Knights face big, physical test in East Nicolaus

In many ways, this is what football is all about. Two teams lining up and going toe-to-toe to see which team is tougher.

Stone Ridge Christian and East Nicolaus High approach the game of football the same way. They are both physical, run-first teams. The kind of teams who view pass as a dirty, four-letter word.

The line in the sand will be drawn Friday when the Knights (12-1) head to Wahl Field in Trowbridge to face East Nicolaus (11-2) in the NorCal Division VI-AA Regional Championship Bowl Game at 7:30 p.m.

The winner advances to the state championship next week against the winner of the SoCal Division VI-AA Regional Championship Bowl Game between Belmont of Los Angeles and Coronado.

“Our guys like to play this style,” said Stone Ridge Christian coach Art De Jager. “My concern is East Nicolaus may play a harder smash-mouth style than we play. They are very physical, strong and fast. Their offensive line is fast off the ball.”

It doesn’t help that the Knights are banged up.

Leading rusher Shane Casillas (1,991 yards and 28 touchdowns) is out after breaking his ankle in Stone Ridge Christian’s 70-21 win over Mission of San Francisco in last week’s play-in game.

Jonathan Collazo, who has racked up 1,758 yards and 23 touchdowns, including 290 yards and five touchdowns in last week’s win over the Bears, sat out most of the practices this week with an injured ankle.

“We run by committee,” De Jager said. “That’s just the way are offense is. Adam (Hooker) filled in when Shane got hurt. Johnny fielded the bulk of the load on Saturday, but now he has a bad wheel. We’re going to need (fullback) Austin (Rees) to step up more this game.”

While the Knights are playing on a short week after playing Mission on Saturday, East Nicolaus is well-rested since the Spartans haven’t played a game since Nov. 25.

“This is going to be a four-quarter type of game,” said Stone Ridge Christian two-way lineman William Vander Woude. “This is what we’ve been working for. They’ve had 18 days off and we have six. They’re going to come right at us. We’ve got to go at them with equal intensity.

“East Nicolaus loves to run the ball. They don’t pass often. We don’t pass often. Both teams have good running backs. If we go out and do our jobs, we have a good shot.”

The Spartans are led by record-breaking running back Donovan Switalski, who broke the Northern Section record with 2,705 rushing yards this season. He’s also scored 35 touchdowns.

“He’s racked up a lot of yards already,” De Jager said. “Most of it between the tackles. He’s a guy who will run you over. He plays inside linebacker for them too.”

This is the fifth time the two teams have played each other. East Nicolaus defeated Stone Ridge Christian the previous four times from 2010-2013 by a combined score of 179-50.

De Jager hopes the Knights’ defense, which had its streak of 10 shutouts snapped last week against Mission, is stout enough against the Spartans’ rushing attack and Switalski.

“Our challenge is going to be defense this week,” he said. “Those guys are going to move the football against us. They are going to try to pound the rock. They want to prove they are tougher than us.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Knights face big, physical test in East Nicolaus."