Saturday, Oct. 04, 2008

Steve Cameron: One queston down; next waits for Los Banos

TURLOCK -- Dennis Stubbs was in an impossible position.

You almost had to giggle.

On the one hand, he was thrilled by the complete chokehold Los Banos laid on previously unbeaten Turlock Friday night.

And honest about it.

"We just smashed them," Stubbs said of a thorough 28-0 beating during which Los Banos completely dominated every phase of the game.

On the other hand...

Well, the big question prior to this weekend was whether or not Los Banos belonged in the elite group of teams that could challenge for a CCC playoff spot.

That one now seems laughable.

Instead, Stubbs found himself having to confront a very different grilling.

Could Los Banos, several media members asked, win the CCC title?

Whoa!

With two-time defending champion and overwhelming favorite Merced next up on the schedule, Stubbs tried to do a double-axel with a spin that would have been worthy of an Olympic figure skater.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Stubbs said. "Yeah, we played a good ballgame.

"We've got some pretty good athletes, but this isn't any time to start talking about Merced.

"We'll have to do a lot of work this week to be competitive against a team like that."

(Note to Stubbs: Your nose is growing just a teeny bit, coach.)

It was almost funny, watching the celebrating Stubbs -- surrounded by adoring fans and players -- suddenly attempt to forget what had just transpired.

Especially since it was fresh on the minds of his players.

"We had Merced on the ropes last year and just couldn't finish the deal," said superstar receiver Rubal Sangha.

"We're a better football team now, so why can't we finish the job we started?"

Sangha admitted that Merced will bring a load of talent to next Friday's match-up, but grinned broadly while considering it.

"Hey, they've got athletes, and we've got athletes," Sangha said.

"In fact, we've got some very good athletes and some pretty tough guys up front.

"Merced? I'm looking forward to it."

Stubbs rolled his eyes when told of Sangha's confidence.

"Oh, man, we don't need to be putting things on their bulletin board," Stubbs said.

Relax, coach.

Merced will know exactly what's on the menu when Rob Scheidt and his staff see the tape of Los Banos just totally dismantling a Turlock team that had scored 89 points in its first three games.

In this mismatch, Turlock managed just two meaningful drives in the entire game -- one dying with a fumbled snap from center and the other expiring on a failed fourth-and-one play inside the Los Banos 15-yard line.

The first scoring chance came courtesy of two runs straight up the middle by Derek Woods -- dive plays to which Los Banos quickly adjusted.

Truthfully, Turlock never looked a threat to score.

Los Banos, on the other hand, rolled up four fairly easy touchdowns without being as efficient as usual.

"We really did stutter a bit," Stubbs admitted. "We held out our second-best receiver (Max Ornales) with a minor injury, and we missed on some open plays that we'd normally convert."

But that was small stuff.

QB Erik Martin lobbed a 57-yard pass to Sangha on the first play of the game to set up a TD, connected with "The Showman" on a 28-yard scoring throw and then simply let the running game take over.

Sophomore Darron Brown raced 73 and 42 yards for the final two scores.

It was no surprise that Los Banos scored some points, but the shock on Friday was how completely dominant Stubbs' troops were at the line of scrimmage -- on both sides of the ball.

"To be honest, yeah, we rolled 'em," Stubbs said. "We've got some pretty decent kids up front."

You said it, Dennis.

So what about Merced?

"Well, we're gonna show up," the former Golden Valley boss said with a chuckle. "I said last year that we thought we could get some things done against Merced, and we did.

"I also said that they had so many athletes, it might not be enough -- and that turned out to be true, also."

Merced came from behind twice that night to complete a perfect regular season with a 48-33 victory.

The champs still have a boatload of talent -- but Los Banos looks much more like a complete football team than the club that scared Merced a year ago.

Although Stubbs refused to make any predictions about next week's rematch, he was happy to concede one pleasant truth.

"We considered this game against Turlock to be our biggest," he said, "because if we'd lost, we'd be in the position of facing Merced next week and knowing we can't lose another game if we hope to make the playoffs.

"That's an awful lot of pressure to put on 17- and 18-year-old kids.

"But we knew if we won this one, we'd probably be playing a big game each week the rest of the way -- no matter what happens against Merced.

"And that's the goal. That's what you're hoping for, especially when you've come from where we've been."

If that was the goal, Los Banos accomplished it in style -- and without ever looking like there might be a hint of danger.

Turlock was never at the races.

In case that original question about playoff contention still matters, well, Los Banos is legit.

And then some.

We'll see about the Merced comparisons very, very shortly.