers added. “Every game

for our team is a tough battle. More than playing our opponent, what

we’re trying to teach and create for our kids is a winning atmosphere.

You can do that by changing attitudes and by the way that you practice.

Being 5-1 at this point of the season has begun to do that, but these

kids know that they need to turn things up a notch in every aspect of

their game if they hope to win from here on out the rest of the season.”