8-0 Is Only Statistic That Counts With Coach : Defense Stands Tall, But Players are Small at Leuzinger High

The reporter threw a disbelieving look at the football coach when he explained that individual statistics for tackles were irrelevant to his undefeated Leuzinger High School team.

“You don’t keep any stats on tackles, not one?” the reporter continued.

“Nope,” Coach Steve Carnes said abruptly. “We play team defense.”

Team defense. No coach would seriously claim his team plays anything else, but team defense takes on a crucial definition among the 8-0 Olympians: It means you don’t have to be a hulking brute to be a major contributor.

And at Leuzinger that concept takes on greater relevance because the school has a distinct scarcity of hulking brutes. Quick, aggressive athletes--one is a defensive end who stands 5-foot-2 and weighs 125 pounds--dominate a 4-4 defense that, according to its designer, “does not play defense, it plays offense on defense. It’s supposed to dictate to the offense what they can do.”

The explanation comes courtesy of Hawthorne assistant coach Larry Reed. He learned the 4-4 as an assistant at Santa Monica College in the mid-1970s and then, a few years later, took it to Lawndale, where then-assistants Carnes and current Hawthorne Coach Goy Casillas recognized how suited the defense was to the area’s tough, fast athletes.

Lawndale was eventually closed but the 4-4 defense remains alive and hitting at both Leuzinger (5-0 in league) and Hawthorne (6-2, 4-1), and probably will play a major role when the Olympians and Cougars clash for a share of first place in the Bay League at 7:30 tonight at Leuzinger.

The purpose of a 4-4--which, to an offense, can look like an 8-man pass rush--is to pressure the offense and its quarterback into making a mistake.

“It is designed to attack an offense,” Carnes said, “to confuse blocking, to pressure the quarterback. It’s not necessary to get to him. If we do, that is fine. But if we create pressure and cause the quarterback to throw early, misfire or throw only short passes, we’ll be effective.”

To make the 4-4 work, two cornerbacks and one safety must be able to cover short and long passes. That means fleet, ferocious players are needed in the secondary as well as on the line, and Leuzinger has those. The defense averages almost two interceptions a game, and junior cornerback Quang Banks has picked off five.

Still, the strength of the Olympian defense is its ability to get into the opponent’s backfield quicker than the opponent can get out, regardless of whether the call is a run or pass. And for that, Leuzinger relies on “Wreckers,” “Forcers,” a “Pirate” and a “Stud.”

Wreckers, or defensive linemen, fill gaps. Forcers, or defensive ends, force the action by blasting across the line of scrimmage. The Pirate, an outside linebacker, roams, using his speed for the rush or in coverage. The Stud, the other outside linebacker, “is one of the guys who takes on blocks, like ‘come on, run at me,’ ” said Leuzinger assistant coach Bob Greer. Two inside linebackers are also important, but they don’t have nicknames.

What about a cornerback? “He is a cornerback ,” Greer said, chuckling.

The nicknames, Greer suggested, make it easy for that player to understand his role. “When you tell them they are going to play ‘forcer,’ that helps to have them in the right frame of mind,” Greer said.

Dan Au, the 5-2 forcer, could also be called “Fireplug”--and sometimes is. Au never played football before his sophomore year, when Carnes told him he’d make a perfect forcer. A year later Au came within one game of earning All-Pioneer League honors, according to Carnes.

“The only reason he wasn’t all-league was because he got hurt and missed two games,” Carnes said. “Danny is a tiny guy and gets knocked on his butt, but he is so quick that if there is a big running back there, Danny meets them 3-4 yards in the backfield.

“So if he is knocked down, it’s still OK because he has caused a pile or some kind of resistance and that gives the rest of the team time to pursue.”

Au, a senior who calls football an “extracurricular activity,” never fears an opposing blocker. “I have never been intimidated,” he said. “I go right at them because if we try to go around them, they know we are afraid.”

Au insists that if size meant any difference on the field, he wouldn’t play football. But Greer says it is primarily tenacity that provides Au with his chance to play. “Nobody is better than him,” is Au’s attitude, Greer says.

Tim Camilo, a 5-9, 155-pound forcer, is equally tenacious and focused. Through the cage-like bars of his face mask, he sees only the quarterback. “Most of us feel more or less that our defense is 8 on 1,” said Camilo, a senior who also starts at fullback. “Eight of us against just the quarterback, so we all go against him. It’s like the offensive line is not really there.”

It’s an approach that has helped the Olympians force 17 fumbles and recover 12 in 8 games, and Camilo has collected 2 for touchdowns.

The number of fumbles and interceptions--31 combined--indicates that other teams have had possession of the ball enough times to penetrate Leuzinger’s defense. But Torrance Coach Rich Busia, whose 2-6 Tartars finished on the wrong end of a 33-0 Leuzinger shutout last week, believes it’s the ability of the Olympian defense to adapt during the game that makes it difficult to score against Leuzinger.

“It wasn’t that they handcuffed us completely,” Busia said. “You can run some plays on them, but even if you do, they’ll close it up soon. They basically come after you. It’s a reckless, abandon-type thing.”

After watching Olympian quarterback Zak Odom throw 55- and 91-yard scoring strikes against his defense, Busia found Leuzinger’s ability to execute the big play more impressive than it’s 4-4.

The Olympians--led by Damon Whitmore, the “Pirate” who plays tailback as well as linebacker--also feature a punishing ground game that averages almost 200 yards a game and ranks third among South Bay schools.

But, Leuzinger’s best athletes play defense. “That is a philosophy with me,” Carnes said. “We put our quickest, toughest 11 on defense. We don’t sacrifice anything.”

Though those 11 do not expect to prevent offenses from scoring for 60 minutes every week, Leuzinger holds opponents to an average of only 147 yards and fewer than 8 points a game. And an examination of the helmet belonging to wrecker Andre English suggests that opponents average a lot more bruises than points.

English’s is one of many names that is hard to find on Leuzinger’s defensive stat sheet. He doesn’t intercept passes or recover fumbles. His 5-foot-10, 170-pound frame isn’t imposing. But when he lines up low, offenses can’t miss his scowl or the numerous dirty-yellow dents in his blue helmet.

Hits replaced the blue paint with the pockmarks, possibly creating a new kind of statistic: for sure, English leads the team in dents .

“I don’t want a new helmet,” English said, “because this one is mine and I did all of that.”