Tiny Santa Fe Christian’s quest for a perfect season continues Saturday

SOLANA BEACH — Santa  Fe Christian had just beaten Escondido Charter 35-0 to improve to a perfect 6-0 this season, but something was off.

“We won, but we played badly,” said SFC senior defensive end/tight end Everett Kerkhoff. “That was a wake-up call. We needed to work harder in the weight room, pay more attention in film and on the field.”

SFC’s coaches didn’t have to say a word.

“The players took charge,” said Robbin Anzodru, who has 77 tackles, 15 tackles for losses, 11 1/2 sacks and 20 quarterback hurries. “Nobody yelled. Nobody screamed. We knew what needed to be done.”

So the Eagles got back to work, and ripped off wins over Army-Navy, Classical Academy, La Jolla Country Day and Bishop’s to close the regular season.

The CIF San Diego Section Division 2 playoffs were next, and SFC — a school with 400 high school students — took on a David-vs.-Goliath mentality.

The Eagles beat St. Augustine, a school with an enrollment of 743 boys. Then they took down Scripps Ranch, which has an enrollment of 1,920 and Steele Canyon, with an enrollment of 2,147.

SFC enters Saturday night’s Southern California Division 2-A Regionals against Rio Honda Prep at Carlsbad High School with a 13-0 record.

Only one San Diego Section school has won 15 games in a season: Cathedral Catholic did so in 2016 on the way to a state title. Lincoln’s 1990 team went 14-0, winning the San Diego Section 3A championship in an age before state championships.

Standing in SFC’s way is another big-time school with small numbers. Rio Hondo Prep, which is 14-0 and the CIF Southern Section Division 5 champion, has an enrollment of 132.

“I don’t know how the state pairs things for the playoffs, but this game has the feeling of a true small-school championship,” said SFC coach Jon Wallace.

Knowing his team will play bigger schools in the playoffs, Wallace loads his preseason schedule with large schools. This year’s team played — and beat — Madison, Valley Center, Westview, Vista and Christian before the start of Coastal League play.

“Coach Wallace says we have three seasons,” said Kerkhoff, who is headed to Robert Morris in the fall to play college lacrosse and has 77 tackles, 14 sacks and 48 quarterback hurries this season. “There is the preseason where we play bigger public schools, our league season, which includes some really tough teams, and the playoffs, where we go back to playing the bigger public schools.

“Beating Madison, a school which has had a lot of success, in the opener gave us a lot of confidence.”

The Eagles will need every bit of confidence and skill to get past Rio Hondo Prep, which has outscored its opponents 562-205 and beat Redondo Union, a school with 2,971 students, in the Southern Section title game.

Rio Hondo Prep is a ground-and-pound team, rushing for 3,951 yards and 57 touchdowns.

Santa Fe Christian, meanwhile, has reinvented itself. Formerly a Wing-T team, ball-control, deception team has switched to an “Air Coryell”-type attack behind junior quarterback Dax Labrum.

The 6-foot-3 Labrum has thrown for 2,873 yards and 34 TDs with just six interceptions. The Eagles have rushed for just 1,624 yards as a team.

It’s rather ironic that SFC won four San Diego Section Division 4 titles — in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006 — running the Wing-T under coach Brian Sipe, one of San Diego State’s all-time great passers and a former NFL MVP in 1980, while Wing-T guru Wallace has embraced the pass.

“We haven’t totally abandoned the Wing-T,” Wallace said. “But we have the personnel — quarterback, receivers and offensive linemen — to throw it. And we have some RPO (run-pass option) plays to take advantage of Dax’s abilities.”

Labrum admits he has grown as a quarterback both position coach Jose Mohler and NFL great Drew Brees, whose son Braylen is a junior receiver on the team. The team switched to more of a pro-style attack after Labrum won the starting job as a sophomore.

“I really started watching SFC football in the eighth grade, and the schemes are totally different,” Labrum said. “And Coach Brees has been a huge help.”

Wallace also credits a 23-player senior class that includes Lincoln Mundis, Cole Hajjar, Joshua Husmann, Daniel De Pfyffer, Anzodru, Kerkhoff and lineman Sam Carney, who plays nose guard on defense.

Carney has 51 tackles, 5 1/2 sacks and 23 quarterback hurries despite, at 6-foot-1 and 255 pounds, being better suited for defensive tackle.

“When you’re on a team like this, a team with great coaches, great players,” Carney said, “you do what’s best for the team.”

And now, Santa Fe Christian — a team that is small in numbers but huge in heart — can pull off a perfect season.

“We knew we had a chance to be good, but how many teams go undefeated?” Labrum said.

“We’ve absolutely embraced David vs. Goliath. The big schools look at us warming up and laugh. They think they’re going to kill those little kids. Then we just nod and say ‘good game’ in the handshake line.”