HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW : Marmonte’s Defenses Now Entrenched

If you like your baseball under a roof and on a carpet, Marmonte League football is probably not your style.

If you think basketball’s three-point line is a nice addition to the game, Marmonte League football probably wouldn’t hold your interest.

If you like football’s “in-the-grasp” rule, instant replay, television timeouts, “Hi, moms,” Gatorade showers for coaches and music videos, better spend your Friday nights elsewhere. Marmonte League football just ain’t your thing.

Because this year, the Marmonte League is about defense.

Not trick defenses, not cute defenses and, God forbid, not finesse defense. Marmonte League defenses in 1989 are big, bold and active. They’re mouth-smashing, in-your-face, bury-you-on-the-blitz units.

“I think that’s the Marmonte League,” Newbury Park Coach George Hurley said. “That’s a common thread you’ll find throughout the league--they play defense tough.”

Leading the charge is Thousand Oaks, whose defenses haven’t allowed more than an average 200 yards a game since 1985. This year’s version has all of the talent and experience to be the best in that span.

The Lancers grudgingly gave up 194.5 yards a game last season, the only league team to average under 200 yards.

“The way their defense plays,” Camarillo Coach Carl Thompson said, “you’d better have a good field-goal kicker.”

Thompson should know. Last season, his Scorpions were shut out by the Lancers. So was Simi Valley. Royal and Westlake combined for all of 13 points. And those four games were played in consecutive weeks.

The good news--or bad, depending where you sit--is that Thousand Oaks lost only three of its starters to graduation.

By a vote of the league’s coaches, Lancer free safety Steve Rudisill was the Marmonte’s best defensive player. He’s back. Linebacker Lance Martin was among the best at his position in Ventura County. He’s back.

Linemen Chris Foster and Nick Ochoa were first team all-league and cornerback Jim Magallanes was second team. You guessed it. They’ll be wearing the green and white for one more season. Bassam Kneizeh, a lineman, is also among the returning starters.

“I think we can improve on last year,” Martin said. “We want to come out and play tough. Clean, but tough.”

If you can’t see Thousand Oaks High from your front porch, it sounds more like bad news.

Newbury Park’s Hurley can’t.

“They’re such an intense defense,” Hurley said of Thousand Oaks. “They are very physical and intense, almost to the point of intimidation. And they coach aggressive football over there.”

However, Thousand Oaks does not have a monopoly on potentially dominating players on defense.

Hurley has a pair of his own in Joe Smigiel (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) and Jeff Jay (6-3, 235), and those two linemen could provide the Panthers with the foundation for a playoff berth.

Channel Islands, the two-time defending league champion, has its usual beef up front and enough athletes to fill any holes.

At Camarillo, defensive back Zach Achen intercepted four passes as a junior and Scott Foster returns as one of the league’s better defensive ends.

In his first season, Westlake Coach Jim Benkert has coaxed enough guys out of the quad and onto the practice field to give the Warriors one of their biggest teams ever. Luke Crawford is a strong, speedy defensive back and Matt Heckmann and David Monheim will lend their size to the defense as well.

Royal’s secondary is where Tim Ross hangs out. Only a junior, the 6-4, 195-pound free safety is already attracting college attention.

He and linebackers like David Gnesda, Doug Tucker and Scott O’Neil fit right into the Marmonte mold.

“The Marmonte League is very much a smash-mouth kind of football,” Royal Coach Gene Uebelhardt said. “You beat each other up and whoever’s left standing at the end, wins.”

Simi Valley also has four potential running back-breakers in linebackers Eric Hale, Chad Danowski, Mike Burroughs and Adam Guzzo. There will be no weeks off for league offenses.

“We’re real competitive out here,” Hurley said. “We play some pretty tough football and we take a lot of pride in our defense.

“I heard this on a commercial the other day: ‘Offenses win games, and defenses win championships.’ Or something like that.”

Uebelhardt, apparently, was listening more intently.

“Defense wins ballgames and offense sells tickets,” he said.

If you like that kind of football, Marmonte League football just might be your ticket.

Tomorrow: the Foothill League.

MARMONTE LEAGUE

FINAL 1988 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Channel Islands 8-3, 5-1 Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks 6-4-1, 5-1 Channel Islands Camarillo 4-7, 3-3 Newbury Park Royal 4-6, 3-3 Camarillo Newbury Park 3-6, 3-3 Westlake Westlake 2-8, 2-4 Royal Simi Valley 0-10, 0-6 Simi Valley

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Chris Foster Thousand Oaks DL 5-9 208 Sr. Eric Hale Simi Valley LB 6-5 220 Sr. Jeff Jay Newbury Park OL/DL 6-3 235 Sr. Jai Johnston Newbury Park QB 6-0 165 Sr. Kris Kirksey Camarillo RB 6-2 190 Jr. Mike Lindsay Thousand Oaks RB 5-11 177 Sr. Lance Martin Thousand Oaks LB 6-1 215 Sr. Todd Preston Westlake QB 6-0 165 Jr. Tim Ross Royal DB 6-4 195 Jr. Steve Rudisill Thousand Oaks DB 5-11 185 Sr. Joe Smigiel Newbury Park OL/DL 6-5 255 Sr. Shawn Young Channel Islands WR 6-1 165 Sr.