THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Canyon Defense Again Passes Muster as Cowboys Saddle Up for Playoffs

The names have changed but the result is the same.

They seem to go hand in hand at Canyon High. For the eighth time in Coach Harry Welch’s eight-year reign, the Cowboys are in the playoffs and the defense is in high gear.

Among the new names on defense are Eric Hanes, Vince Nevieux, Mark Santos, Scott Blade and Chuck Osborne. But Welch would prefer to call the new names the No Names.

“Remember the Miami Dolphins of 1972?” Welch said, referring to the original No Name Defense.

In the past five games, Canyon’s No Namers have surrendered just 32 points and have posted two shutouts. All of which is somewhat of a surprise considering that no member of the Canyon defense weighs 200 pounds.

Hanes, a senior nose tackle, is the heaviest--and the best--of the overachieving bunch, tipping the scales at 198 pounds.

“Nobody has been able to block him all year,” Welch said. “Coaches who watch our films run (plays) away from him.”

Linebackers Nevieux (152 pounds), Santos (165), and Blade (178), and Osborne (193) are also lean but mean. “On Friday nights, we get some slabs of beef and tie them to them,” Welch cracked.

Here, there and everywhere: Westlake quarterback Todd Preston scrambled and looked and scrambled again. For once, it seemed that all his receivers were covered.

The pass rush was closing in, the Warriors trailed Arcadia, 20-17, and Westlake, a postseason entry for the first time since 1982, was 24 seconds away from elimination in the first round of the Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Preston neared the line of scrimmage at Arcadia’s nine-yard line. Suddenly his eyes were wide open.

And so was Erik Holcomb.

“He just came flying from the left at a slant into the corner of the end zone,” said Preston, who zipped the ball to Holcomb for a touchdown and a dramatic 24-20 upset of the second-seeded Apaches.

“It was sort of a broken play,” Holcomb said. “I was covered early so Todd rolled out and I followed him. Great pass.”

Preston, a junior, has had little trouble finding a receiver this season. Holcomb (32 catches), Luke Crawford (37), Dave Monheim (28) and Seamus Gibbons (26) all have proved elusive to opposing secondaries.

The Warriors (5-5-1) will meet Canyon in a second-round game Friday night at Thousand Oaks High.

“They’ve got a pro-style passing attack,” Canyon Coach Harry Welch said. “It’s dynamite. (Preston) uses all his receivers and he dumps the ball off to his backs.

“I think Westlake presents us a problem. Defending the pass is not the best thing we do.”

Color guard: Instead of wearing their standard hot-pink, surfer-style shorts with white and neon pink singlet, members of the Hart boys’ cross-country team sported plain black shorts with battleship-gray tops in the recent Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College.

The change in uniform was part of Hart’s game plan in the 3-A Division final: to make it difficult for rival runners--particularly league-nemesis and second-ranked San Gabriel--to keep track of top-ranked Hart team members.

“We wanted that little psychological edge,” Hart Coach Gene Blankenship said. “During the race, the San Gabriel coach was going ‘Where’s Hart?’ ”

The tactic worked.

The Indians outdistanced San Gabriel, 64-102, and captured their first Southern Section title.