Notebook: Chowchilla’s defense shining in first half of football season

The Chowchilla High School football team is 5-0 and the big reason is defense.

The Redskins already have four shutouts.

“It’s pretty cool,” Chowchilla coach Alex Pittz said. “It’s not the same as 10 in a row like Stone Ridge Christian did last year. But we know we’re playing tough teams. It says a lot about the work our guys have put in.”

The Redskins blanked Roosevelt 51-0 in the opening week and followed with a 28-0 win over Immanuel.

The one blip on the radar was a 42-35 win over Central Valley Christian.

“You have to give a lot of credit to them,” Pittz said. “They executed wonderfully. In all honesty, I don’t know if I had the best game plan against them. They came in and went away from their tendencies and had a really good game plan against us.”

Chowchilla rebounded with a 42-0 win over Dos Palos and a 27-0 victory over Los Banos last week.

The Redskins seem at their best when pinned against their goal line. Chowchilla has made five goal-line stands, including two against Central Valley Christian.

“You really don’t want to be in that position with your back against the wall,” Pittz said. “Our guys have really responded in those situations. We really emphasize, ‘Make them take one more snap.’ If you can make the other team make one more snap, that’s another opportunity for a takeaway or for them to make another mistake.”

The defense has been led by linebackers Damon Perry (54 tackles) and Ronnie Reyes (43 tackles). Asa Shields has four interceptions, including a pick-six last week against Los Banos.

“Our goal isn’t to get a shutout. We just want to play great defense,” Pittz said. “There are times you can do everything right and a kid just makes a play against you. That’s football. We watched film (against Los Banos), and I don’t think we played all that great. We caught some breaks.”

The Redskins will have their hands full this week with Kerman quarterback Sean Chambers. The junior has thrown for 794 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 559 yards and nine scores.

“Chambers is a great player,” Pittz said. “He’s a big kid, tough to tackle with a rifle for an arm. We have to contain him in the running game. He does such a good job of extending plays.”

Casillas returns for Stone Ridge Christian – Shane Casillas made his season debut in Stone Ridge Christian’s 49-8 win over Turlock Christian on Friday. The junior carried only four times for 14 yards.

It’s been a long road back for Casillas. He hadn’t played since he was injured during the Knights’ Northern California Regional Bowl Play-in game against Mission of San Francisco on Dec. 5. Casillas broke his left fibia, dislocated his ankle and tore ligaments around the ankle while being tackled.

“He’s a little out of shape so we have to get him back into shape,” Stone Ridge Christian coach Keith Borges said. “We don’t want to just throw him in the fire. We want to ease him in there.”

Borges said Casillas felt good after Friday’s game and feels if there aren’t any setbacks, Casillas will be running on all cylinders in time for the playoffs. That would give the Knights a three-headed monster in the backfield with Jonathan Collazo and Owen Thomas, who have combined for 1,158 yards and 18 touchdowns.

“We just have to be patient. He still has his incredible lateral movement,” Borges said.

Last year, Casillas led the Knights with 1,991 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns.

Casillas tried to return to practice during fall camp but didn’t feel right. He shut it down until he felt comfortable running again.

“He’s running with confidence. There’s no hesitation in his step,” Borges said. “I think he’s a different player than he was early on in this season.”

Gilliam, Collazo among section’s leading rushers – Merced’s Ulonzo Gilliam and Stone Ridge Christian’s Collazo rank in the top four in rushing yards in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Gilliam is second with 939 yards and is tied for the section lead in rushing touchdowns with 15. Gilliam trails Galt’s Zach Orman (942 yards). Merced has a bye this week.

Collazo ranks fourth with 836 yards to go with 12 touchdowns for the Knights (5-0).

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Notebook: Chowchilla’s defense shining in first half of football season."