El Camino, RBV Run the Show : Even Wildcats’ Coach Is Awed After 38-6 Rout of Lincoln in 2-A

When El Camino Coach Herb Meyer acted surprised by the margins of victory--48, 35 and 49 points--in his team’s first three games during the sectional playoffs, it appeared to be gamesmanship for the benefit of upcoming opponents.

But Saturday night after his Wildcats took apart talented Lincoln, 38-6, to win the San Diego Section 2-A football championship at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, you got the feeling Meyer’s surprise was genuine.

All he could do was shake his head and say: “This is amazing. I just can’t believe this. Every time I look at these kids, I can’t believe what they’ve done.”

What they did Saturday night is something almost no one, except perhaps Meyer, could have predicted. They were quicker than a team known for its quickness.

“There’s no doubt Lincoln underestimated our quickness,” Meyer said.

And that was evident everywhere. On offense, where El Camino halfback Brian Madlangbayan ran over, under, around and behind Lincoln’s defense for 164 yards and four touchdowns. And on defense, where nose tackle Peau Atoe (five tackles, two unassisted), linebackers Ricky Spears, Oscar Bautista and Dennis Duren (18 total tackles) made life miserable for Lincoln’s running and passing attacks.

It was even evident on special teams, where El Camino (13-1) held Lincoln’s vaunted kickoff- return duo of Victor Dean and Dwayne McAfee to 20 yards per return.

Some other El Camino accomplishments:

--Beating Lincoln (11-3) for the first time after five consecutive losses.

--Meyer winning his fifth section 2-A title, one more than Lincoln Coach Vic Player. Meyer also has one 1-A championship to his credit.

And how did this one rate?

“This has to be the best,” he said. “The togetherness and the camaraderie they developed as a team is the most satisfying. We had kids on this team who where just real good kids to work with.”

Madlangbayan (5-feet-6, 170 pounds) added to his school season touchdown record with his 27th through 30th scores and broke Toussaint Tyler’s school single-season rushing total, finishing with 1,726 yards.

Breaking records was probably the last thing on Madlangbayan’s mind two years after he rushed for just 24 yards in seven carries in El Camino’s 34-0 loss to Lincoln in the 1987 quarterfinals.

“They crushed me,” Madlangbayan said.

This time, Madlangbayan did the crushing. He scored on runs of two, one and six yards but saved the best for last: a 53-yarder with 9:39 remaining.

“You could see it in his eyes--he was fired up,” said Lincoln defensive back back John McCartney, who spent the whole night chasing Madlangbayan through the secondary. “It’s hard to see him, and he’s got such a low center of gravity.”

Lincoln appeared ready to take the early lead, moving 60 yards on its first drive, only to be stopped by quarterback Mike Temple’s fumble on the El Camino 14. The Wildcats’ Jerry Avery returned it 20 yards, and El Camino was off and running. The Wildcats drove 65 yards in 10 plays, and Madlangbayan scored from the two.

Three plays and a Lincoln punt later, El Camino was driving again. This time, it took the Wildcats six plays to go 54 yards, the big play Avery’s 26-yard run on a reverse. Duren scored on a one-yard pitch from quarterback Joe Malek to make it 14-0.

El Camino pushed the lead to 17-0 on Tony Serrato’s 31-yard field goal, then capped off the first half on a two-yard run by Madlangbayan, which ended a 62-yard, nine-play drive. Malek’s 13-yard pass to Avery on a fourth and five at the Lincoln 39 kept the drive alive.

“I thought about punting, but I figured that wouldn’t accomplish anything,” Meyer said. “Jerry made a great adjustment on the route, and Joe did a great job avoiding the rush.”

Lincoln scored on a 30-yard pass play from Temple to Dean with 8:11 left in the third quarter but was never heard from again.

Player said his team finally ran out of miracles.

“You can play on emotion only so long,” he said. “We had some on that first drive, but that fumble gave them the momentum back.

“They had a purpose that was a little stronger than ours. They wanted to beat Lincoln for the first time and were a lot more motivated.”

Meyer will leave today for Dallas and the High School Athletic Directors Assn. convention--something he had expected to do Saturday.

“I had to eat $300 and two plane tickets.”