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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1981)
14 GRESHAM 'O r e ) O U U O O K and SANDY (O re j POST Thurs Muq 27 19 8 1 In Eagles9 nest the word is defense It was tough to fig u re C entennial's defense last year The Eagles weren't very big Nobody weighed more than 190 pounds, looked like they'd be easy to move up and down the field Then the game would start and, sure enough, everybody was moving the Eagles right back The yardage stats piled up in impressive fashion and the Eagles seemed to spend most of their time taking backward steps The final Wilco League statistics for the season saw Centennial a lackluster fifth in total defense, giving up an average of 214 yards per game Yet every time a game end ed, not a whole lot of those y a rd s had tra n s la te d themselves into points The Eagles, who finished 4-5, surrendered just 74 points for the entire season, an average of H 2 per game and fewer than anyone except Gresham In fact, ever since the Eagles came up with their “ Zoo'' defense lour years ago that played a big role in the school's winning of the old Col umbia Division, Centennial \s rim Curtiss ( I I I and Itryan M e lin it i (St) demonstrate against (.resham . Centennial defense likes its sack tim e has been a tough nut to crack “ We’re not worried about how many yards we give up," plays, then go, the ball back and kicked a field goal After football “ You don't want the offense to dictate to you," Webb says Jim Webb, who coaches the Centennial detense with Jim that, however. Barlow couldn't get another point So what says. It they make lineup adjustments, you don’t want it to Mott and has been the Eagles' defensive coordinator for the happened? make you change your lineup drastically. You like to make past two seasons “ We jus, don', wan, anyone to score on us A lter that second drive, we made some adjustments," the offense adjust to your defense Generally, you can tell We emphasize that the closer you are to the goal line, the Webb says "We wen, to a flex defense, which had some ad i igh, off how things are going If the offense is tearing off big harder it is to score Reynolds had 350 yards on us last year vantages for us against a team like Barlow Their offense chunks of yardage, you have to make changes to stop that. but they only scored six points " was geared to reading our defense as the play develops We But the kids must have confidence in you from a coaching But with the personnel changes that high school loo,ball tried to make it more difficult for them to do that ” teams undergo every year, how do you keep a defense con That was all in keeping with the philosophy of defensive (Continued on Page 2X> sistently tough year after year'’ Webb says it's no big secret “ I, comes from being in the building and knowing the kids you have coming out,” he says “ We try to adapt our offense ami defense to the kids we have We fit our scheme of things to the kids we have coming back so that they 're in the posi tion of having a reasonable chance of success It's nothing tha, everybody else doesn't do.” Adapting to the available talent sometimes means aban donmg one system in favor of another every year. Webb ex plains In the two years that I've been here, we've had two different philosophies We did one thing and then we did something else las, year Bu, whatever we do. it's something that the kids can adjust to " Once Webb has his personnel together, it's a m atter of put ting the system together “ Defense is technically easier than olfense. Webb says “ The things you do are more simple In offense you have to teach the kids a variety of plays against a Io, of defenses Defense is more of a reaction type of thing I, s a m atter of know ing w hen* you belong, w hat you're sup posed to do and doing it If the kids do that, they have a chance a, being successful " Still, just having a system down is no guarantee you’re go mg to be able to hold anybody once the game starts That's where scouting comes in. both in person and on film Wilco League rules require everyone to send two game film s to pro speetive opponents Webb and the rest of the Centennial staff study the film s and review scouting reports to determine what an opponent’s tendencies are on offense They adjust their defensive strategy accordingly Our philosophy is to pick out three or four things a team really wants to do. what its offense goes on,” Webb says Then we try to take those things away and make you do something else But you can go into a game thinking you're well prepared and have nothing go rig h t." That happened to Centennial in last year's 10-7 loss to Barlow 1 He Bruins look (He opening kickoff and scored in six t
