No Laughing Matter : Westminster Turns Rebuilding Year Into Surprising Postseason Appearance

Westminster High School co-head coach Jack Bowman says it’s fun to be playing football in late November. His is not the voice of experience. Bowman is in his 13th season as a member of the Westminster staff, but the last time the Lions qualified for postseason play, America was celebrating its Bicentennial.

Things weren’t expected to change much in 1985. When you talk Sunset League, you talk Edison, Fountain Valley and Marina. You chuckle at the idea of Westminster reaching the playoffs, particularly when you find that the Lions have nine underclassmen starting on defense and six on offense.

On the surface, this looked like a rebuilding year.

The Lions haven’t had a running back rush for more than 88 yards in a game all season. They have a defensive end playing tailback, a strong safety at linebacker and their best linebacker has been reduced to placekicking because of an injury. Quarterback Steve Gulley has thrown more interceptions (11) than touchdown passes (10).

So what are these guys doing, only two wins away from playing for the Big Five Conference Championship?

Perhaps the best way to answer that question is with another question. What do Valencia, Pacifica, El Toro, Edison and Riverside Poly have in common?

All either won or shared their league championships. One other thing: Westminster beat them all.

The Lions have gone back in time to go ahead of schedule. They’ve beaten opponents they were supposed to lose to by playing defense the old-fashioned way--making opponents earn every yard. Control-the-line-of-scrimmage stuff. Some of the players even wear black, high-top shoes.

Friday night, the Lions will take their blue-collar brand of football to LeBard Stadium, where they will play Mater Dei for the right to play either Edison or Servite in the Big Five semifinals next week.

One reason Westminster has come this far is the play of its linebackers. Juniors Mark Smith and Dean Eddy and sophomore Ray Smith have accounted for 134 tackles and have led a defense that has given up an average of 12 points per game.

Ray Smith, the team’s leading tackler with 52, is the sophomore class president. He looks more like a college senior than a high school sophomore. He stands 6-feet tall, weighs 217 pounds and sports more facial hair than most of the combined male population of the sophomore class. His full beard makes it hard to believe he has yet to become eligible for a driver’s license.

Said Mark Smith: “My Dad thinks he’s 30.”

His legs look as if they should come complete with leaves and branches. Bowman said the coaching staff knew he had something special in Ray Smith “when he walked into school as a freshman.” So special, in fact, that Smith was immediately elevated to the Lions’ sophomore team. He made a big enough impression for the Westminster coaches to make him a varsity starter when spring practice began last year. In between, he found time to become a starter on the Lions’ varsity basketball team, but says football remains his favorite sport.

“In football, we’re more like a family out there,” Smith said.

Eddy’s role changed dramatically when standout linebacker Todd Weaver suffered a shoulder injury in the Lions’ 7-6 upset of Valencia in the season opener. It was then that Eddy went from a 5-9, 160-pound strong safety to a 5-9, 160-pound linebacker.

“The Monday after the Valencia game, the coaches came to me and said, ‘You’re playing linebacker,’ ” Eddy said. After wiping the blank expression from his face, Eddy said, “OK.”

The results have been more than the Westminster coaches could have hoped for. “He’s taken on some of the best high school linemen in the country,” Bowman said. “He’s been blocked by (Lance) Zenos and (Rick) Hunts. I’m not saying he handles them, but he doesn’t back down, either. He’s just hard-nosed.”

Of course, playing on the same side as defensive end Mike Cover (6-2, 195) and tackle Herman Baine (6-2, 221) doesn’t hurt.

There was a time when Westminster wouldn’t have had that kind of size to lean on. That has changed, co-coach Jim O’Hara insists, thanks to the addition of strength coach Don Presby and an increased emphasis on weightlifting. O’Hara says that there are 26 players on the Lions’ 51-man varsity roster who can bench press more than 300 pounds.

Said Bowman: “We have a very, very strong, physical football team. We’re real proud of the fact that our kids work hard in the weight room.”

The “weight room” is actually a modest enclosure beneath the bleachers of Westminster Stadium, where players pump iron to the roar of the 405 freeway. But Smith, Smith and Eddy are all quick to point out that the weight training program has produced results. “It’s like another dimension to the team,” Ray Smith said. “It’s helped so much.”

It’s helped the Lions push around opponents who, in other years, have done most of the pushing. And that’s made it more fun to play football at Westminster.

“Everyone says, ‘Westminster . . . who’s Westminster?’ ” Mark Smith said. “They look at us like we’re low-lifes. But I think we’re finally making a reputation for ourselves. If you beat five league champions, you must have something going for you.”