Fryer’s First and 10 for high school football’s Week 5

Starting the football week in Orange County with notes, comments and observations …

1. The top 25: We have five voters for the Orange County football top 25. How my ballot might have differed from others this week: I placed Santa Margarita at No. 3 because of the way the Eagles played in the second half of their 42-21 comeback win over Los Alamitos. Santa Margarita outscored Los Alamitos 42-7 in the second half, and that was good enough to beat out Mission Viejo for the No. 3 spot.

Figuring out the bottom five slots in the top 25 was challenging. I went this way: 21. JSerra; 22. El Toro; 23. Brea Olinda; 24. Sunny Hills; 25. El Modena. Although I might pick El Modena to beat Brea when they play each other Oct. 7, Brea beat Sunny Hills and Sunny Hills beat El Modena. JSerra has a 20-0 win over Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, a team Orange Lutheran beat by 18 points.

2. Taking in the Sunset: The top three Sunset League teams, in order: 1. Edison; 2. Los Alamitos; 3. Corona del Mar. Edison would not get outscored 42-7 in the second half by Santa Margarita, which happened to Los Alamitos last week in the Griffins’ 42-21 loss to Santa Margarita. Also, Edison beat San Clemente 42-0 after Corona del Mar beat San Clemente 7-3.

3. Good byes, good games: We’re at about the halfway point of the regular season (already?!?!) so this is a week that many teams take their byes, a week in which they don’t play a game and gives them a break to rest and recuperate before league play starts.

Even in a bye-heavy week, Orange County football has several good games on the schedule, like county No. 12 Foothill (4-0) vs. No. 14 Orange (2-2) at El Modena on Thursday, No. 13 Cypress (3-1) at No. 17 Capistrano Valley (3-2) on Friday, No. 16 Tesoro (1-3) at No. 22 El Toro (5-0) on Friday and Vista Murrieta (3-1 and No. 23 in the Cal HiSports.com state rankings) vs. No. 9 Villa Park (4-0) on Saturday at El Modena.

4. Looking ahead: The Sept. 30-Oct. 2 schedule has plenty of fine league games when league play starts in the six-team leagues. We get Trinity League opener Orange Lutheran vs. Servite at Orange Coast College on Sept. 30 and on Oct. 1 Mater Dei at St. John Bosco, plus Tustin vs. Pacifica at Bolsa Grande High (Empire League), La Habra vs. Sunny Hills at Buena Park High (Freeway League) and Corona del Mar at Los Alamitos (Sunset League).

5. Unexpected: Teams exceeding preseason forecasts include Brea Olinda (3-0), El Toro (5-0), JSerra (2-2), Orange Lutheran (5-0). Teams not as good as anticipated, with plenty of time for improvement, are La Habra (0-4) and San Juan Hills (0-5).

6. Can Servite beat Mater Dei?: That’s the most asked question this season, although Servite-Mater Dei is weeks away. Mater Dei, even with ace cornerback Domani Jackson out for the season because of a knee injury, will have more outstanding players at more positions than Servite will in their game Oct. 23 at Santa Ana Stadium. But it’s always how you play on the day you play.

7. High on the Pacific Hills: That’s a good league. The four teams in it – Irvine, Dana Hills, Laguna Hills and Portola – are a combined 15-2 and all four have very winnable games this week. Of the four, Dana Hills has the most-impressive win, a 29-28 victory over Aliso Niguel.

8. This is the place: Saddleback College’s renovated stadium is the best venue for high school football in Orange County, and maybe Southern California, too, and would be a great setting for CIF Southern Section and CIF State championship games with its separate TV and radio booths and a large room for entertaining CIF business partners.

9. Light that scoreboard up: On Friday, Orange County teams that won their games combined for 1,158 points over 31 games. That’s an average of 37.4 points a game just from the winning team.

10. Silent treatment: The Pro Football Hall of Fame has guys who did less talking in their 15 years in the NFL than some Orange County high school players do in one quarter.