Messina's simple start: Golden Valley head coach will focus on basics in varsity debut tonight.

Shopping for cleats was the easy part. Finding a splashy nickname to stitch onto the heels, well...

"It took us a while to figure it out," Golden Valley linebacker Brandon Black admitted.

For three days, Black hunkered down next to teammate Tyler Arnsberg at a computer logged onto the website NikeID.com.

The two had designed their own cleats and needed only a signature on the heel to complete their personalized orders.

Hmmm, they thought.

And thought.

And thought.

"We sat there for days. We couldn't come up with anything," Black said.

If not for Mazda, they might still be sitting there.

Inspired by the carmaker's catchy jingle -- "Zoom, Zoom" -- Tyler's father, Tim, offered up a suggestion from his lounge chair.

And so they were born: Golden Valley's Zoom Zoom and Boom Boom.

Stitched onto the back of Arnsberg's cleats is the name "Zoom Zoom," an homage to his speed and elusiveness.

Black's reads "Boom Boom" for the linebacker's hitting ability.

A couple of hand-picked nicknames stiched in cardinal red -- that will be as flashy as Golden Valley gets tonight.

Head coach Jake Messina has compiled a very vanilla play card for the season opener against Clovis High.

No hook-and-ladders, Statue of Liberty plays, complex blitz packages, stunts or reverses.

For the comfort of a transitioning program, the first-year coach is going to keep the game plan simple.

"The play cards aren't going to be loaded up. We're going to run a few things. We'll have some bullets in the gun, but it's got to be that the kids know how to line up in every formation; that they know what's coming at them, down in and down out," said Messina, taking over a program with just nine wins and no Sac-Joaquin Section playoff appearances in the last three years.

"You have to sacrifice some complexity in exchange for a high comfort level. If you do that, you'll give them the opportunity to make plays."

Zoom Zoom, Boom-Boom and the rest of Golden Valley's defense will be put to the test often by Clovis' no-huddle offense.

Messina anticipates Clovis will spend a majority of its snaps going to the air, running only to set up another pass.

"They want a track meet," said Messina, whose Pro Style, run-first offense will do just the opposite. "They'll run just enough to make you respect it, but their desire is not to run 25 times. They want to stretch the field and put points on the board."

That means Golden Valley's secondary will be on high alert.

Seniors Alan Suarez, Trey Askew and Lorenzo Gilliam provide experience and leadership to a unit that also features ball-hawking playmakers in sophomore Andre Bodiker and, of course, Zoom Zoom.

Messina, the former defensive coordinator at Merced High, likens the 6-foot, 180-pound Bodiker to some of the area's marquee defensive backs of recent memory.

Do the names Dion Bland and Bernard Bolden ring a bell?

"He's going to be pretty special," Messina said.

With Clovis' pass-happy offense, Arnsberg anticipates an opportunity to shine.

And a chance to put that nickname to the test.

"It should be a pick fest, so we'll see what happens," said Arnsberg, a full-time free safety after platooning last fall.

"I feel a lot more comfortable back there. I'm not totally lost. (Messina's) got me set up so that I'm free back there. I can roll up or stay deep. I feel like I'm running the ball back there. It feels natural to me now."

The key to stopping Clovis lies in executing the fundamentals: getting the call from the sideline, knowing where to line up and understanding your assignment.

Just one mistake could lead to six points, Messina warns, especially when matched with a quick-hitting offense.

Golden Valley's defense ranked among the area's worst last fall, allowing 45 points per game and 69 and 76 in back-to-back losses to Buhach Colony and Pitman.

"They've lost at every level in this program -- freshman, sophomores and as juniors," he said. "They want to do the right thing so badly that they're literally taking everything we say and executing it.

"If they do that (tonight), we'll have success."

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