It starts with defense
A key component to the two state championships that Lake City High football teams have captured is defense.
If the Timberwolves are going to add a third state title, let alone defend their 2006 5A championship, it will be because of defense.
“I’ve said it all season that we would go as far as our defense would carry us,” LC coach Van Troxel said.
Troxel isn’t changing his tune this week as the T-Wolves (8-2) travel to Boise to take on Capital (8-2) in a semifinal Friday at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. PST.
Defense allowed LC to reverse an embarrassing regular season-ending loss (26-14) at Lewiston last Friday when the T-Wolves smothered the Bengals 32-12.
“That was a defensive victory,” Troxel said. “It’s the best defense we’ve played all year.”
Four seniors – defensive end Sean Jolin, free safety Christian Hanna, outside linebacker Billy Clifford and defensive tackle Matt Jereczek – played especially big roles in the playoff-opening win.
“We made a lot of mistakes and didn’t play like we’re capable of playing the week before,” said Hanna, who was named the Inland Empire League’s defensive back of the year. “The pressure we put on (Lewiston quarterback Tom Kerr) was the best we’ve put on a quarterback all year. We didn’t have any breakdowns and didn’t give them any easy yards.”
The T-Wolves had four sacks, including one for a safety, forced two fumbles, had two interceptions and pressured Kerr into two intentional grounding penalties. The individual standout was Clifford, who had nine tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two deflected passes. A 5A All-IEL first-team pick, Clifford also was responsible for causing the two intentional grounding throws.
“We knew we had to go down there with a purpose and our agenda was to get to Kerr,” LC defensive coordinator Russ Blank said. “Billy Clifford was in the middle of all of it.”
Ask any LC defensive player not named Byron Hout and the T-Wolf will say that the other 10 players who line up with the 2006 5A player of the year are better because of his presence on the field. Hout was named the IEL’s most valuable player for a second straight year.
“Teams get so concerned with Byron that it’s given a number of opportunities for other players to step up,” said Hanna, who tied the school record for interceptions in a season (seven).
Jolin, one of the biggest benefactors of the extra attention Hout draws from opponents, agreed.
“A lot of teams didn’t know who I was coming into the season,” said Jolin, who has a team-leading nine sacks and was named the IEL’s defensive lineman of the year.
Troxel said the 2007 defense could finish ranked among the best in school history.
“That will be decided in the next two weeks,” Troxel said. “At times, this year’s defense is even more explosive than last year’s defense.”
At this time a year ago, the defense had scored seven touchdowns, had 17 interceptions and had 15 fumble recoveries to go along with 48 sacks and 34 tackles for loss. This year’s defense has scored three TDs, picked off 15 passes, recovered 17 fumbles, recorded 22 sacks and piled up 62 tackles for loss.
“We have to continue to play with the same intensity, the same inspiration, that we had last week,” said Jereczek, an all-IEL first-team pick. “Everybody seemed to feed off of it.”
Troxel calls Hanna the best free safety LC has had in a number of years. Hanna also starts at receiver, and he’s used his speed and athleticism to help pick up the slack left when the team’s top receiver, senior Kyle Johnson, suffered a season-ending injury after just four games.
Hanna said he thinks LC has more where the defense came from last week.
“We punished them,” Hanna said. “We definitely can play that well again. If we don’t we’ll be done.”
Capital changed its offense this year, going to a spread option attack with a significant emphasis on running the ball. “Our strength is against the run,” Troxel said. “They fly to the football as well as any defense we’ve had.”
Troxel said it’s not a coincidence that three of his team’s four captains are Hanna, Jolin and Hout.
“They’re the guys who are pushing and driving us to get better every day,” Troxel said.
Jolin said the plan Friday is simple.
“We have to make sure we, as a defense, put points on the board,” he said. “We need to get turnovers and try to help our offense out as much as possible.”
While it was evident LC increased its intensity last week, Clifford said the T-Wolves had something to prove.
“We realized that the way we played the week before was not the way Lake City plays football – period,” Clifford said. “There were a whole bunch of seniors who stepped it up. As seniors we needed to show the leadership. It’s going to take even more of an intense effort this week.”
At LC, they believe defense wins state championships. They haven’t been wrong yet.