Vanden football team not relying on last year’s heroics

FAIRFIELD — The 2010 Vanden High football team made history as the first 16th seed to knock off a No. 1 in the first round of the current Sac-Joaquin Section playoff format by thumping Manteca 55-22.

Coach LeVon Haynes is proud of that fact, but to him, as his 13th-seeded Vikings head out to play at No. 4 Los Banos in their Division III opener Friday, it’s essentially ancient history.

“It does (help), but it’s something you can’t really harp on because that was last year,” Haynes said. “We’re a different team than we were last year. That was a great accomplishment for the team last year. Now it’s time to accomplish something with this year’s team. . . . We have to create our own momentum in the playoffs to take it to the next round.”

Vanden (7-3) carries with it on the 132-mile bus ride to Los Banos momentum from last week’s 54-49 victory over Rodriguez, a thriller decided by Ben Scott’s slant pass to Christian Basden with 4.5 seconds to play.

The Vikings also carry with them the knowledge that they have to tighten things up defensively — a lot.

Los Banos (9-1) averages 37.1 points per game while giving up just 16.0, according to Maxpreps.com, and can both run (222.2 yards per game) and pass (129.2) with authority.

“They do some things really well,” Haynes said. “They run really well. They throw the ball pretty good. They’re a well-balanced football team. They’ve won nine straight games. They play hard. They’ve got good speed on defense.”

So do the Vikings, but they’ve had trouble stopping the run of late, giving up more than 300 yards rushing and 400 total in four of their last five games.

No wonder Haynes said the key to tonight’s game is “the same thing it’s been the last couple weeks: We’ve got to defend the run, got to do things we need to do on defense. We’ve been working on getting technique down. We’ve been in the right place, but didn’t finish technique-wise.”

Quarterback Ben Scott’s technique was nearly flawless against Rodriguez, hitting on 19 of 22 passes for 320 yards and five touchdowns. He completed seven passes to Basden for 95 yards and four to J.J. Hong for 92 yards and three touchdowns. Other than a pair of two-point conversion tosses, he didn’t connect with Cody Holbein until the fourth quarter, the most important completion a 25-yard hookup in the final 20 seconds that set up the game-winning throw.

On the season, Basden’s caught an area-best 43 passes, Holbein 33, Hong 32, David Bucannon 26 and Oshea Bryant 11.

“I think it’s meant a lot to (Scott) to have different guys to go to every game,” Haynes said. “Lots of guys have stepped up in different ways.”

They’ll need to step up again tonight, as will Scott, who was nearly as accurate against Manteca last November as he was against Rodriguez, completing 16 of 20 passes for 320 yards and two TDs.

“We just have to buckle down and play good, solid football,” Haynes said. “That’s what it comes down to when you make the playoffs.”

Reach Paul Farmer at 425-4646 Ext. 264 or pfarmer@dailyrepublic.net.

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Posted by Paul Farmer on Nov 10 2011.

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