Lakewood Football

Lancers Face Powerhouse in El Rancho

FLASHING-"V for Victory" and smiling surety, Lakewood High gridders indicate that they expect a horde of fans to be aboard special buses that will journey to the Coliseum Friday night for the Lancer-El Rancho CIF playoff game. Leading the way-and the enthusiasm-are Head Coach John Ford (on steps) and assistant Roy Woolbright.

Press-Telegram
Wednesday, December 7, 1966

Dons Boast They're Defensive Factory

By Frank Lieberman

The biggest "scrapbook" in the world will be displayed Friday night when Lakewood tangles with El Rancho at the Coliseum in a CIF 4-A semi-final football game.

Mater Dei clashes with Anaheim at the Big A in the other semi-final contest. The scrapbook is the El Rancho offense, a powerhouse that's tallied 455 points in 11 outings this season.

"We term our offense the "scrapbook" because it's what you read about in the newspapers," explained Don coach Ernie Johnson. "At El Rancho sure we have a fine offense, but we're the defensive football school."

Johnson is so right. The Dons' defense has allowed only 40 points in the 11 game span. "Defense will win games when the offense is sputtering. And unlike many phases of the offensive game, defense can be taught. All it takes is 11 or 12 willing players. "Desire and the will to win can make a great defensive ballplayer. The defense doesn't get the headlines, so the kids have to be conditioned to be the secondary heroes when in essence they're the real winners. Centennial proved that. "Their defensive weakness caught up with them. Everyone knew that they could be scored upon, and Lakewood found the key to beat them.

"I've had some fine football players here, including some of the present ones," added Johnson. "Rick Pope is a fine quarterback and so was Tom Egan. But I didn't teach them to throw the ball. I'm just not that type of coach. If anyone could teach a boy to throw, it would be John T. Ford. "Ron Drake was another boy I've coached. I might have taught him some patterns, but his receiving ability and fine hands came at birth. It's certainly rare if a boy develops things like these."

Johnson has two concerns about the game. The first is Lakewood and the second is the weather. "I was disappointed playing Blair under the conditions we had last week. And I certainly don't want this game ruined by mud and rain," explained Johnson.

Reports say that the Rose Bowl was the worst site of all for last week's football quarterfinals. Pools of water, 2-3 inches deep, were found throughout the field and neither team was able to move the ball with any consistancy. "It's just not fair to either team or the public to witness a game like that one. Blair is a fine team and it's just a shame their season had to end under those conditions.

"I think both teams this week will be hurt by rain during the game," noted the coach. "Ron Ayala's and Rick'spassing will certainly be affected by any sort of downpour. The Coliseum field is covered, so if it doesn't rain during the game we should have a pretty good field and a tough battle."