Balian Playing Well During Difficult Season for Damien

Defensive tackle Mike Balian played for a young Damien High team last season that reached the Southern Section Division IV quarterfinals. An All-San Gabriel Valley selection, he was listed on several preseason national prep All-American teams during the summer.

Counting on another good season, Balian, 17, said he never expected that his team would lose six of eight games and be on the brink of missing the playoffs.

No, it hasn’t exactly been the storybook season that the 6-foot-4, 253-pound Balian envisioned. But longtime Damien Coach Dick Larson said the senior is still having a season worthy of his reputation.

“I think if you evaluate it the right way, he’s doing what he should be doing in his area,” Larson said. “He can’t be expected to be everywhere out there, and he is playing his position well.

“I think when we evaluate a player of his caliber, we sometimes expect him to do too much, but he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing and then some.”

Balian has been recruited by many of the West’s top college programs, including Colorado, USC, UCLA, Washington, Washington State, Arizona State and Cal.

Balian said his reputation may have worked against him early in the season.

“I didn’t think I was playing as well as I should have at first, and I also didn’t expect teams to play me as well as they did,” he said. “These last few games, I feel like I’ve played a little more like I expected.”

Balian added: “I do think being named to the preseason All-America teams had to affect the way some teams prepared for us.”