Advertisement

Familiarity Breeds Good Matchups in Tonight’s Finals : 2-A Championship (5 p.m.): El Camino hopes it will finally get it right against Lincoln.

Share

Herb Meyer has never considered himself a historian, but the El Camino coach thought this might be a good week to bring out the history books on the old Lincoln-El Camino rivalry.

It read: 1979--Lincoln 12, El Camino 6; 1981--Lincoln 27, El Camino 12; 1985--Lincoln 8, El Camino 7; 1986--Lincoln 32, El Camino 12; 1987--Lincoln 34, El Camino 0.

And to give the lesson a little added effect heading into today’s San Diego Section 2-A championship game at 5 p.m. in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Meyer noted that four of the five losses came in the playoffs.

Advertisement

“Yes, I caught them up on the history a little bit,” Meyer said. “I told them this is one of the few teams we haven’t beaten, so we might as well straighten out the ledger a little bit.”

Just how does he plan to do that against a team with more speed than he’s faced all year?

“First, we’ve got to contain their offense and get them to throw the ball,” Meyer said. “Then, we’ve got to control the ball on offense--something we haven’t done very well this year because we’ve been scoring so quickly.”

That also seems to have been a forte of Lincoln (11-2) lately. In it’s past two victories, Lincoln has scored on punt and kickoff returns by Victor Dean in the final two minutes to tie and win games.

Meyer said Dean, who has scored seven touchdowns on runbacks of kickoffs or punts, has attracted his attention.

“Anytime a team has someone like that, it has to be a concern,” Meyer said. “You’ve got to know where he is. You’ve got to account for him.”

El Camino (12-1) must also account for Dwayne McAfee, who has scored a touchdown off a punt return and broken several others.

Advertisement

El Camino hasn’t exactly been weak in this area. Jerry Avery, a second-team Times All-County defensive back, is averaging 18 yards a punt return.

Another key for El Camino will be its ability to stop Lincoln’s running game, which last week scored four touchdowns against San Pasqual.

Charles Brown, the county’s 13th leading rusher with 1,002 yards, ran for 64 yards and three touchdowns in 13 carries last week. Doug Boyd added 66 yards and a touchdown in 16 carries. The Hornets also have Terrell Davis, a 6-foot-1 200-pounder who is coming off an injury that sidelined him for more than half the season.

Lincoln, though, probably has not faced a defense as good or as quick as El Camino’s. The Wildcats, led by Times All-County players Peau Atoe (nose guard) and Ricky Spears (linebacker), have six shutouts, including a 49-0 defeat of Ramona in last Saturday’s semifinals.

Spears had been sidelined with a broken bone in his foot, but he played about half of last week’s game. The Wildcats did lose starting linebacker Duane Webb to a knee injury on the first play in that same game, however.

Lincoln’s defense has the unenviable task of tracking down Brian Madlangbayan, who has scored 26 touchdowns and rushed for more than 1,500 yards. Von Robinson, who has a couple 100-yard games himself, is the blocking back.

Advertisement

Robinson tends to run inside, while Madlangbayan (5-6, 170) is liable to run just about anywhere.

If he runs outside, he’ll probably run into Andrew Turner, a Times All-County defensive end. Turner had 94 tackles and 11 sacks this season. On the other side is Chache Leal (79 tackles, seven sacks).

“No one has been able to run outside on us,” Lincoln Coach Vic Player said.

Although the Hornets’ schedule might not be on par with El Camino’s, Player said he doesn’t anticipate his team having any problems competing.

“When we’ve played football teams the quality of El Camino, that’s when we’ve been most successful.”

Advertisement