La Costa Canyon’s ‘unreal’ Quinn Roth shines during big year for QBs

Moments after the La Costa Canyon High School football team beat Del Norte last week, Mavericks head coach Sean Sovacool bellowed: “Is anyone playing better than 18?”

La Costa Canyon senior quarterback Quinn Roth, wearing No. 18, completed 14 of 17 passes for 163 yards and three touchdowns in that game.

“The guy is unreal,” Sovacool said. “He’s so accurate, so strong in the pocket, so calm. And he’s a great leader.”

The 6-foot-3 1/2, 180-pound Roth is 29 of 39 for 553 yards and seven TDs with one interception in three games for LCC, which is undefeated and ranked No. 5 in San Diego and No. 20 in the state. The Mavericks play Friday night at San Clemente, a team that is 2-1 and ranked No. 34 in the state.

“I really appreciate Coach saying so many nice things about me, but there are so many great quarterbacks in San Diego this season,” Roth said. “Hopefully, I’m in the discussion with those guys.”

Five San Diego Section quarterbacks have committed to colleges — Troy Huhn of Mission Hills to Penn State, Cash Herrera of Bishop’s to Indiana, Brady Palmer of Cathedral Catholic to Cal, Eli MacNeal of Carlsbad to Cornell and Vincent Smith of St. Augustine to USD.

Add in Kreet Makihele of San Marcos, Trevor Taumoepeau of Mt. Carmel, Noah Schuback of Poway, Lee Norman-Lester of Helix, Dax Labrum of Santa Fe Christian, Quentyn DeMara of University City and Trey Arnold of Mission Bay, junior Zac Benitez of Granite Hills and sophomore Gaige Weddle of Rancho Bernardo, and the county is loaded with top-flight quarterbacks.

Roth was a first-team All-CIF selection last season, completing 69.8% of his passes for 2,235 yards with 31 TDs and six interceptions. Huhn and Benitez made the second team.

Yet Roth’s college offers remain sparse.

“I don’t know why colleges aren’t all over Quinn,” said LCC do-everything back Coby Herman, who has committed to UC Davis. “I tried to get him to commit to Davis on our trip, but he wasn’t ready. Then Davis got a commitment from a (different) guy.”

Jose Mohler, Carlsbad’s quarterbacks coach and the founder of Left Coast Athletix training service, believes he knows why colleges haven’t offered Roth.

“He’s skinny,” said Mohler, who played at LCC and at North Dakota State before embarking on a pro career in Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

“He’s bigger than 6-foot-3, and normally height is the big measurable. But colleges now want their quarterbacks to weigh 215-220 to withstand the pounding. The big schools don’t have the time to take a kid and put weight on him. So it’s steak and baked potatoes for Quinn.”

Roth is focused on helping his team win games. The rest will come.

“San Diego County is crazy with talented quarterbacks,” Roth said. “I need to trust the process, trust my training.”

Roth doesn’t look at himself as a victim.

“He’s not crying,” Mohler said. “He’ll get an opportunity to play college football. He’ll go to a school where he’s valued. That might not be a top-25 school, but he will play colege football. The way he has handled the recruiting thing is special.”

Friends and teammates since kindergarten. Roth and Herman have a special relationship. And La Costa is on a special stretch; the team went 10-1 last season and has won 13 of its last 14 games heading into Friday’s showdown.

“We have a homegrown team,” Herman said. “A lot of us have been together since elementary school, even earlier.

“We play for La Costa Canyon, but we play for each other. We give up days at the beach to work out, get better.”

Roth is quick to note that he has “so many weapons” on offense.

“Obviously, Coby is so versatile, running and catching the ball. But Jackson Maggiore is a threat, and we’re just getting Lennox Marcucci back from an injury,” he said. “When he’s 100%, we’ll be even more dynamic. He’ll open some eyes.

“And I love our offensive line. They’re amazing. Jake Rosenfeld is my center. Brendan Lee is the left tackle and has my blind side. Brendan is like the smartest guy I know. Has a 4.7 GPA. And the guy can play.”

Herman put it this way.

“We have weapons, we have an offensive line, we have great coaches, we have great support from the students,” he said.

“And we have a great quarterback.”