Orange County Community College Football : Tagaloa Didn’t Pass Up Chance at Orange Coast

Junior Tagaloa wasn’t exactly bursting with expectations of becoming a football star when he came to Orange Coast College. In fact, he didn’t even plan to play.

When he arrived in the spring of 1985, he worked full time and went to school part time.

But in the fall of 1985, his father talked him into giving football another chance. Tagaloa had been a nose guard at Bishop Montgomery High School in 1984, but at 190 pounds he was too light to play the line on the community-college level.

Tagaloa decided to wait until the 1986 season--so he could get some classes out of the way--and go out for wide receiver, a position he had played some in high school. OCC was employing a wishbone offense, however, so there seemed to be little more than blocking assignments in his future.

But the off-season brought changes at OCC . . . and a little more glamour for Tagaloa.

Coach Dick Tucker announced his--and the wishbone’s--retirement in January, 1986. He was replaced by Bill Workman, and an offense that concentrated on passing arrived at OCC.

Tagaloa took the news--and later the ball--in stride.

Last season, Tagaloa set an OCC single-season reception record with 57. He also set a single-game record with 11 catches against Saddleback.

“When I started here, I figured I’d play two years of football and find a job,” Tagaloa said. “But I surprised myself with how well I did.”

Now Tagaloa hopes to catch the attention of coaches of four-year colleges and get a scholarship.

He can expect plenty of attention from defenses in the form of double coverage starting at 7:30 tonight, when OCC opens the season by playing host to Golden West in a nonconference game. Golden West (0-1) lost to Bakersfield, 31-24, last week.

“They have the same guy to worry about at wide receiver as they did last season,” said Ray Shackleford, Golden West coach. “He is very good and presents a real problem.”

Tagaloa said his goal is to equal his output of last season, and he would seem to have a good chance to break his own records.

OCC is improved and deeper at quarterback. Last season’s starter, Jon Nowotny, was playing injured most of the season and missed three games.

In OCC’s season-ending loss to Citrus, the Pirates were forced to use wide receiver Ollie Perkins at quarterback. Tagaloa caught only two passes in the game.

This season, Keith Jarrett, a sophomore transfer from Boise State, is the starting quarterback. Mike Angelovic, a freshman transfer from Idaho, and Mike Cedereoth, a freshman from Villa Park High School, are backing up Jarrett.

“Last season, he (Tagaloa) was kind of a blind-rage pattern runner,” said Workman. “This season, he has developed a change of pace and is more defined in running his patterns. He is a lot better.”

In other nonconference games:

Glendale (0-1) vs. Fullerton (0-1)) at Fullerton District Stadium, 7:30 p.m.--Both teams were expected to contend, but both were upset in season openers last Saturday. Fullerton lost to Rancho Santiago, 27-17, and Glendale lost to El Camino, 36-19. Fullerton tried Frank Ricco, Kerri Severson and Victor Williams at quarterback in the opener. The Hornets also moved a lot of players at other positions in and out of the lineup, looking for the right combination. “Now it’s time for us to settle into certain people,” Coach Hal Sherbeck said. “I still feel we are a much better football team than we showed.” Although three nonconference games help prepare the Hornets for the South Coast Conference, Fullerton doesn’t have any easy opponents. It will play Taft, the second-ranked team in the state, next Saturday.

El Camino (1-0) at Saddleback (0-0), 7:30 p.m.--El Camino took a big step toward legitimacy last Saturday with a 36-19 victory over Glendale, which was 10-1 last season. El Camino was led by sophomore quarterback Dan Speltz, who was 20 of 29 for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns against Glendale. Saddleback will be led on offense by sophomore quarterback Howard Gasser, who played very little last season but has been impressive in the preseason. Saddleback Coach Ken Swearingen needs two victories to reach 100 at Saddleback (98-18-1). This is Saddleback’s only nonconference game. The Gauchos open the Mission Conference at Grossmont next Saturday.