Smoke Aplenty Blowing Before the Fire : Westlake: Defense may have vanilla, or perhaps rocky road, awaiting the Indians.

Someone is playing mind games.

As the Westlake High defense prepared for tonight’s matchup against Hart, one of the area’s highest-scoring teams, the Warriors differed on just what they have in store.

“It just boils down to execution,” said Bill Culpepper, Westlake defensive coordinator. “We don’t have any real special things planned.”

But linebacker Eric Guenther said: “I don’t think I can give it away, but we have some new stuff. We’re putting in some new things this week.”

If so, that’s news to defensive lineman Robbie Valance. “Actually, we are just running the same defense,” he said.

Maybe that’s Westlake’s goal. Confuse the Indians.

Not much else has worked against Hart, which scored 83 points in routing its first two opponents, San Fernando and Thousand Oaks. In preparation for tonight’s 7:30 game at Newbury Park High, Westlake coaches attended last week’s Hart-Thousand Oaks contest in which the Indians romped, 42-14.

“They’re impressive,” Culpepper said. “They’ve got a very talented offensive line. Their back, (Ted) Iacenda, is one of the best backs around. He does a great job running the ball and he is effective catching the ball out of the backfield. Their quarterback (Steve McKeon) is good. He throws a nice ball. And their receivers are excellent.”

What concerns Culpepper most is Hart’s balance. Although the Indians often use a no-huddle, pass-oriented attack, Iacenda has been a dangerous runner, gaining 204 yards in only 16 carries and scoring eight touchdowns. He also leads the team with nine receptions for 177 yards. McKeon has completed 18 of 35 (51.4%) for 326 yards and four touchdowns.

“I don’t see that there’s any one facet of (Hart’s) game that is dominant over the other one,” Culpepper said. “We see their offense as a complete package.

“When you talk about Westlake, you talk about (receiver) Billy Miller and the quarterback and throwing the ball. I don’t see Hart as a team that has only one player. When I look at their offense I see 11 guys that are good football players.”

The key players for Westlake on defense will be the linebackers--Guenther, Craig Walendy and Ryan Dritz--entrusted with stopping the run and the pass.

“They all will have to play great games,” Culpepper said. “They have to do a good job in covers.”

The Westlake defense has been spotty in the first two games. The Warriors have allowed 556 yards in two games to rank near the bottom in the area, but only 33 points.

But the matchup that seems to give Hart an edge is on the line of scrimmage. Hart’s five offensive linemen average 6-foot-2 1/2, 244 pounds, while Westlake’s four defensive linemen average 6-0 1/2, 204.

“Yeah, they’ve got some pretty big guys,” said Valance, an end, “but we have speed, so we are not really too worried.”

When reminded of the differences between the teams on the line of scrimmage, Guenther just chuckled, paused and said: “We’ve got some new stuff.”

Wait until tonight to see what that means.

Or if it means nothing at all.