Chatsworth Lite--It’s a Blue-Ribbon Blend

Before the football season, Chatsworth High Coach Myron Gibford knew he had a problem on defense. None of his top nine candidates for defensive line had ever started for the varsity. Worse, only one had ever played defensive line. Three of them were defensive backs, three were offensive players, and two had never played football. One of his nose guards was a 145-pound free safety on last year’s B team. Their average weight was 160 pounds, which is less than William (the Refrigerator) Perry eats in a week.

When the Chancellors lost their first two games by a combined score of 57-13, it appeared that the only offense the Chatsworth defense was capable of stopping was its own. Prospects for a winning season looked bleak. Chances for the playoffs appeared even bleaker. And the possibilities of winning a City championship seemed bleakest of all.

But something happened to the Chancellors after those first two games. The defense, despite defensive linemen who could be nicknamed after small appliances, practically stopped giving up points--only 38 in the next nine games. The Chancellors didn’t lose any of their last seven regular-season games and won the Sunset League title with a 4-0-1 record (6-2-1 overall). In the playoffs, they shut out their first two opponents and will face unbeaten Fairfax High tonight at East Los Angeles College for the City 3-A championship.

Early in the season, Gibford said, his team “made a few personnel adjustments on defense and was getting beat because of mental mistakes. It would have been different if we had gotten beat physically. But we knew if we could solve our errors and improve our consistency we’d be a good team.”

Gibford put his defensive line together during the preseason, but it took those two losses for the players to get used to their new positions. Fred Lindsey, for example, was a free safety on the B team. Gibford put him at nose guard even though he’s only 5-6, 145 pounds. Lindsey didn’t bother changing jerseys. He still wore number 13, hoping perhaps that Gibford would change his mind.

Moving to the defensive line from free safety, Lindsey said, “kind of upset me at first, but after the first game, I enjoyed it.”

The biggest player on the line is Michael Adams, who is listed at 6-1, 220. But Adams is a sophomore in his first year of organized football. Four of the other eight down linemen are 5-8 or smaller. Nobody but Adams is over 6-foot, and defensive end Richard Bennett, a backup last year, is the only lineman with varsity experience.

“When we told them they were switching to the line, some of them were saying, ‘Coach, I can’t play there,’ ” Gibford said. “I told them to either play there or don’t play at all. But I knew they were all tough, nasty kids who were hitters. To be a down lineman you don’t need as much technique as great heart. And I’m going to find a place for good football players.”

The Chancellors play a “52” defense, using five defensive linemen and two linebackers. At left end, Gibford starts 5-7 John Dunn, former defensive back at Montclair Prep. Bennett plays on the right side. The three inside players are platooned. There’s a “muscle group” and a “pass group,” Gibford said, and each group “is very impatient when it doesn’t play.”

The muscle group includes Adams, 5-6 Reggie Ginn and former B-team fullback Brett Radcliffe. The pass group is made up of Lindsey, 5-8 Pat Clark, another ex-fullback from the B team, and 5-8 Nobbie Carr, who’s playing football for the first time. Dion Thimbrell, a backup strong safety on the varsity, is a swing man for each group.

“All of them are smart and quick and seem to learn what we teach them,” said defensive line coach Christopher May. “That combination gets them past a lot of offensive linemen. When we played Palisades, all their offensive linemen were over 6-foot and must have been 250 pounds, but we pulled a lot of no-hitters on them--making a tackle without them blocking us.”

Gibford places more emphasis on defense than offense, he said, but adds that “the kicking game is the most important part to us. Defense is second, offense third.” In practice, defense is given priority over offense.

“We’re successful because of the type of defense we run,” May said. “We spend a lot of time on it. The down linemen are put in the position to make the good plays. They’re very well prepared, and when it’s time to execute what they’ve learned, they’re ready.”

After losing to Cleveland and Granada Hills, the Chancellors bounced back to beat Hamilton, 14-3. In the second round of the playoffs, they played Hamilton again--this time winning, 9-0.

“They’re more solid on defense now, but their offense hasn’t changed a lick,” said Hamilton Coach Dave Lertzman. “The defense is playing well as a unit, and they carry out their assignments the way Gibford wants them to.”

To beat Fairfax, the Chancellors will have to stop an offense that has averaged more than 32 points in 11 games while giving up only 51--less than a touchdown a game.

“Fairfax has to be favored,” Lertzman said. “They’re every bit as good as Chatsworth on defense and have more firepower on offense.”

Gibford knows his team is taking on a real powerhouse. “Nobody’s really tested Fairfax all season,” he said. “They’ve never been shut down in the first quarter and never gone into the locker room behind at halftime.”

But Gibford also knows that his team is used to being the underdog. “Going into the season,” he said, “we were picked for fourth in our league. I thought we’d finish third, or if we were lucky, second.

“But let me tell you what amazes me about these kids. We were playing Taft in the fifth game of the season. They were supposed to be the best team in the league. In the first half, we were down by two touchdowns, but our kids didn’t bat an eye. They said, ‘Coach, we’ll get ‘em.’ I thought we’d never come back, but there wasn’t a doubt in their minds. Well, we won, 17-12, and from then on we got tougher than nails.”