Dennis Stubbs has built a heck of a résumé since he took over a struggling program at Le Grand High. Then still a young coach, Stubbs' challenge was to revive a program that had lost 26 games in a row. It didn't take long. In only Stubbs' second year, the Bulldogs won a league title.
Later came a successful stint at Golden Valley, which had recently opened as Merced's second high school. Stubbs and the Cougars went to two Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship games, losing to Jesuit (21-19 in 1995) and Grant (33-13 in 1999). But he left GV after 12 years and went to Los Banos.
It looked as if it might be Stubbs' biggest challenge. The once-proud program was struggling when Stubbs walked in three years ago, having posted a 5-25 overall record and winning just one Central California Conference game in the previous three years.
When Stubbs and the Tigers beat Buhach Colony 34-20 in the fourth week of the 2007 season, it snapped a 14-game conference losing streak.
So how fitting is it that Stubbs and the Tigers clinched the outright CCC title Friday night with a 48-47 win over — who else? — Buhach Colony. The game was as close as it looks, as Dylan Marques intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the game and set off a city-wide celebration.
"The football program had been down, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with hard work and motivation," said Stubbs, who was an assistant under legendary Merced coach Mark Speckman. "Los Banos had come into the CCC three years earlier, and it seemed as if they ran a different offense every season."
Stubbs' first move was too stabilize the program by installing offensive and defensive schemes that fit LB's personnel, and the parents did their part by starting a booster club to support the program.
Following Friday's spectacular win, the Tigers are 18-13 overall and 12-6 in the CCC under Stubbs. They made the playoffs last year, losing in the first round to eventual Division 1 champ St. Mary's, and they'll be in the playoffs again this Friday night.
"I'm real big on being organized and disciplined," Stubbs said. "I have a plan and I do my best to follow it. I also think it's important to surround yourself with good people. I've got great assistants here, from the guys on the freshman team to the varsity."
The transition was made easier because Stubbs brought with him Joe Rivera and Rabene Keen from GV. Rivera came to coach linebackers and Keene came to run the defense — and the results are telling.
LB had been outscored by 431 points in the three years before Stubbs, but the Tigers have outscored foes by 192 points the last three years — a 623-point swing.
The irony is that Friday's title, the school's first CCC crown, is also its last. LB joins the Western Athletic Conference next fall, along with the city's new high school, Pacheco.
That means we've got a monster game next fall: State power Central Catholic also will play in the WAC.
MO, AS IN MOMENTUM — The pride is back at Modesto High, which carries a six-game win streak into the playoffs following a 28-13 win over Enochs. It secured the Modesto Metro Conference title and extended one of the most memorable seasons in years for a Modesto city team.
The Panthers are all about balance with two 1,000-yard runners (tailback John Ingram has 1,292 yards and fullback Arquel Rogers has 1,049 yards) and a 1,000-yard passer (Klayton Miller with 1,173 yards), It's the first time that has been done at Modesto, coach Rod Long said, and his Panthers hope to add another "first" to the season.
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