DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
ELSA – Cedar Park football coach Carl Abseck has only seen a few games of film on Edcouch-Elsa, his Class 5A, Division II, regional quarterfinal opponent Friday in San Antonio.
But he knows what makes the Yellowjackets tick.
“That program has a reputation for being aggressive, physical kids who play hard on defense,” Abseck said. “What I’ve seen matches up with that. They just fly to the ball.”
Defense and Edcouch-Elsa are synonymous. It’s been that way for decades, and it’s certainly that way now with five former Yellowjacket defensive standouts coaching that side of the ball: Joe Marichalar (head coach), Danny Perez (defensive coordinator), Martin Marichalar (defensive line), Victor Cardenas (defensive backs) and Xavier Zavala (assistant).
And it’s defense that has gotten Edcouch-Elsa (8-4) this far this season. Through a bout of injuries that hindered the offense early and often, through a three-game losing streak that almost derailed any hopes of postseason success, and through this point, with the Yellowjackets making a return to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
“We’re known for defense, and we’re just trying to protect the tradition,” senior linebacker Rigo Ayala said. “That’s been our thing all year long. We know Edcouch-Elsa and defense go hand-in-hand, so we take pride in making sure we do our jobs every time we step on the field.”
NEW POINTS OF ATTACK
The Yellowjackets allow 18.6 points on 243.1 yards per game. They surrender just 4.1 yards per rush and 11.9 yards per pass completion. Five times, they’ve held opponents to 14 or fewer points.
It was a goal-line defensive stand last week against 10-1 Somerset that earned the Yellowjackets a ticket to the third round. With 1:16 left and holding a 21-14 lead, Ayala and middle linebacker Sammy Alaniz stuffed running back Josh Avila for a negative-2-yard loss on 4th-and-1 from the E-E 1 to preserve the win.
“I like the fight,” said Marichalar, a former All-State linebacker in the late ‘90’s. “It’s a group that’s very resilient. We’ve gone through stretches where we don’t have our entire personnel, so they take it upon themselves to keep games in check and keep this team in games. When things don’t go well and we manage to stay in games, it speaks to our defense.”
Defense at Edcouch-Elsa starts early. Coaches identify kids and their strengths as freshmen. The more mentally tough and aggressive kids are put on defense. The more athletic kids go on offense.
From there, growth takes place during the offseason. Players spend a lot of time in the weight room, and every year they see progress physically.
“We’re a weight-room defense,” Ayala said. “That means we’re about strength, we’re about hitting. It starts in the summers when we get in the weight room, and then we transition that work onto the field.”
This year, the Yellowjackets’ coaching staff got more technical. Generally focused on explicitly teaching the 4-3 base defense and technique, coaches applied more detail.
For defensive backs, that meant tackling lower to take the head out of the hit, similar to what Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks do. For linebackers, it meant specific drill-work every week. Depending on the type of offense they’d face that particular week, linebackers were drilled on open-field tackling or tight tackling closer to the line of scrimmage. Defensive linemen got more reps of contact.
“Coming into this year, we were just OK at tackling,” Alaniz said. “It wasn’t great. People would get yards after the catch or after the run on us. This year, we worked a lot on where to aim and making contact at the right spots.”
READING AND REACTING
The foundation of Edcouch-Elsa’s defense, however, is not in its tackling or even the intangibles preached day in and day out by Marichalar, like being mentally tough and all 11 guys to the ball.
It’s in the read-and-react nature of the system. The thorough teaching of the base defense and proper technique results in knowing a situation and reacting accordingly. “Automatics,” as Marichalar calls them.
No thinking. Just playing.
A primary product of the system is Alaniz. At 5-foot-11, 220 pounds, he is a prototypical old-school linebacker, a run-plugger with a knack for always making the big play. Alaniz leads the team with 193 total tackles (67 solo) and two fumble recoveries. He also has 2.0 sacks, an interception and nine total tackles for loss.
Alaniz has earned Marichalar’s trust. The coach allows his all-state player to make his own decisions on the field, even if it’s contrary to what the defense calls for.
Marichalar has no problem letting Alaniz “pull the trigger” because of his feel for the game. That comes from Alaniz’s extensive time in the film room.
Alaniz understands tendencies and often has a gut feeling for an offensive lineman’s ability or what an offensive coordinator may call on a certain down-and-distance.
“You can throw off the offense if you do it right, and I try and do that,” Alaniz said. “You move up, they can change the call, and then you drop back and you can get them off. Little stuff like that makes a difference. It puts the offense in a bind and really gives us an edge.”
Alaniz is also able to roam around because of the talent around him. Defensive linemen Julio Contreras (109 total tackles) and Seth Garcia (15.0 sacks) smother the run game. Ayala is the rock of the linebacking corps, quiet but deadly. And defensive backs Noe Rodriguez and Adrian Rodriguez have combined for 10 interceptions and 22 pass break-ups, quick enough to stay in pass coverage but smart enough to know when to use that speed and attack alleys in the opponent’s run game.
“There’s a lot of tradition here, and we know it well,” Noe Rodriguez said. “We have to live up to it. There’s a lot of guys who played here who did some great things, and we feel we can do some great things too. The work we’ve put in got us here and we just want to keep this going.”