Rampaging Carson Colts Have Opponents Eying the Sky : Not Known as a Passing Team, Coach Gene Vollnogle’s Squad Has Won 88% of Its Games Over the Last 10 Years When the Offense Throws 45% to 50%

If “balance” is the most active word in Gene Vollnogle’s vocabulary, “passing” could be the newest word.

All season the Carson High football coach has touted the balance the Colts (10-0) have achieved with a high-scoring offense and a devastating defense, but it’s the Colts’ passing game that offers the most glaring statistic.

“We’re not predominantly a passing team, but when we throw 45-50% of the time, we win 88% of our games (over the last 10 years),” Vollnogle said, “so we’ll keep throwing.”

The Colt offense has outscored opponents 392-53. The defense has already broken the Colts’ season record for sacks and has held opponents to minus 175 yards rushing. As Vollnogle suggested: “It really must be a nightmare to try to stop us.”

Even if it’s just a bad dream, the task of corraling the Colt stampede now belongs to San Fernando (7-1-1), which meets Carson tonight at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach in one City Section semifinal.

The Colts, ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, are a clear favorite and the obvious choice to repeat as city champion.

To win the title, Carson senior quarterback George Malauulu and his receivers will have to play a big role, as they have all season.

San Fernando opposes the Colts’ speedy receivers with quick defensive backs, but the Tigers still may be no match for a Carson passing attack that has been arming itself since last January, when passing leagues began.

Those leagues continued into the summer, giving Malauulu and senior receivers Brian Reeves, Brian Treggs and John Lark a chance to get their timing down. Add 20-30 minutes of daily repetitions in practice this season, and the Colts’ passing game has become virtually flawless.

Malauulu is largely responsible. He seems to have an uncanny feel for where his receivers are and how fast they’re moving. Which is no surprise, because he’s been throwing to Treggs since elementary school flag football days, to Lark since the two played together in Pop Warner football and to Reeves since 10th grade.

“I know what (the receivers) are doing, and they know what I’m doing,” said Malauulu, who this year has completed 60% of his throws for 1,548 yards and 16 touchdowns. “When I’m in trouble, they go to a spot and I’ll find them. It’s something that clicks. Since the beginning we’ve been learning how (each) other plays, and now it’s just second nature.”

Then there is Malauulu’s penchant for throwing with either arm. He calls his ambidexterity a gimmick. Vollnogle and college recruiters call it amazing.

Malauulu’s receivers think it takes pressure off them.

“It makes it easier,” said Reeves. “George can put it right where I want it. I don’t have to look to see (which way to turn) because I know he can throw equally with both hands. So I just look for the ball.”

Reeves sees it often. He’s pulled in 7 touchdown passes and has 27 receptions for 569 yards, a 21-yard average.

Reeves has had the fourth most productive season for a receiver in Carson High history, surpassing Mike Wilson, now with the San Francisco 49ers. He trails only Wesley Walker of the New York Jets, Mel Smith of the University of Arizona and Jamie Williams of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, all former Carson stars.

The 6-foot, 175-pound receiver likes to run over-the-middle patterns. He said that instead of long receptions he prefers a chance to catch the ball and run.

“I like it when George puts it on a shot so I can catch it quick and run,” Reeves said. “George likes to throw deep, so sometimes I have to convince him to throw short because I get most of my yards after I catch the ball.”

Lark sees advantages in deep patterns. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound senior, who said he’d like to play at UCLA, Washington or Syracuse, exploits his height on Malauulu’s high arcing throws, as well as on short lobs into the end zone.

“In the middle of the field I don’t have an advantage,” said Lark, who has 11 catches for 269 yards and 4 touchdowns, “but when you get down toward the goal line it seems so easy, it’s funny. We’ll just work the lob against defensive backs who are 5-9 or 5-10 and I’ll just go up in the air and get it.”

The 6-foot, 165-pound Treggs doesn’t have Lark’s height advantage, but that doesn’t worry him or his coach. Vollnogle said Treggs is next to impossible to cover effectively.

Vollnogle penalizes his players for talking to opponents on the field, so Treggs, who has a 3.2 grade-point average, talks to reporters instead. Catching the ball is his favorite topic.

Treggs said his mother nicknamed him “Looney” because at age 7 he used to be awake at midnight throwing a football around the house. Now, he said, he still throws a football up and down while in bed.

“I have to catch the ball. If I don’t catch it, I get upset,” Treggs said. “I do one job for my team: catch the ball and score touchdowns. There is a lot of talking going on during the game, but I keep out of that. Defensive backs like to say, ‘You’re nothing,’ but I say nothing back because if they can’t stick to me, that’s their problem. They’re gonna have to cover me, and I’m not gonna have to do anything to get by them. I’m the fastest.”

Treggs this season has 16 catches for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns. But statistics are far from his mind.

Tonight Treggs will not talk to San Fernando defensive backs, he said--but he will talk about them.

A reporter asked if he expected to catch a bomb. “Oh, of course,” Treggs replied. “Most of the Valley schools play our receivers 10 yards deep. San Fernando plays close. They probably think they can hang with us, but they’re gonna learn a lot of new stuff when they play us. They have good speed, but by the second half they’ll be playing 10-15 yards off us.”

Should the Tigers figure a way to slow Carson’s passing attack, Vollnogle said, the Colts will use other weapons.

Five running backs, each averaging more than six yards per carry, could supply the ammunition.

Carson is no stranger to the run. Last year, All-City backs Calvin Holmes and Alvin Goree, the No. 1 and No. 2 rushers in Colt history, combined for 2,125 yards. This year, Earl Sapp leads the Colts with 594 yards and an 8.7 average.

Sapp’s yardage doesn’t compare to Holmes’ and Goree’s because Malauulu has worked so well with his receivers. Last year, Malauulu injured his left elbow, so the Colts concentrated on the ground game.

This year, with no small help from Carson’s offensive line, the passing attack has left opponents spinning.

“My offensive line means the most to me,” said Malauulu. “If it wasn’t for them, I’d be on the sideline or getting sacked. Their determination and hard work helped me to get as far as I am now.”

Junior left guard Morris Unutoa (6-foot-3, 225) and junior left tackle Moheny Toilola (6-foot-3, 325) lead an offensive line that consistently gives Malauulu time to dissect defenses.

Vollnogle expects Unutoa to become Carson’s best-ever lineman. Until that time, Vollnogle expects a few breakdowns, but he said Malauulu scrambles so well that he can cover for almost any mistakes on the line.

Malauulu said he uses his Samoan heritage to counteract breakdowns. “We all talk Samoan, even though there are some non-Samoans on the offensive line,” he said. “I’ll talk Samoan to them. It’s like a little game out there just to relax and keep them calm and in the game.”

Concentrating on the game should not be a problem for any of the Colts tonight. San Fernando is primed for an upset.

Tigers Coach Tom Hernandez will meet Vollnogle head-on with a signal-calling weapon of his own, senior quarterback Joe Mauldin, who this season has thrown for 14 touchdowns and 1,560 yards.

“If anybody can beat Carson, we can,” Hernandez said. “We have a very effective passing game and lots of speed. We have to limit mistakes, and for us to win they have to turn the ball over, but they will.”

Carson edged San Fernando, 14-9, in the 1985 preseason and in 1984 tamed the Tigers, 39-32.

As for Treggs challenging the San Fernando defensive backs, Hernandez turned the Colt receiver’s words upside down. “If there is any area where I think we’re stronger, it’s at defensive back and receiver,” Hernandez said. “Our four defensive backs are a little quicker, and that’s an advantage.”

The most Vollnogle would say about San Fernando was that the Colts are happy to play the Tigers because Carson hasn’t played San Fernando yet this season.

Vollnogle did say Mauldin will have to be contained. Mauldin threw for 121 yards and ran for 63 yards and a TD in last Friday’s 16-12 win over Dorsey.

He should, however, have trouble against Carson’s seemingly impervious defense.

Meanwhile, the Carson passing attack is ready to fly. Lark said the receivers have even given themselves a nickname: the Air Show.

“I have not done one thing to get them ready emotionally,” Vollnogle said of the Colts. “They’re amazing. They have the ability to get themselves up for any game, and they really run spirited drills. I’ve never had a team like this.”