Tough Carson Linebackers Just Don’t Give Ground : Colts’ Defense a Winning Combination; Only One Opponent Has Scored in 6 Games

They like to call themselves The Relentless Force .

It may not be the most glitzy of nicknames, but it certainly fits.

The unit guided by Jim D’Amore, Carson High football defensive coordinator, has yielded just 14 points in six games, powering the Colts to a 6-0 record and first place in the City Pacific League.

After posting five shutouts, including last Friday’s 41-0 drubbing of what was supposed to be a competitive Gardena team, Carson, the Times No. 1-ranked squad and USA Today’s third-rated team nationally, appears far and away the class of the City.

D’Amore agrees. So do all those who have tried to lasso the Colts.

Just how dominant has the Carson defense been? Consider:

In six games Carson has sacked quarterbacks 39 times for minus 303 yards, a 78-sack pace for 12 games, which is how many the Colts would play if they reached the City championship game. The Colts’ season record for sacks is 61.

Colt defenders have held opponents to per-game averages of minus 23 yards rushing, 71 yards passing and 49 total yards.

The Carson defense has accounted for six touchdowns in six games, three by interceptions and three by recovering fumbles. Carson’s season record is eight scores by the defense.

Carson’s defense is on pace to break 26 team defensive records.

And there’s more. But strangely, neither D’Amore nor Colt head Coach Gene Vollnogle believes this year’s club is the best either has seen.

“We’ve had much better talent in the past,” D’Amore said. “The difference now is we’re doing a lot more things defensively.”

High school football is beginning to look more and more like the college and pro games with standard sets and conservative running games giving way to stunting and pass-oriented attacks.

Carson, a subscriber to the newer style, puts points up quick enough to force opponents into an altered game plan. Then, when the Colts know opponents have to pass to catch up, the devastating Carson pass rush reduces even semi-close games to laughers.

Appropriately, the Colts’ black and blue uniform matches the bruises they give opponents. Yet Carson doesn’t have Purple People Eaters, a Steel Curtain or a Fearsome Foursome, all great 4-3 defenses of NFL lore. The Colts do play a 4-3 defense--four lineman and three linebackers--but much of the relentless bunch lines up behind the line.

“Our linebackers are exceptional as a unit,” Vollnogle said recently. “We’ve had better linebackers in the past, but this unit is superb.”

Leading a linebacking unit that has accounted for 159 tackles is senior Arnold Ale, a 6-4, 220-pound outside linebacker who has 14 sacks and 41 unassisted tackles in six games.

Granada Hills offensive coordinator Tom Harp, whose offense scored the only points against Carson this season, said Ale single-handedly destroyed the Highlanders in a 42-14 loss.

Lynwood Coach Joe Hembrick shrugged: “That number 87 (Ale) is something special. He can play anywhere he wants in college football.” Carson dumped Lynwood, 28-0.

Ale lines up differently on every play, as do outside linebacker Arthur Warren and middle linebacker Rick Tiedemann. “What we do is stick in the same set all the time but never stay in the same position so we can’t be blocked,” said D’Amore.

Ale thinks these variations confuse opponents. “We line up one way, the offense looks at us and they change the play,” he said. “Then we switch into another position and they try to change again, and before you know it, they have to call timeout.”

Tiedemann, a 6-1, 192-pound senior, is responsible for changing his team’s look just before the ball is snapped. D’Amore said this responsibility is new to the defense, now that it has a mentally capable middle backer. “We’ve had intelligent players before,” D’Amore said, “but we never gave anyone Tiedemann’s responsibilities because we didn’t think they could handle it.”

Tiedemann thinks his formation changes have less to do with his brain and more to do with his body. “I have a lot of things to memorize, and to tell you the truth I don’t memorize them all the time,” he said. “I just play my game. Every detailed thing I’m told to do I don’t always do. It’s kind of just instinct.”

The 5-10, 184-pound Warren agrees. “On defense we do whatever comes naturally. Mostly we like to lay licks on people so they fear us and don’t think we’re just gonna lie over.”

Nobody does, and though every coach whose team has lost to Carson said the Colts didn’t intimidate his players, Carson’s linebackers say size and a winning reputation scare most foes.

And D’Amore thinks opponents are giving up when faced with tough deficits. The Colts have not been behind once in six games, and “if you get ahead,” D’Amore said, “teams seem to be doing the ‘el foldo’ job.”

Of course fatigue figures in. But the Carson coaches will not let up just because their team gets ahead. They insert second-team players if they have a big lead. But Vollnogle thinks part of the reason why Carson wins by large margins so often--besides his high-powered offense and fleet, strong defense--is other schools’ unwillingness to face the Colts.

Several coaches have said they would like to see Carson meet the best from the CIF’s Southern Section in pre- and post-league play. Vollnogle wants the same thing, but he said Southern Section teams continually back out of two-game contracts with Carson after the Colts win the first game.

“We have a difficult time getting people to play us, and that’s why I’ve done some bad things,” said Vollnogle. “I’ve called schools and said, ‘We’d like to play at your place,’ and they say ‘fine,’ and then ask who we are and I tell them ‘Southgate’ or something and they say, ‘OK, we’ll play you.’

“Then before the whole thing is terminated, I’ll say, ‘Look, we’re not Southgate, we’re Carson,’ and immediately they say they won’t play us.”

The need for such deceptions is now past since Carson is well into its league schedule and well on its way to another City championship. Still, Vollnogle said he would like to stage a showdown with the Southern Section at season’s end to determine a true Southland champion.

Until such a playoff comes about, Carson probably will continue to outmatch all opponents. Left on its league schedule are Dorsey, Banning and Crenshaw. Traditionally, Banning is Carson’s main competition, but last week Crenshaw upset the Pilots, 20-14, after Banning barely outlasted Dorsey, 15-14, the week before.

Coach Bob Francola at Kennedy High thinks no one in the City Section has enough offense to evade Carson’s defense. Four weeks ago the Colts pummeled Kennedy, 46-0, prompting Francola to marvel at Carson’s ability to beat a five-man offensive blocking scheme with five and sometimes four defenders.

“Meanwhile,” Francola added, “their pass defense has seven people making it even harder, and when somebody who is 170 pounds goes against someone who is 220, he might get squashed. Mass times Velocity is tough to take sometimes, and it took over despite our effort.”

Even when teams are especially enthused to play Carson, they stumble. “I like the way everybody gets up for you ‘cause we’re Carson,” said Warren. “I like the challenge.”

So do the rest of the Colts and their coaches. Spectators, however, those who watch helplessly as their team gets battered by The Relentless Force, turn their heads in dismay. Last Friday night at Gardena an elderly gentleman, wearing Gardena’s green and white, looking as if he’d been a Mohican fan for years, rolled his eyes at the scoreboard. It read, Carson 28, Gardena 0, half time.

“Nobody’s gonna beat Carson this year,” the man muttered as he walked into the darkness.

THE RELENTLESS FORCE

Arnold Ale Arthur Warren Rick Tiedemann Year Senior Senior Senior Height 6’-4” 5’-10” 6’-0” Weight 220 lbs. 184lbs. 192lbs. Tackles: Unasst. 41 25 22 Asst 21 25 25 For losses 20(-100) 9 (-81) 3 (-18) Sacks: 14 6 1 Intercepts: 0 1(TD) 1(TD) Fumbles: Recovered 1 2 0