You’ve heard the philosophical adage, that some people see the glass of water as half empty while others see it as half full.
Phil Taylor’s philosophy was, “Just drink the damned water!”
Taylor played football at Orange Lutheran and was a class of 2011 graduate. He died Tuesday of cancer. Taylor was 25.
Orange Lutheran head coach JP Presley was an assistant coach when Taylor was a receiver and punt returner for the Lancers. The passing of Taylor, who gave the Lancers an inspirational talk this summer when Taylor knew he did not have many days remaining, was another gut punch for Presley and the Orange Lutheran football program.
Running back and defensive back Reggie Strong two weeks ago suffered a neck injury in a win over Heritage of Romoland. Anything “neck injury” is going to be taken seriously. So Strong, a senior, is done for the season.
So is another senior, Kyle Ford, a 2017 All-Orange County receiver. Late in the Lancers’ loss to Mission Viejo last week Ford injured his right knee severely enough that surgery is required.
That loss to Mission Viejo was by two points. Orange Lutheran missed a field goal in the game’s final seconds.
Losing a game like that while losing top players is not the best way to go into your Trinity League opener against a good team like Santa Margarita.
Orange Lutheran used some duct tape, a couple drops of glue and plenty of heart to put together a 39-37 win over Santa Margarita on Friday at Orange Coast College. Logan Loya kicked the winning field goal as time expired. The Lancers, 0-5 in the Trinity League last year, are 1-0 in league and 4-2 overall.
Loya had 12 receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown, and the junior nailed the winning 27-yard field goal on the game’s final snap.
Replacing Ford will take more than players running the routes Ford would have run or making the catches Ford would have made.
“The big thing about Kyle is that he’s a constant competitor,” Presley said. “He gets us going, he’s the guy jumping around before a game. His energy is so contagious.”
Orange Lutheran senior quarterback Ryan Hilinski misses that fast, sure-handed target who through the first five games led the Lancers in receiving yards (456) and receiving touchdowns (seven). Against Santa Margarita, Hilinski still threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns and added a 9-yard touchdown run on which he blasted into a Santa Margarita defender at the goal line and had enough momentum to propel into the end zone.
It’s easy to see what South Carolina and every other college program that recruited him likes about Hilinksi.
He’s 6-3 and 215, so there’s that of course. What places him into the elite group of high school quarterbacks is how fast he launches the football. When he sees a receiver the ball is out of his hands in a flash, and the ball reaches its destination quickly and accurately.
Hilinski’s most impressive throws actually were incompletions. He perfectly threaded a ball just out of the reach of a Santa Margarita defensive back in the end zone, but the Lutheran receiver juggled the ball as he was going out of bounds. Later Hilinski, chased out of the pocket and sprinting to his left, stopped and heaved a cross-body pass that traveled 50 yards in the air with the ball glancing off of the receiver’s outstretched fingers.
Athletes and coaches talk about “character wins.” Orange Lutheran’s win over Santa Margarita certainly qualifies as one. For the pregame coin toss, Lancers players carried Taylor’s Texas Christian University football jersey.
Taylor made the TCU team as a walk-on. He was an inspiration to his teammates at TCU and to the Orange Lutheran players he visited this summer. Presley smiled when recalling Taylor’s “drink the damned water” line.
“We had some extra ‘oomph’ coming into this with the passing of Phil Taylor,” Hilinski said. “He changed my life, from a Christian standpoint after losing my brother.”
Tyler Hilinski, Ryan’s older brother who played quarterback at Upland High and at Washington State, died by suicide earlier this year.
The cancer had spread to Taylor’s stomach and colon by the time he was at Orange Lutheran’s training camp.
“But still,” Presley said, “his message was ‘I’ll continue to fight.’ ”
“How great of a viewpoint he had,” Hilinski said, “even though he knew it wasn’t going the right way.”
The season could have gone the wrong way for Orange Lutheran, after the tough loss to Mission Viejo, the loss of important players and the passing of an inspirational alum.
That glass of water? It was overflowing for the Lancers after Friday night’s win.