Keeping It Simple

There is no sacred helmet from which players draw strength, no sign above the door that they tap on their way to the football field. There’s no axiom that the team lives by printed on the cover of a playbook or the back of a T-shirt.

There is only football and fundamentals at Hacienda Heights Los Altos High, a straight-forward, streamlined football program that doesn’t try to do too much, but still accomplishes plenty.

In Southern California, top-ranked Long Beach Poly sets the standard for high school football, having won five Southern Section titles since 1972.

In the same span, Los Altos, which ran its record to 3-1 (the loss was a forfeit) Friday with a 14-10 come-from-behind victory over Chino Hills Ayala, has won nine.

But while Poly enjoys the spotlight of Division I, Los Altos has won titles two of the last three seasons in the relative obscurity of Division VII. Indeed, the Conquerors have one of the best football programs that few people have heard of--three title games in a row, and a trip to the semifinals the year before that. And that’s just fine with them.

In an age when Santa Margarita has a souvenir program that rivals most colleges, Poly suits up 99 players, and some bright-eyed coordinator at this minute is diagraming a better mousetrap, Los Altos has discovered that less is more.

“We’re about as low-key as you can get,” said Greg Gano, who is in his sixth season as coach. “Just take care of business. Do what you have to do. This isn’t Camp Pendleton.”

Los Altos keeps its approach simple.

Each opponent gets the same treatment; the Conquerors prepare for strong teams the same way they prepare for weak ones. “That way, the kids aren’t confused,” defensive coordinator Lee Fair said. “The adjustments we make are technique adjustments. We try to work within what we do all the time.”

The focus is always on fundamentals. Every day, every week, practice is the same. “We tell our kids that if we do what we’re supposed to do, and we do it with the right technique, if they beat us it’s because they’re a better player or they have better people,” Fair said. “We make sure we don’t beat ourselves.”

The players respect their coaches--and vice versa. “They’re players’ coaches,” said senior Caleb Flores, a receiver and defensive back who is averaging 19.0 yards per reception. “They take care of us, and we feel the same way.”

Everyone knows his part in the game plan. “We all know our role in order to be successful,” said Carlos Ordonez, the senior quarterback who has completed 28 of 52 passes for 612 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions. “The coaches know what we can do and don’t put us in situations where we can fail.”

Another example of getting more from less: Four years ago, the most talented player on the team was also its biggest distraction.

“We booted him, and the kids never mentioned his name again,” Gano said. “The next week we started a 23-game winning streak.”

This season, Los Altos has plenty of options on offense, including junior running backs Randall Brown and Daniel Drayton; Brown is averaging 6.9 yards per carry with six touchdowns, and Drayton 5.3 with nine.

But the strength of the team is its defense, led by senior tackle Armando Soto and junior end Brigham Harwell, who had 18 sacks last season.

Gano gets much of the credit for continuing the tradition started by Dwayne DeSpain, who retired after 29 seasons with a 244-94-9 record (71.6%), including 44-16 in the playoffs and 7-2 in championship games.

“We didn’t have a lot of guys beating the door down when the position became available,” DeSpain said.

Gano was among those advised to steer clear of it. “I had guys telling me it was like replacing John Wooden,” said Gano, who had been head coach at Covina Northview for two seasons. “But what bigger challenge is there? I never really felt the pressure.

“Dwayne told me it would take three years to build the program back up. We went 7-4-1 the first year, then 10-2, 13-1, 14-0. I kept things just about the same within the program.”

And the victories just keep coming.

Against No. 24 Ayala, a Division II team, No. 11 Los Altos trailed at halftime, 10-0.

But in the second half, the defense tightened and the Conquerors took the momentum and the game--the program’s 300th victory since DeSpain took over in 1967.

Brown rushed 21 times for 136 yards, including a 46-yard score in the third quarter that capped a six-play, 95-yard drive that cut Ayala’s lead to 10-7. Brown also set up the game-winner, returning a punt 19 yards to the Ayala 35 midway through the final quarter.

Four plays later, Drayton scored from 10 yards out with 4 minutes 31 seconds left in the game.

From there, the defense took over. In the final minutes, Jeff Castro and Ray Martinez both broke up pass plays that would have gone for key gains. On the game’s last play, Ben Chavez intercepted a desperation pass at the Los Altos 10 to seal the victory.

Gano’s record at Los Altos is now 56-11 (83.6%), and he says this team is “a lot better” than last year’s 11-3 squad.

Like the players, he credits the coaching staff, many of whom are holdovers from DeSpain: offensive coordinator Rick Fries, who has been on staff for 28 seasons; defensive backs coach Rick Godinez, who was on DeSpain’s first championship team in 1972 and has been on staff 21 seasons, and defensive line coach John Howing, who is regarded as the backbone of the organization for the last 12 years.

Critics credit another reason: recruiting.

The Conquerors have had five players with varsity experience transfer into the program in the last five years, including Drayton from Montebello and Pete Suarez, a linebacker and kicker, from Bassett this season.

The team didn’t benefit from transfers in 1999 and 2000, when it won section titles.

“DeSpain won for so long, I’m sure he heard every type of allegation there is,” Gano said. “When you’re winning, people are going to point fingers.”

Los Altos is the top-rated team in its new playoff classification, Division VI.

Last year, the Conquerors lost the Division VII title game to Covina Charter Oak, 7-6, in large part because of two missed field goals and a missed extra point. “I think we’re all a little hurt about the way it went down last year,” Flores said.

But this is a program that takes setbacks in stride. Forced to forfeit its opener, a 42-21 victory over Menifee Paloma Valley, because of an administrative error six months ago, Gano’s stance was, “These things happen.”

“We told the kids, look behind you at the smoke in the distance,” he said, referring to a recent fire that charred nearly 40,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest.

“People are losing their homes. People have it worse than us forfeiting a game.”

Another example: Four turnovers in the first half were responsible for the Conquerors falling behind La Mirada, 16-13, two weeks ago. But there wasn’t a lot of ranting and raving. Instead, Gano simply told his team to play the way they’re capable of playing.

So in the second half they did, and won, 41-16.

“We don’t yell and scream,” Gano said. “We just take care of business.”

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Finals Analysis

From 1967 to present, Los Altos High has gone 300-105-9 (73.6%) under coaches Dwayne DeSpain (1967-96) and Greg Gano (1997-present), with 29 of the losses in DeSpain’s first four seasons. The school opened in 1958. The results of the Conquerors’ section championship game appearances:

*--* Year Division Result Opponent Score 1972 AAA Won Santa Maria 16-15 1973 AAAA Won Crespi 21-7 1976 AAAA Won Fontana 27-0 1977 Big Five Won St. Paul 22-15 1982 Southern Won Esperanza 31-14 1986 Eastern Won HH Wilson 14-9 1987 Eastern Lost Northview 21-18 1988 Div. IV Won El Rancho 12-0 1996 Div. VI Lost HH Wilson 34-13 1999 Div. VII Won Charter Oak 33-6 2000 Div. VII Won Charter Oak 28-21 2001 Div. VII Lost Charter Oak 7-6

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