Barons, Jackrabbits to clash

It’s an almost overwhelming prospect that the Fountain Valley High

football team will have to play its first CIF Southern Section playoff

game just four days after the death of starting offensive left tackle

Scotty Lang.

Add to the fact that Fountain Valley’s first-round opponent is top-ranked

and unbeaten Long Beach Poly, and it would seem that the Barons, who

enter the Division I playoffs with an at-large berth, would be over their

heads tonight at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the Barons have dedicated the game to

Lang as a memorial.

Fountain Valley Coach Eric Johnson knows that his team is in midst of an

extremely difficult situation, but preparations for the game have gone

despite the grief that still has gripped his team.

“A lot of these kids don’t know what to think,” Johnson said. “The grief

and shock these kids are feeling is overwhelming, and they’re looking for

answers. We voted to play this game in memory of Scotty, so the kids know

they have to be prepared. Otherwise, we’re setting ourselves up for some

injuries.”

Under normal circumstances, Johnson and the Barons figured to give the

favored Jackrabbits (10-0) a game.

Fountain Valley’s first-year head coach has met up with Poly in the last

three Division I playoffs when he was the defensive coordinator at Mater

Dei. During that period, the Monarchs went 2-1 against the Jackrabbits,

winning two CIF championships in the process.

His familiarity with Poly has allowed Johnson the luxury of knowing what

defensive schemes work - and which don’t.

“They have some very talented athletes and the key for us will be our

ability to disrupt their offense,” Johnson said. “But while that’s

important, I think that their defense, this year, is better than their

offense. Usually, it’s always been the other way around. We’ll just need

to find a way to combat their speed on both sides of the ball.”

Poly’s defense, which has posted two shutouts and has limited four other

opponents to 10 points or fewer, features a dynamic front line that,

because of an abundance of talent, has rotated between eight players.

Defensive leaders include leading tacklers Reggie Butler, a middle

linebacker, and free safety Marley Tucker, a pair of seniors who started

as sophomores when Poly won the Division I title.

In a two-game stretch this earlier in the season, the Jackrabbit defense

recorded 18 sacks in back-to-back games with Santa Barbara and Fontana.

The 1999 season was supposed to find Poly in the rebuilding stage but, as

usual, the program just reloaded.

Last year’s 12-1 squad lost 11 players to Division I scholarships,

including six players to the Pac-10 Conference. But a sophomore-laden

Jackrabbit squad, which waltzed to the Moore League championship, has

lived up to the program’s reputation, with sophomore running back Hershel

Dennis, who has gained more than 1,000 yards, emerging as the star of the

future.

Although the Poly defense has taken the spotlight this year, the

Jackrabbit offense still is averaging 32 points per game.

One advantage Fountain Valley has is that the Barons will be playing with

a 12th man.

Lang’s spirit, Johnson says, will be there, and the Fountain Valley

players will do everything they can to keep it alive.

Lang’s number, 75, will be displayed on the player’s helmets.

“Hopefully, we’ll be ready, but in a playoff game against a very good

football team, we will need to be,” Johnson added. “We’re playing for a

little bit more now.”