Michael Huntley takes a hard look at the Orange County high school football scene after last week’s games. He’s looking at what worked or didn’t work, who starred, who stumbled and who is feeling the heat this week.

Loaded card

To borrow boxing and UFC terminology, the football schedule, or card, this weekend is loaded in Orange County.

The leagues that feature six teams begin this week. The Sunset League has a solid matchup between No. 3 Los Alamitos and No. 12 Newport Harbor.

No. 5 Santa Margarita and No. 6 Orange Lutheran will play in a pivotal Trinity League matchup that might determine which team makes the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs and which team falls to Division 2.

The two top teams in the Freeway League, Troy and La Habra, will play Friday with the two teams trending in different directions.

The best nonleague game is between two undefeated teams, El Dorado and Yorba Linda.

Every game El Dorado has played has featured a running clock due to a margin of victory of 25 points or greater in the fourth quarter. Three of those five games had a running clock after halftime.

Juniors Evan Campuzano, left, and Isaiah Quintero helped El Dorado defeat visiting Fountain Valley 50-7 at Valencia High on Thursday. (Photo by Dan Albano, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It is well-known that El Dorado can run the ball with Isaiah Quintero and Diego Soria, but the passing game shined in a win against Chino last week.

Nate Bento threw for 280 yards on just nine completions with three touchdowns. Ryan Sugar and Gaven Rivera each had over 100 yards receiving.

Yorba Linda is by far the best team El Dorado will see this season. The Mustangs have a well-balanced offense as well with quarterback Reyn Beal and running back William Saucedo.

The Mustangs are 9-0 all-time against El Dorado, but this is the best Golden Hawks team in recent memory.

We will learn about how high El Dorado’s ceiling is after this big game.

Parking lot bias?

I made the trek to Tesoro last week and saw a quality football team execute a good game plan to beat El Toro 49-7.

Junior Travis Wood is the best running back that you have never heard of and Owen Burnside is one of the better pass rushers in the county.

This week, Tesoro (3-2) hosts crosstown rival San Juan Hills in the Battle for the Bell on Friday. This is probably one of the top games on this week’s schedule, but it’s not getting much attention. These are two well-coached programs with good athletes who almost always play competitive games.

The Titans have reached the playoffs 10 of the last 11 seasons and for some reason they don’t get mentioned when talking about the county’s top programs.

It’s time for that to change.

For the record, sports writers like to complain about covering games at Tesoro because of the school’s parking lot. But it is not the worst one in Orange County. San Juan Hills is right up there, and Brea Olinda too.

Welcome aboard transfers

The sit-out period is over for players that transferred to new schools during the offseason, and some very good players will make their season debuts this week.

Los Alamitos defensive lineman T.A. Cunningham, who is the top player in California’s 2024 class according to Prep Redzone and the No. 2 player in the class according to 247Sports, will debut against Newport Harbor on Friday night.

San Clemente quarterback Dylan Mills is eligible this week after starting nearly every game for JSerra last season. Junior quarterback Broderick Redden has done a nice job for San Clemente this season. It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff keeps the status quo with Redden or makes a change to Mills.

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Junior running back Brandon Giron will make his debut for La Habra after transferring from Los Altos. Coach Frank Mazzotta is very high on Giron and with him playing, Jacob Apodaca can return to receiver which could be a huge help for the Highlanders (1-4).

Aliso Niguel receiver Ayden Sanchez will make his season debut Friday against Alta Loma. He transferred from JSerra during the 2021 football season and played a full lacrosse season at Aliso, but still had to sit out the beginning of this season for some reason. Coach Michael Calahan said Sanchez could be a game-changer on offense.