SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Big Game Comes Down to the Defense : Los Alamitos: Griffins want to use their speed to negate Mater Dei’s size and strength.

Memo to Jim Van Gorder and Robert Brakke, Los Alamitos assistant football coaches. Your boss has one simple request.

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Dear Jim and Bob, please find a way to stop this Mater Dei offense. You’ve done a great job all year, so I figure one more great game plan isn’t too much to ask.

Sincerely, Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes.

Let’s see, all this Mater Dei team has is strength, speed, finesse and balance . . . and they’ve averaged more than 38 points per game.

“We’re going to try to stop a few of the things they do well and slow them down,” Barnes said. “It would be crazy to think we can manhandle them.”

Manhandle is not in the Griffin vocabulary. The biggest Los Alamitos defensive starters are Brandon Hart and Ryan Wanigasekera, who are 6 feet 1, 205 pounds.

This season, the Griffins have compensated for lack of size with quickness and aggressiveness. Los Alamitos constantly blitzed linebackers Hart, Wanigasekera, Mike Kahn and Chris Bagley to confuse Long Beach Poly last week.

The strategy worked and the Griffins posted a shutout, holding on for a 7-0 victory. Defensive back Damon Houston caused a fumble and Brandon Hart recovered the loose ball at the Los Alamitos 18 with two minutes remaining.

“I don’t know if you have to be the best, but you have to shut people down when you have to,” Barnes said. “You don’t win championships without defense. We proved that the other night.”

That’s not the only time the Los Alamitos defense made the big play.

Defensive lineman Dax Houston and Wanigasekera helped the Griffins preserve a victory over Esperanza this season. Clinging to a 35-32 lead with 52 seconds remaining, Houston sacked Aztec quarterback Chris Stretch, causing a fumble, and Wanigasekera recovered.

In 47 consecutive games, the Los Alamitos defense has delivered. During their record-setting Southern Section unbeaten streak, the Griffins have posted 17 shutouts and allowed 9.2 points per game. Although the offense gets the headlines racking up points, the defense gets the ball back.

The defense will have to find a way to get the ball back against Mater Dei. Perhaps the only way the Griffins can accomplish that goal is to disguise their blitzes and coverages.

That’s no easy task. Mater Dei quarterback John Flynn is a three-year starter who has completed 69% of his passes for an average of 205 yards per game. He has thrown 24 touchdown passes but only four interceptions.

“John called 75% of the game at the line of scrimmage,” said Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson after the Monarchs’ 31-7 thrashing of Loyola in the quarterfinals.

“For us to be successful, we need perfect execution on defense,” said Brakke, the Griffins’ defensive coordinator.

If the Griffins blitz, they can try to stuff the running lanes and hope Dax Houston and the front seven will put pressure on Flynn.

But then the Los Alamitos secondary of Brad Melsby, Ife Ohalefe, Damon Houston and Tom Carbajal has man-to-man coverage on a talented Monarch receiving corps. Fleet-footed Rod Perry, who leads the county in receiving yardage and has scored 14 touchdowns, is Mater Dei’s big-play receiver.

If the Griffins play softer zone coverages to stop the big pass play, the Griffins could get pounded on the ground by Mater Dei’s Steve Bodnar and Joey Trampush, who have combined for more than 2,200 yards rushing and 34 touchdowns.

They run behind an offensive line that averages 257 pounds and their leader is one of the county’s best, 6-4, 265-pound tackle Matt Motherway.