This Muscular Pair Is Helping to Define the Line at Villa Park

The strength of the Villa Park High School football team can be found in the weight room six days a week. It’s there that Damon Becknel and Brian Pearsall--the Spartans’ beef boys--perfect their skills.

These aren’t finesse guys. They don’t need a stopwatch or even a football to demonstrate their abilities. They just peel off their shirts and start pumping iron.

In other words, Becknel and Pearsall are big, big, big.

For the past two seasons, they have been the bulk that opened holes for Villa Park running backs and the brawn that has shut down opposing offenses. They are the main reason the Spartans are no pushovers.

At 7:30 tonight, they’ll attempt to shove Loara around in the first round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs at Glover Stadium.

Who wins will depend greatly on the offensive and defensive lines. Loara and Villa Park are predominantly running teams.

“I think the game will come down to whoever controls the front line,” Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney said.

And it’s Becknel (6 feet 5, 240 pounds) and Pearsall (6-3, 230) the Spartans depend on for that.

“Brian and Damon are very good at moving people around,” Spartan quarterback Jason Martian said. “They’re great to hang out with too. No one bothers us.”

Pearsall and Becknel are just the latest in a long line of good linemen at Villa Park. Pearsall has been a starter for three seasons, Becknel for two.

This season, they are also team captains.

“There’s a lot of pride involved with being a lineman at Villa Park,” Becknel said. “We feel we should be able to dominate the other guy. That’s the way we were taught.”

Although Becknel and Pearsall play well on both offense and defense, they do have preferences.

Pearsall, a defensive end and offensive guard, is adept at reading opponents’ offenses and getting to the ball. He is so good at it that teams double- and, sometimes, triple-team him . . . and he still gets to the ball.

“Brian is the type of player who can dominate a game on defense,” Mahoney said.

Against Los Alamitos, he had four sacks in a 17-10 loss. Against Orange, he made seven unassisted tackles in a 24-7 victory.

“I feel more comfortable on defense,” said Pearsall, who has a 3.3 grade-point average. “I can rely on my instincts more.”

Becknel, a defensive and offensive tackle, is a solid blocker, opening holes for tailbacks Ellis Williams (798 yards), Donnie Bladow (300 yards) and Ryan Tsui (249 yards). He has handled some of Orange County’s top defensive linemen during the past two seasons.

“Defense can be fun, but I enjoy playing offense,” said Becknel, who has a 3.9 grade-point average. “There’s a plan to every play, and I know who to hit and where to hit him.”

In 1989, he neutralized Hartwell Brown in the Spartans’ 24-21 upset of No. 1-ranked Los Alamitos. Becknel also controlled Isaac Alo in a 27-0 victory over Santa Ana Valley that clinched a playoff spot for Villa Park.

Brown, who is at Stanford this season, and Alo were all-county selections last year.

“Damon has had some great games against the best defensive linemen in the county,” Mahoney said. “He seems to get pumped up for those assignments.”

Becknel and Pearsall were thrown together as freshmen. But they were very different players.

Pearsall had played organized football since he was 8 and already was well-skilled in the ways of a lineman. He had a reputation as a fierce competitor even before he got to high school.

Becknel, on the other hand, had never played tackle football. He had always been too large for youth teams, which have weight limits.

But they did have one thing in common.

“We were the two biggest guys on the team, so we were paired together for drills,” Pearsall said.

They started on the defensive line. On offense, Becknel played tackle, and Pearsall was a fullback--the only time he has played a position other than lineman.

Pearsall’s freshman season came to an end in the third game when he hyper-extended his elbow. He underwent surgery two weeks later and wasn’t able to work out again until December.

After rehabilitation, Pearsall and Becknel began their routine of lifting together. Back then, Villa Park had two weight rooms, one for the varsity and one for everybody else. Becknel and Pearsall were asked to move to the varsity room during the winter of their freshmen years.

“It was a lot more competitive in that room,” Pearsall said. “That made Damon and me work even harder. The older guys accepted us and showed us the ropes. We learned what it meant to be linemen at Villa Park.”

It means that you’re big, for starters.