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San Diego Section

2007 Football Log

Metro Conference

Player Profiles

Derek Witte, Eastlake
Updated Nov. 17, 2007
Derek Witte is taking snaps for the third consecutive season as the starting quarterback for Eastlake High School’s football team. It could be the launching pad to a highly successful collegiate career.

Witte entered this season with approximately 2,600 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 60 percent completion rate in two previous seasons behind center. He completed 62 percent of his passing attempts as a junior while running a wing-T offensive scheme.

He has thrown for 1,115 yards in the Titans’ nine games this season with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. He completed three of five passes for 114 yards, including a 72-yard pass to receiver Michael Holt, in the Titans’ Mesa League title-clinching victory against Bonita Vista on Nov. 9. He completed seven of 10 attempts for 126 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 72-14 Mesa League win the previous week against visiting Sweetwater in the school’s homecoming game.

Witte helped guide his team to a 31-14 victory against sixth-ranked Torrey Pines on Sept. 7 by completing seven of nine passes, including one for eight yards for a touchdown. The non-league victory has to rank among the most significant regular season wins in school history.

He completed 12 of 15 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown in a 51-0 victory at San Ysidro to kick off league play on Oct. 12.

Witte earned all-league honors as a sophomore while taking Eastlake to a berth in the San Diego Section Division I playoffs (quarterfinal round). He was named second team all-league as a junior when he led the Titans to the semifinals of the Division II playoffs. He said he was “privileged” to be the first junior to receive the coveted team captain award.

“I have played contact football for nearly 10 years, yet there is still much for me to learn and much to improve on,” Witte said.

Witte played linebacker for five years with the Chula Vista Aztecs under Mark Strickland. That noteworthy Aztecs squad won three county championships and one state title. Several notable South County prep players were teammates with Witte. They include Boogie Blossom and twins Russell and David McGuire from Castle Park and current Titan teammate Jordan Koopman.

“We finished 42-1 before playing my final year of Pop Warner with Eastlake,” Witte said. “At Eastlake I began playing with most of the players who are on my team now (Will Duka, Sal Adame, Austin Hardman and Josh Brechbiel). It was at Eastlake that I made my transition to quarterback and continued to play it once I got into high school.”

Eastlake’s 2004 freshman squad, under Martin Contreras, went 8-2 and won the league championship with “little resistance,” according to Witte. In 2005 several sophomores got the opportunity to start on the varsity squad — Witte was one of them.

“I had the opportunity to play with some of the best players to come through Eastlake such as Marcus Yarbrough (SDSU) and Stephen Carr (Stanford),” Witte said.

Catching up with Witte can be difficult. Last December he received an invitation to the Reebok Army National Combine held in January in San Antonio, Texas, where he was given the opportunity to compete against the top athletes for the class of 2008.

He earned mention on the Fab50 list and is considered to be among the top 50 quarterbacks in the nation. He ranks at the No. 7 spot among Fab 50 quarterbacks

Perhaps not surprisingly, Witte has received college recruiting interest from Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Cornell, SDSU, New Mexico, TCU, Army, Air Force, Oregon State, Colorado and Fresno State. The 6-foot, 170-pounder has also received recruiting interest from the Fab50 list from Virginia). He is also listed as a top prospect on the Collegiate Sports of America recruiting Web site (csaprepstar.com).

Witte said he plays football because he loves competition.

“I believe competition brings out your full potential and allows you to do things you can not normally do,” he said. “I hope to continue playing football in college, because I have a lot of room to improve and much left to learn about the game I love. Playing football or playing any team sport teaches you values and morals that are hard to learn otherwise, and through Eastlake football I have learned that commitment and hard work will take you as far as you let them.”

A member of the California Scholarship Federation and Eastlake principal’s honor roll, Witte ranks academically 121st in a graduating class of 610 students. His last reported GPA was a 3.5 while enrolled in advanced placement and honors courses.

During the preseason, the Titans competed in the San Diego State University passing tournament and the San Diego South County passing tournament. Witte and his teammates won both tournament championships.

There are high expectations for this year’s Eastlake team, which returns to Division I status this season to do battle against the section’s largest enrollment schools. The Titans earned the No. 3 seed in this year's playoffs and match up against Mesa League rival Chula Vista in the quarterfinals on Nov. 23. The winner advances to the semifinals. The championship game is Dec. 7 at Qualcomm Stadium.

There are also high expectations for Witte beyond this season.

Witte has trained with the nationally-renowned quarterback coach Bob Johnson, whose camp has produced such professional and college -ranked signal-callers as Carson Palmer (Cincinnati Bengals), Matt Leinart (Arizona Cardinals), Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) and Vince Young (Tennessee Titans).

His name could be listed on future testimonials.

Jeremiah Andujo, Eastlake
Updated Nov. 17, 2007
Eastlake High School senior Jeremiah Andujo describes himself as “a strong Christian who loves God” with all his faith. He also has blossomed into one of the Metro Conference’s top football players and track and field athletes.

“My parents, Richard and Gail Andujo, mean the world to me. They have instilled in me my faith and also how to show respect and kindness to everyone,” he said.

While Andujo, one of five siblings, may radiate a quiet sense of respect off the field, he has displayed a ferocity on the field that has helped catapult the Titans to the top of the Mesa League standings and a rating among the top 10 football teams in the San Diego Section this season.

Andujo has two brothers, Victor (20), and Santiago (11), and two sisters, Joy (16) and Pamela (7). Victor is a redshirt freshman on the SDSU football team.

The Titan senior considers his family to be his best friends, and a foundation for his strong moral standing. “I place them above football in any circumstance,” he said.

Speed and strength — both spiritual and physical — clearly define Andujo’s attributes. He can run 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, bench press 255 pounds and lift 365 pounds from the squat position.

Andujo (5-10, 180) plays two positions on the gridiron — slot-back (Z-receiver) on offense and cornerback on defense. In three prior varsity seasons, he had rushed for approximately 1,770 yards while compiling 980 receiving yards and scoring 31 touchdowns with one interception and 90 tackles.

He finished the Titans’ nine regular season games with 471 rushing yards on 66 carries (7.13 rushing average) with seven touchdowns and caught a team-high 21 passes for 308 yards with four touchdowns. He scored two touchdowns in Eastlake’s 27-16 Mesa League title-clinching win against arch rival Bonita Vista on Nov. 9. He scored the game-winning touchdown in the Titans’ 14-6 defensive-minded victory at Otay Ranch on Oct. 19 and returned a punt for a touchdown in a Sept. 7 game against Torrey Pines. He also finished the season with one interception on defense.

He leads the team with 12 touchdowns.

During the track and field season, he competes in the 100-meter dash, 4x100 relay and pole vault.

In the classroom, he maintains a 4.17 grade-point average and ranks 28th in a class of 610 students while enrolled in advanced placement and honor courses. He scored 1,720 points on the SAT college entrance examination — 570 in verbal, 600 in math and 570 in writing — and finished the ACT with a score of 23. He plans to study business in college. He has received recruiting interest from such Ivy League schools as Brown and Columbia as well as UC Davis and Georgetown at present.

Academic highlights include being named to the principal’s honor roll and membership in the California Scholastic Federation his sophomore and junior years.

Despite Andujo’s busy schedule with athletics and academics, he is an active community volunteer, be it coaching his sister’s soccer team or running cameras for his church.

Andujo received the Titans’ coveted Most Valuable Player award as a junior after rushing for 915 yards and 12 touchdowns and accumulating 685 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He also earned honors as a team captain while being named First Team All-Mesa League as the Titans (9-4 overall) tied for the league championship and advanced as far as the semifinal round of the Division II playoffs.

He rushed for 856 yards and scored nine touchdowns while totaling 293 receiving yards and four more scores as a sophomore as the Titans finished second in the league standings, 9-3 overall with a trip to the quarterfinal round of the Division I playoffs.

As a varsity player his freshman year, Andujo helped Eastlake to an 8-4 record, Mesa League co-championship and a berth in the Division I quarterfinals.

He has been named Eastlake’s Player of the Game five times and twice has earned KUSI-TV’s Prep Pigskin Report Player of the Game honors. He has attended several camps and clinics in an effort to improve his skills and gain wider notice, including the USC skills position camp, Martin Bayless camp, Oregon team football camp (First Team All-Camp), Occidental team camp and SDSU passing tournament (first place).

During the off-season, he has trained with Freddy Arcaina from Raise the Bar Fitness, focusing on speed, core skills and weights.

Andujo hopes to use his gifts in football to help him attain a college degree and create the character within himself to become a leader on the field, in his home and in the lives of others.
In a college recruiting biography, Andujo describes himself as a “responsible, compassionate and mature young man who can be counted on to lead himself and others in making sound decisions and choices.”

He certainly has done nothing on the field — or off it — to belie that.

You want this young man on your team.

Marcus Vasquez, Otay Ranch
By J. Carlos Rico
Posted Oct. 19, 2007
Coming off a season during which he was named the Mesa League’s Offensive Most Valuable Player, senior quarterback Marcus Vasquez is looking to improve on last season’s success and lead Otay Ranch to another banner year.

“Our goal is to win the league again,” Vasquez confidently said. “But we know it’s not going to be easy.”

This year the senior quarterback has had to learn a new offensive system with the promotion of Mitch Burton as the offensive coordinator, but Vasquez has adapted well to it.

“It’s been a learning curve for him, but he has put in the work to learn this new system and has shown a lot of progress,” head coach Brad Burton said.

One of those improvements has been his decision-making. According the Mustangs coach, Vasquez is reading coverages better, going through his progression and passes the ball to the open man. Also, Vasquez (6-2, 185 pounds) has a good pocket presence and knows when to tuck the ball and run and is not afraid to take or give a hit.

“He is a playmaker,” Burton said. “He can make something out of nothing and leaves everything he’s got on the field.”

By doing so, Vasquez has become the leader of the team. He is vocal when he needs to be, but for the most part, he likes his play on the field to do all the talking. In addition, he is a fierce, enthusiastic competitor, which is contagious on the field.

“His teammates feed off his energy and raise their level of play,” Burton said.

His success at the quarterback position did not come without some hurdles. In fact, when he first arrived at Otay Ranch, the coaches didn’t want him to play quarterback. The coaches saw his athleticism and speed on the field in training camp his sophomore year and wanted to make him a running back or a receiver.

“The coaches were kind of iffy about me playing quarterback because I had only been playing (the position) since I was a freshman,” Vasquez said. “I had to prove myself and the coaches stuck with me and I have been the quarterback ever since.”

Vasquez has been playing football since he was in the third grade and has played almost every position, including defensive back, defensive end, tailback and wide receiver.

But this isn’t his only sport. Vasquez is an all-around athlete and when it’s not football season, he is on the hardwood playing basketball in the winter and running track in the spring.

He is a shooting guard on the Mustang basketball team and averaged 10 points and five rebounds in eight games in a season that was cut short by an injury. On the track team, Vasquez competes in the 110-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump. He holds school records for all three events. He loves all the sports he plays, even though basketball was his first love and the game of football will most likely get him a college scholarship.

And when it comes to taking his game to the next level, Vasquez will have numerous options. Several universities have contacted Vasquez to try to recruit him including Oregon, UNLV, Washington State, San Diego State and Villanova. Vasquez said his mother wants him to choose a school that is close to where she lives (Kentucky) so she can see him play. This will definitely play a role where Vasquez plays next year, but he says the decision will come down to what universities have the best to offer him as a student and athlete.

“I want to major in either sports medicine or business — to become a sports agent,” the second year starter said. “I want to stay close to sports because I love it.”

San Diego County, and specifically Otay Ranch, has been good to Vasquez. Not only is it helping his chances of getting into a good university, it is helping him in life as well. Vasquez has only been living in San Diego since his sophomore year and moved from Kentucky (where he grew up) because his mother felt there would be better opportunities for him in California.

“My mom wants the best for her kids,” Vasquez said. “She works hard and tries to give us everything.”

The opportunity came for Vasquez when his aunt and uncle decided to move to the West Coast from Kentucky.

“My family is very loving and very supportive,” he said. “They want to see me succeed.”
Not many teenagers would be willing to leave their home, friends and comfort zone for a place they barely know going into their sophomore year. However, Vasquez saw the move as an opportunity as well.

“Otay Ranch has been great,” he said. “The diversity is so rich out here of students and nationalities. In Kentucky it’s a sight you don’t see. You learn about different people and different cultures, which I learned that I like.”

He was not afraid of the move because he said he is a “people person” and likes to talk and meet new people, but there was an adjustment period.

“I’m not shy, but when I first got here I didn’t really speak because it was a culture shock,” he said. “But after a couple weeks I got used to the atmosphere and football helped bridge that gap.”

Now when he walks around campus everyone says, “What’s up?” to him and wishes him and the team good luck. In fact, he has fit in so well and made so many friends that he is now nominated for BMOC (big man on campus), which will be announced the week leading up to the school’s homecoming game on Nov. 2.