Matt Salmons hadn't played football for more than three years when he started at end on both sides of the football for Ventura High's 2001 CIF-Southern Section Division IV semifinalist. So, when a stranger approached him at Mavericks Gym last summer and told him, "I need someone your size on my football team," it took some time to sink in.

A few months later, Salmons will be on the field Saturday night at Griffin Stadium in Moorpark for the 38th Citrus Cup football game between cross-county rivals Ventura and Moorpark.

In Salmons and Moorpark starter Richard Martinez, the middle linebacker position will be manned by two former Ventura High teammates who both took three seasons off before returning to the field this fall.

Martinez, one of the top linebackers in the county as a senior, was the defensive coordinator for the Buena High junior varsity last season. It was there he realized he still had some playing to do.

"He's there, congratulations to him for getting to that spot," said Martinez. "It's tough to step right into a junior college program and play a position that you've never played before. He was always that type of athlete, though."

The several players who have played in both programs might tend to agree Saturday's game is bigger than a typical Western State Conference game.

Ventura starting quarterback Brandon Bishop-Parise spent a summer in the Moorpark program before deciding his chance to play were better in Ventura. Deaven Washington, one of his top receivers, spent last season in Moorpark.

Salmons worked at Community Memorial Hospital as a transporter, escorting patients around the hospital. He worked part-time in a local nutrition store, which is where the interest in body building that attracted Morris began.

All that time in the gym has Salmons, at 6-foot-1, 220-pounds, the quickest linebacker in Ventura's corps, which earned him recent starts against teams employing one-back offenses.

"He started out as a backup just trying to learn things, but he's played a lot recently because of the packages we've been using," said Morris. "He was the best runner in the group and he covers a lot of ground. His running ability is what's putting him on the field."

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