The Acorn's High School Football Game of the Week

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers GIFT OF GRAB—Oak Park High senior wide receiver Justin Romano leaps and pulls down a pass during practice drills. Physical vs. finesse.

At one end of the spectrum is the Oak Park High football team, which, under the leadership of longtime head coach Dick Billingsley, has always played a smash-mouth brand of ball predicated on an inyourface option running attack and tough-as-nails defense.

Flip the script and you've got Grace Brethren, a program that's gone pass-happy since qualifying for back-to-back CIF-Southern Section title games in 2004 and '05.

On Friday night at OPHS, the two contrasting styles will collide on the gridiron once again, although in a non-league matchup, as Grace Brethren now competes in the Frontier League after an unrewarding two-year stint in the Tri-Valley League.

Grace Brethren, 5628 losers to Big Bear in its season opener last weekend, will be searching for a win and some redemption—the Lancers have lost four of five contests to Oak Park since 2004, with the only victory coming in the '05 postseason.

The Eagles, meanwhile, just want to begin their season on a positive note after replacing 20 of 22 starters from last season's co-league-title-winning ballclub.

"Even though we don't have a lot of kids returning, we still have a lot of fight in the dog," said Billingsley, who told The Acorn last week that this will be his final season coaching Oak Park.

"Our main focus this week is to play very, very well and as physical as we did in our scrimmages."

What concerns GBHS head coach Terry Gourley most about Oak Park is the Eagles' history of manhandling teams at the line of scrimmage.

With only 22 players on their roster, the Lancers don't have the luxury of moving players in and out of the lineup very often. They have to go with what they've got for 48 minutes, and sometimes that means getting pushed around at the point of attack.

"We can't instantly get more physical with two days of practice," Gourley said. "We are trying to practice from that perspective and see if we can't get some guys who want to hit and want to play defense. We'll see."

Against Big Bear, the Lancer defense allowed eight scores on 37 offensive plays. That type of easy offensive execution must have Oak Park senior quarterback Kyle Andrus and Co. licking their collective chops to get on the field in front of their home fans.

"Oak Park is very systematic in its approach to the game," Gourley said. "If they show you something that you can't stop, they'll just stay with it."

Still, Billingsley expects Grace Brethren to put up a better battle on both sides of the ball than they did in the mountains.

"One thing about Grace Brethren is they always have fight," Billingsley said.

"Sometimes it's just a matter of them putting points on the board early and maintaining their ability to score."

The Lancers' biggest advantage may be the fact that they've played a game already and Oak Park hasn't. Knocking away the offseason rust could be an issue early on for OPHS.

"It's definitely an advantage," Gourley said. "(Oak Park) has been through a scrimmage, but they haven't gone to game speed yet, and we have, although with only limited success."

Players to Watch

Outlook

Oak Park's pass defense will be put to the test early and often in this game. The Eagles must put pressure on Ramay, Grace Brethren's talented gunslinger, to break his rhythm. The Lancers are high-octane all the way. In fact, don't be surprised if they go for it every time on fourth down.