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They proudly label it as “Heisman Lane,” an area at the Meruelo Athletic Center at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., that pays tribute to the only school to graduate two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks.
“Quarterback High,” as the national powerhouse program has been tagged, might soon have its rival in Saint Louis School.
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who today will be named one of at least three finalists for the 2018 Heisman Trophy, is battling Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray in what could be a neck-and-neck finish in voting for the iconic bronze statue, which will be awarded Saturday in New York.
If he holds off Murray in balloting that concluded this morning, Tagovailoa would join Marcus Mariota, a 2011 Saint Louis graduate, who was the 2014 Heisman winner at Oregon.
“That (would be) very cool,” Mariota said from Nashville in a phone interview. “That (would) be special and say a lot about Saint Louis and coach Vinny (Passas) and the coaches who are there on campus.”
In 83 previous years of the awarding of the Heisman, which symbolizes the outstanding player in college football, just two high schools, Mater Dei and Dallas’ Woodrow Wilson, have produced multiple Heisman winners overall, a Heisman spokesman said.
Mater Dei had quarterbacks John Huarte (Notre Dame, 1964) and Matt Leinart (USC, 2004), while Wilson had quarterback Davey O’Brien (TCU, 1938) and wide receiver Tim Brown (Notre Dame, 1987).
Mater Dei also produced University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, who finished third in 2007, while the Crusaders have had top-10 finishers Herman Wedemeyer and Jason Gesser. Wedemeyer was fourth in 1945 and sixth in 1946 and Gesser was seventh in 2002.
Propelled by his storybook, off-the-bench stardom in the national championship game against Georgia in January, and strong start to the 2018 season, Tagovailoa emerged as an early contender for the Heisman. By Sept. 5 he was the front-runner among oddsmakers, according to online site Bovada. It was a position Tagovailoa held onto going into Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game against the Bulldogs.
But Tagovailoa suffered his most inefficient performance, completing just 10 of 25 passes for 164 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions before leaving the game with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. Jalen Hurts, from whom Tua took over the starting quarterback job, rallied the Crimson Tide to the victory.
Whether early voting — and as much as 15 percent of the votes were said to have been cast before the conference championship games in 2015 and ’16 — will give Tagovailoa a cushion remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Murray, his closest pursuer for the past two months, led the Sooners to the Big 12 championship, completing 25 of 34 passes or 379 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. And Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who has emerged as a contender in the past month, led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten title completing 34 of 41 passes for for 499 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.
On Saint Louis’ Kalaepohaku campus, where a glass-cased history of Crusaders football has been on the drawing board for the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Center scheduled to open next year, school president Glenn Medeiros said, “We’d love to celebrate one (Heisman) for Tua alongside Marcus’.”
HAWAII’S HIGHEST HEISMAN FINISHERS
(Local high school graduates in Top 10 of Heisman voting)
PL. PLAYER YEAR POS. (HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE)
1. Marcus Mariota 2014 QB Saint Louis/Oregon
2. Manti Te’o 2012 LB Punahou/Notre Dame
4. Herman Wedemeyer 1945 RB Saint Louis/St. Mary’s
6. Herman Wedmeyer 1946 RB Saint Louis/St. Mary’s
7. Jason Gesser 2002 QB Saint Louis/Washington St.
8. McKenzie Milton 2017 QB Mililani/Central Florida
Source: Heisman Trust.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820
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