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Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

Football: Los Banos defense expects more

LOS BANOS -- Armond Henderson's helmet looks as though its been tangled in barbed wire, shot from a cannon and dragged along Pacheco Pass.

Marcus Arista's beard gives him the appearance of Wolverine, and the snarly in-game attitude completes the parallel.

Surrounded by a swarm of bobbing heads and shoulders pads, middle linebacker Julio Iglesias fires up the defense with a rap-like chant.

Each verse is followed with an emphatic, "DE-FENSE!"

Yes, the Los Banos defense is big, bad and...

Suddenly vulnerable?

Los Banos coach Dennis Stubbs doesn't think so, nor is he alarmed at the amount of points his defense has given up in recent weeks.

After surrendering a total of 30 points in the first five games of Central California Conference play, Los Banos has surrendered 73 points in its last two games.

"If you break it down, nobody held Modesto to 30 points and we held them to 26 -- and they got a gift on a bad snap," Stubbs said of a 27-26 overtime win in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

"We didn't play as well as we were hoping, but it's the playoffs. The main goal is winning, not how many points our defense holds them to."

But the defense does have its pride, and the last two games have not sat well with a group that has held opponents to eight points or less four times this season.

"It's bittersweet, because our offense won this game," senior safety Dylan Marques said on Friday, miffed by the defense's inability to slow Modesto running back James Ingram late in the game.

Ingram rushed for 153 yards, wearing Los Banos down with runs of 4, 5 and 6 yards. He scored the go-ahead touchdown in overtime on the first play, scooting in untouched from 10 yards out.

Modesto, however, missed its extra point, and Los Banos answered with a touchdown and PAT to set off a wild celebration.

There was at least one in a sea of hundreds not bubbling over with joy.

"(The defense) needs to step it up," Marques said stoically.

And fast, too.

No. 8 Los Banos (8-3) will face Depray Celestine and No. 1 Tracy (11-0) in Tracy on Friday evening.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Tracy routed No. 16 Enochs on Friday, 55-28. Celestine scored four times in the game.

And for the second time this season, he'll be Los Banos' top priority.

The two teams met on Sept. 11. That night, Tracy trailed 14-3 at the break with its best player bottled up by Los Banos.

"I thought we did a pretty good job the last time," Stubbs said, "but..."

Celestine opened the second half with a 58-yard touchdown catch, and then completed the comeback with a 28-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter.

Both touchdowns, Stubbs said, were aided by breakdowns in the secondary.

Tracy hasn't played a close game since, outscoring its opponents 473-178 in the last 10 games.

Los Banos will spend the week adding new wrinkles to a defense that, Stubbs insists, is as dominant now as it was in October.

But if the defense says it's disappointed and angry with the last two weeks, hey, he won't fight those feelings.

"That's what we like. They expect to go out there and hold the other team. They don't want to give up anything," Stubbs said. "That's the fun part for them. They've got this attitude, and it does bother them if they're not doing as well as they think."

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.