Instant Offense

MOORPARK — Farhaad Azimi’s football resume for the last two years fits on a business card--with room for doodles.

There was 1997.

Azimi, fresh off a stellar career as quarterback at Rio Mesa High, walked on at Brigham Young but spent the season as a redshirt.

Moreover, Provo wasn’t Azimi’s kind of town.

“It’s a great school academically, but I didn’t think I fit in,” Azimi said.

There was 1998.

Azimi turned up at Moorpark College, broke his left collarbone in the first game and was sidelined for the rest of the season.

“It was tough,” Azimi said. “You really can’t prepare for sitting out a whole season. But you have to take it in stride.”

All the way to 1999.

Azimi, 6 feet 2 and 205 pounds, is back on the field this season. Showing no adverse effects from the layoff, Azimi has passed for 1,172 yards and 12 touchdowns in pacing the Raiders to a 3-2 record and a first-place mark of 3-0 in the Western State Conference Northern Division.

Behind Azimi, the Raiders lead the WSC with 235 points.

In one of his best games, he passed for 262 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 107 yards and three scores in Moorpark’s 58-33 division victory over county rival Ventura on Sept. 27. One of his runs was a 79-yard touchdown.

“I wasn’t really sure how he would react in our first game,” Coach Jim Bittner of Moorpark said. “He performed real well even though we lost [to Chaffey, 49-37].

“It was a relief to see he had put that injury behind him and was playing very aggressively. His mental toughness really came out.”

Azimi developed some of that toughness during a three-year varsity career at Rio Mesa, after his family moved to Camarillo from Upland when he was about 14. Before that, he lived in Manhattan, Kan., where he was born to parents of Iranian descent who attended Kansas State.

Azimi works equally hard whether handing off to a running back or firing the ball to a receiver. But he’s delighted with an opportunity to throw often with the Raiders, who are passing much more than in previous years.

The Raiders have passed 148 times, all but 10 by Azimi, and have surpassed by three their total last year. The school record is 279 in 1980.

His primary target has been Shayne Sobel, a sophomore from Agoura, who has 34 receptions for 516 yards and 11 touchdowns. The two are tormenting opposing secondaries, sometimes even when seemingly stopped.

“Every time we’re under pressure, he’ll put it out there for me,” Sobel said. “A lot of our good plays have been on broken-down plays, actually. It’s been like park football sometimes.”

At Rio Mesa his senior season in 1996, Azimi completed 62 of 117 passes for 1,161 yards and 14 touchdowns, impressive numbers considering the Spartans ran a wing-T--usually a running offense.

He was a Times’ All-Ventura County selection after leading Rio Mesa to the Southern Section Division III playoffs.

Azimi wants his passing to make a difference with the Raiders.

“If I throw for 8,000 yards and we’re 0-10, there’s no fun in that,” Azimi said. “As long as we keep that good balance, we should be fine.”

Whether executing a play with a confusing name or telling a receiver to curl at the trash can, Azimi gets the job done. Some coaches wish Azimi was getting it done on their teams.

“I think the world of him,” said Chuck Melendez, Santa Barbara College coach. “He visited with me when he came back from BYU. We wanted him badly, but finances came up. Living up here would have been expensive.

“He’s not only a great football player, but he’s got the greatest character. . . . It was real disappointing we lost him.”

Melendez felt it even more two weeks ago, when Azimi passed for 181 yards and three touchdowns in Moorpark’s 48-13 victory over Santa Barbara.

Transferring to Moorpark, Azimi said, was a natural because it is near his Camarillo home. He plans to graduate after the fall semester and hopefully catch on with a Division I program.

Until then, Azimi is focused on helping the Raiders pursue their ninth division or conference championship, and their 13th bowl game.

“The more we work together, the more confidence we get,” Azimi said.

And the more Azimi’s portfolio grows from wallet-size.