An Indomitable Pair : CSUN Tackles Specialize in Stopping Opponents’ Running Game

There are few things in life, says Dester Stowers, more enjoyable than seeing a guard and a fullback charging at him with the tailback toting the ball close behind.

“That,” the Cal State Northridge defensive tackle says, “flips my switch.”

We have heard this kind of talk before, of course, usually from linebackers with funky hairdos and steely stares.

Stowers, however, says it with a smile and a laugh, which should come as no surprise to those who know him.

He is best described as fun-loving and gregarious. And dangerous.

And sometimes all of the above.

Case in point: Northridge had a commanding lead over Cal Lutheran two weeks ago when, during a lull in the game, Stowers noticed a fresh uniform across the line.

It was being worn by a new Cal Lutheran center.

“I was just looking at him and he kept blinking, you know,” said Stowers (6-3, 250). “Then he looked away.

“I said, ‘Your uniform is awfully clean. You sure you want to be out here?’ ”

There was no response from the center until he began backpedaling--before making his first snap.

“I can tell when guys are tense,” Stowers said, giggling at the memory. “That’s when I jump around a little bit. As soon as I flinch, they want to fire off. We get a lot of five-yard penalties that way.”

Stowers, a unanimous first-team All-Western Football Conference selection in 1986, plays on the right side of the Northridge line.

Normally, an opposing coach would be inclined to run plays in the opposite direction.

Against Northridge, however, that option does not present itself.

On the other side of the Matador line is Steve Dominic, a three-year starter and a second-team all-conference choice last season.

Pick your poison. Aim at the quick, agile Stowers or at Dominic, slower but tall and strong.

“They double-team me and run away from him,” said Dominic (6-5, 260).

The seniors are equally adept at the tackle position, yet their styles--and personalities--are strikingly different.

Since most offenses favor their own right sides on running plays, Dominic is usually fighting off double-team blocks. The silent type, Dominic holds his ground while biting his tongue. But he doesn’t mind the extra attention.

And when quarterbacks roll in his direction on passing plays, they have trouble throwing over him.

Against Cal Lutheran, Dominic forced Tom Bonds, the Kingsmen’s 5-11 quarterback, to stop his throwing motion three times on one play.

Each time Bonds cocked his arm to throw, Dominic, who was being double-teamed, raised his arms to impair the quarterback’s view. Finally, Bonds had no choice but to bring the ball down and try to scramble away. Dominic split the blockers and tackled him from behind.

Stowers had three sacks in the same game.

Such plays have made Stowers and Dominic known for their numbers.

No, not their tackles or quarterback sacks or fumble recoveries, their uniform numbers.

Ask a WFC coach what he thinks of Stowers and Dominic and prepare for a long pause.

Nos. 72 and 85 in your program and scouting report, coach. The ones who bent a couple of right angles into your offensive line last week.

“Oooh, the tackles,” the coach will likely say.

Yeah, those guys. They’re the reason your running backs average less than three yards a carry against Northridge.

Though they toil in anonymity, their talent shows bright and clear in a film room.

“I think there is a place in professional football for both of them,” says Bob Burt, CSUN’s coach.

That opinion is apparently shared by NFL scouts, more than two dozen of whom have visited Northridge since spring practice began. Representatives from the Patriots, Browns, Broncos, Chiefs, Giants and the National Scouting Combine have been back for second and third looks in the past two weeks.

“The interest in them has been extreme,” Burt said.

Both players harbor dreams of an NFL career but are realistic in their expectations. Few Division II players are drafted.

Burt says some scouts have talked of trying Dominic at offensive guard and Stowers at nose tackle or inside linebacker.

As much as a chance at the pros, Stowers looks forward to an opportunity to play in a college all-star game like the Senior Bowl.

“I have a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I’d like to face those Division I guys.”

He had a chance to do it on a regular basis out of Pasadena City College--he was recruited by Iowa and Nevada-Las Vegas--but instead chose Northridge where he “could be a big fish in a small pond.”

Dominic, too, appeared to be headed for a major college out of now-defunct Royal Oak High in Covina before he tore knee ligaments midway through his senior season, scaring away Division I recruiters.

“They said I was damaged goods,” he said.

Northridge was the only college that offered a scholarship. That he was passed over, Dominic said, would make his being drafted extra sweet.

Neither player would be crushed if things don’t work out, however.

“I figure if it happens, it happens,” Dominic said. “If it doesn’t, it wasn’t meant to be.”

Said Stowers: “The way I look at it, I’ve invested a lot of time in school. With or without football, I’ll graduate in a year. But I’ve invested just as much time in football. If I don’t try pro, it would be like I didn’t try to be all I could be.

“It would be nice if football could finally pay some bills instead of causing them.”