Borchard a Guiding Force

CAMARILLO — As Camarillo High’s football team improved by leaps and bounds, Scorpion quarterback Joe Borchard took one measured step at a time.

Borchard, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year, kept his cool in the huddle, made sound decisions behind under center and did precisely what it took to lead the Scorpions to the Southern Section Division III championship.

“Joe’s leadership, especially as the season wore on, was even more impressive than his passing and running,” Camarillo Coach Carl Thompson said. “He was a player the team could rally around and look to for guidance.”

The 6-foot-4, 202-pound Borchard passed for 2,851 yards and 30 touchdowns, completing 196 of 387 passes with only 10 interceptions. In addition, he ran for 334 yards and six touchdowns.

After losing its first two games to Oxnard and Rio Mesa, Camarillo rolled to 12 consecutive victories, finishing with a 20-14 victory over Notre Dame in the final. The division title and Marmonte League championship were the first for the Scorpions since 1984.

“Winning was all that mattered to me,” said Borchard, who committed to Stanford. “The individual awards and recognition were secondary. Our group of seniors [was] really tight for four years, and to see it end like this was incredible.”

The winning began with a nondescript 17-6 nonleague win over Hueneme. A 27-20 victory over Newbury Park--considered an upset at the time--opened league play.

Camarillo’s pivotal game came next, a 42-35 victory over Agoura in which the Scorpions trailed, 35-7, at halftime.

Second-half comebacks over Westlake and Thousand Oaks secured the league championship, and Camarillo rolled through the playoffs with victories over Pasadena, St. Francis, Westlake and Notre Dame.

Borchard led the way by executing a mistake-free, short passing game and scrambling out of trouble time and again. His size enabled him to not only take hits, but to deliver blows against smaller defenders.

“Joe lowered his shoulder like a linebacker, and when he was hit after throwing a pass he just got up and went to the huddle,” Scorpion center Mike McGrath said. “

Borchard, a three-year starter and three-sport athlete, passed for 6,047 yards and 51 touchdowns in his career.

An outfielder-pitcher with a two-year batting average of .350, he is expected to be taken in the free-agent baseball draft in June.