Option Smackdown.
It’s not President Bush’s newest foreign policy or pro
wrestling’s newest macho slogan.
No, it’s just this week’s defensive plan for the Gilroy High
football team.
Option Smackdown.
It’s not President Bush’s newest foreign policy or pro wrestling’s newest macho slogan.
No, it’s just this week’s defensive plan for the Gilroy High football team.
Mustangs’ defensive coordinator Greg Garcia has pinned the phrase in preparation for tomorrow’s 1:30 game at Palo Alto’s Gunn High, which employs the option offense.
“This week has just been about making sure everyone knows their responsibilities and knows where to be,” Garcia said. “We’re just telling them, ‘if you take care of everything at all times, it’ll all fall into place.’
“That’s been kind of the theme of the week.”
Whether it’s the quarterback or one of the running backs, the option attack basically means all run, all the time.
In a recent pair of short scrimmages scouted by the Mustang coaches, Gunn threw a combined five passes.
GHS head coach Darren Yafai said that provides a stark contrast to last week’s preparations for Burlingame and its all-league quarterback, Drew Shiller.
“All last week, the focus was on stopping this lethal passing attack,” Yafai said. “This week is obviously a little different.”
Since Burlingame ran counter plays fairly effectively against Gilroy, Yafai and Garcia said they expect to see more of the same from the Titans, who finished last season 3-3 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (6-4 overall).
They also plan on seeing plenty of Gunn’s two all-league players, fullback Darius Johnson and offensive tackle Adam Juratovac, both of whom play at important positions in the option offense.
But they both conceded the Titans, who have yet to play their first regular season game, were almost certainly not showing everything they had in the preseason scrimmages.
In fact, this is the first year Gunn has installed the option offense. So nobody really knows what to expect.
“It’s the little things they didn’t show us that we have to be prepared for,” Garcia warned. “The trap-center, wing trap, motion toss – you have to expect anything.”
No matter what the play, though, it seems there’s one definitive key to slowing down an option-oriented team.
Yafai, whose teams have faced somewhat similar offenses from Hollister and Salinas in the past, said the defenders have to be “super-disciplined.”
“Against an I-back team, it’s all about running toward the ball carrier,” Yafai said. “But with this, you have to take care of your specific responsibilities. And that’s tough.
“When you get in the game – in the heat of the battle – a lot of times your instincts take over.”
But senior linebacker Jared Gamm, who will return after missing the opener with a torn MCL, said he’s confident in the Mustangs’ ability to stay focused and be successful.
“We just have to make sure everyone makes their adjustments,” he said. “But as long as each person takes care of their responsibilities, the unit as a whole should be fine.”
