PREP WEDNESDAY : For Special Season, This Unit’s Play Is Vital to the Team : Football: Because they can be the difference between the playoffs and being also-rans, most schools integrate drills into practice.

The subject was special teams play, and John Madden waxed poetic during the Washington Redskin-Philadelphia Eagle telecast the other day.

His story went something like this: The Oakland Raiders needed to recover an opponent’s onside kick to preserve a victory, but Madden had failed to devote even a second of practice that week to special teams drills.

“I told God that if we could just recover this onside kick, I’d never go without practicing special teams again,” Madden said.

Somehow the Raiders recovered the ball and won the game, and presumably Madden kept his promise.

Blind luck--or prayer in Madden’s case--doesn’t cut it for football teams of any level. Orange County high school coaches know that special teams simply can’t be ignored.

If blocking and tackling are the building blocks by which teams win, then special teams play is the cement that holds winning teams together.

“I lost a league championship because of a bad snap,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Mark Miller said.

On the day before a game, Rancho Alamitos spends at least an hour on special teams drills.

Said San Clemente Coach Mark McElroy: “We harped on the special teams all week, and the kids came through (with a 26-14 victory over El Toro).”

Improving special teams play was one of McElroy’s top priorities when he took over as San Clemente’s coach this year.

“I always run the special teams drills,” Capistrano Valley Coach Eric Patton said. “So the kids know if the head coach is doing it, it must be important.”

Capistrano Valley spends a minimum of 20 minutes a day on special teams, and Patton credits that time with the two punts and one field goal his team has blocked this season.

First, a few ground rules. This is not necessarily about kickers, holders or punters, who belong in another feature all together. What we’re dealing with here are the guys who snap the ball, who block for punt, field goal and kickoff teams, who return the kicks and punts, who try to tackle the guys with the ball.

It’s not an easy job, and most coaches put almost as much thought into who plays on their special teams as who plays quarterback. In some cases, special teams players are starters. In other cases, they are talented reserves who can’t beat out the starters. In almost all cases, they are superb athletes.

Coaches need players who are big enough to block and tackle well but also run fast enough to get downfield to make a play.

“As a general rule, I try to have as many linebacker types as I can,” Miller said. “They can hit, and they’re mobile enough. We don’t put big linemen out there because they’re just lumbering around.”

Esperanza Coach Gary Meek seeks out the best athletes, period. This season, Brad Wise, the Aztecs’ leading wide receiver, is the long snapper on the punt team. Last season, it was reserve quarterback Jon Aed.

Like Aed, Wise learned the ins and outs of his new position slowly.

“The first game I did it, I was pretty nervous because I thought I was going to get smoked by the nose tackle,” said Wise, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior. “Then I found out there’s a rule that you can’t get hit.”

In an unsung group, a snapper or return man finds himself in a relatively glamorous position. But what about the others? How do they explain their positions to friends?

“Yeah, I’m in the second row on the kickoff return team . Third from the left sideline. You can’t miss me.”

McElroy tries to instill a sense of pride in his special teams players.

“You want to maintain high squad morale,” said McElroy, who tries to get as many good players who don’t start into the action on special teams. “(But) they’ve got to be good enough to run down the field and make tackles. You’re careful not to put a real weak link out there.”

At Capistrano Valley, Patton makes no bones about having his best players on the field at all times.

“I’d say they’re almost all starters,” he said.

Meek takes that one step further, putting defensive players on punt and kickoff teams and offensive players on field goal and kickoff return teams.

“We split it up because we have enough good players,” Meek said.

There’s no question that special teams play can make or break a team’s season. It’s often the difference between a playoff berth and fifth place.

Some coaches try to keep things simple, figuring it’s better to make sure their team doesn’t make mistakes.

Others use the special teams as an added weapon. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, they say.

Although Miller sometimes questions the wisdom of doing so, Rancho Alamitos has its fastest players--tailback Jeff Byrd and quarterback Marshall Brown--returning punts and kickoffs.

“It depends on what kind of runners you have,” Miller said. “Dana Riddle (a 2,000-yard rusher in 1989) played running back for us, but he didn’t return kicks because he wasn’t a good open field runner. Byrd and Brown are fighting each other for kickoffs.”

Miller also tries to place each kickoff into a specific spot on the field in order to cut down the area his team must cover.

And, after attending a coaching clinic, he now sends his players after every opponent’s punt and field goal try.

“We’ve blocked a lot of punts,” Miller said. “It’s a weapon. We’re going for the block, but we’re also looking to get some kind of return. You have to figure out how many are returned for touchdowns versus how many are blocked. We always send one guy rushing in there.”

Capistrano Valley does the same thing; Patton must have attended the same clinic.

“We pressure every kick,” he said. “Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t.”

Case No. 1: Playing Dana Hills last season, Capistrano Valley came up with two blocked punts that resulted in all the points the Cougars needed to win. The first blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. The second was recovered in the end zone by Dana Hills for a safety. And that led to a Capistrano Valley touchdown on the Cougars’ next possession.

Final score: Capistrano Valley 16, Dana Hills 0.

Case No. 2: After El Modena lined up to try a last-second, game-winning field goal this season, Levi Roquemore broke through and blocked the kick. Grant Hibbs picked up the bouncing ball and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown.

Final score: Capistrano Valley 13, El Modena 7.

So occasionally, the extra time and effort pays off in points and victories for Capistrano Valley.

“I would say it’s 50-50,” Patton said. “It’s the other team’s breakdown and our good hard work.”

But the bottom line is this: Without the work, nothing good could come from special teams play.