Chowchilla riding defense into Central Section semifinal

Never one to shy away from bulletin-board material, Chowchilla football coach Alex Pittz gathered his squad around him in the Redskins’ weight room and began to read.

It was an article from the Visalia Times-Delta about the Golden West football team and where it thought it should be seeded going into the playoffs. Trailblazers coach Paul Preheim was quoted as saying that the only teams that should be in the discussion for the top two seeds in the Central Section’s Division IV were Golden West and Selma. The defending section champs and state Division IV-A runners-up were not mentioned once.

“Long story short, you weren’t even on their radar coming into the playoffs,” Pittz said. “If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will.”

The third-seeded Redskins (9-1) hope to make an impression when they travel to Groppetti Automotive Visalia Community Stadium to take on the second-seeded Trailblazers (10-1) in the semifinals on Friday night.

It’s a classic strength-vs.-strength matchup as Golden West enters with Division IV’s third-most potent offense (36 points per game) against the entire Central Section’s second-stingiest defense (10.9 points allowed per game).

“They are a traditional wing-T team and they run it really well,” Pittz said. “Tempo is what sets them apart offensively. A good wing-T team wants to have the ball snapped maybe four seconds after they break the huddle. Watching Golden West on film, I think they’re even faster than that.

“They use that tempo and their ball control to try and wear you down and lull you to sleep. When you get tired is when you tend to have guys looking in the backfield, and that’s when they hit you with their misdirection stuff for big plays. Defensively, I think we’re built well to match up with it, but we need to play smart and disciplined.”

GW has racked up 3,556 rushing yards on the season, averaging 50 carries and 323 yards per game. Fullback Gonzalo Rodriguez has led the charge, rushing for 1,642 yards and 22 touchdowns in 10 games. While Rodriguez is the workhorse, senior running back Ryan Cook (933 yards, 11 TDs) is the home run hitter, averaging 9.4 yards per carry.

“We only know them from film, but they’re more of a running offense,” linebacker Ronnie Reyes said. “I feel that our defense could stop them if we come in and do what we normally do.

“The coaches tell us that all keys are true. They’ll false split every now and then, but we’re told our read keys and all their pulls are always true, so we’ll follow those keys and see how it goes.”

Led by the linebacking trio of Reyes, Damon Perry (team-high 108 tackles) amd Wyatt Sparkman, the Redskins have allowed teams to rush for over 100 yards just twice in the season. The one team that had consistent success was a 291-yard outburst from Liberty Madera in the final game of the regular season. The Hawks also ran a wing-T.

Even then, Chowchilla more than doubled Liberty up in the game. The Redskins defense hasn’t allowed more than 23 points in a contest since a 42-35 victory over Central Valley Christian in Week 3. Chowchilla has yielded 7 points per game since then, including a 49-7 quarterfinal victory over a dangerous Madera South team last week.

“I think the biggest difference between this year’s defense and last year’s is we’re a little more football-savvy,” Pittz said. “Danny Chavez is the perfect example. A tremendous athlete that flew to the ball, but wasn’t necessarily a student of the game. This group has a lot more experience, having played together for most of their lives.

“Everyone looks to Ronnie for his ferocity and toughness. Damon has done a great job calling the reads and tackling everything in sight. We’ve also gotten great play from our defensive ends with Alfredo Buenrostro, Gabriel Sanchez and Moayad Dahabra rotating.

“Talent is one of those things that fluctuates, particularly at a small school. But the one thing you can always teach and instill in guys is effort. This particular defense just happens to be very talented in addition to giving tremendous effort. Hopefully that gives us an edge on Friday night.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2016 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Chowchilla riding defense into Central Section semifinal."