'They had an off year.' After disappointing 2016, Patterson has Downey's attention
They’re baaack.
That chilling message has been delivered time and time again by Jeremy Plaa as his Downey High football team prepares for a road trip to Patterson. The Knights visit Patterson Community Stadium Friday.
Downey is ranked No. 4 in The Bee’s large-school power ranking, while Patterson is also 1-0 heading into its home opener. The Tigers were a disappointing 2-8 last fall, just one year removed from the program’s first undefeated regular season and a Western Athletic Conference championship.
Patterson lost eight of its first nine games, including a 50-21 loss at Chuck Hughes Stadium.
“I look at our game last year and see it as an anomaly more than anything else,” Plaa said. “We got up on them early. We’ve been preaching to the kids that you don’t get games like that against Patterson. It’s going to be a dogfight. They had an off year last year.
“Watching them on film, they’re really athletic. They have some really tall and fast kids. Some of them don’t leave the field very often, which tells you their special athletes.”
Downey (1-0) expects another down-to-the-wire finish. Last week, the Knights survived a wild shootout at Buhach Colony, 58-55. Miles Lewis scored from the 10 in the second overtime to send Downey home in celebration.
The Knights showed their resolve in that game, rallying from a 20-point deficit in the first half.
Buhach Colony’s Fly Sweep offense gashed Downey early, taking advantage of their youth and inexperience on the interior line. Downey shuffled its rotation along the defensive line just hours before game time after learning two starters would be unavailable.
“We had to roll with kids who hadn’t taken many reps in practice, so we got gutted inside,” Plaa said. “We had to fix that interior run. (Patterson) will come right at us, because we couldn’t stop the run.”
What changed? Easy, Plaa says, momentum.
Trailing 28-8 with under a minute left in the first half, UCLA-bound athlete Isaiah Johnson scored on a 40-yard run to give the Knights hope in the halftime locker room.
“Everything went wrong for us in the first half,” Plaa said, “but as long as we got momentum, I knew we wouldn’t let it go. With momentum on your side, your defense is going to look better.”
Decimated by injury last fall, Patterson coach Rob Cozart has reloaded his “Spread ’em and Shred ’em” triple-option offense.
Gabe Sanchez returns under center. The dual-threat quarterback threw for 788 yards and rushed for 494 more in seven games last fall. He played defensive back against Downey, recording an interception.
Sanchez rushed for two scores and threw another as Patterson avenged a loss to Palo Alto with a 37-27 triumph in last week’s season opener.
“He looks faster this year,” Plaa said of Sanchez. “He can run and throw; he has a great arm. They’re a triple-option team, but they’ll throw the ball down the field. Last year, they had the kid that was supposed to go to Nevada (Pierre Williams). This year, they had two or three kids that aren’t as good as him but pretty close.”
Sanchez is surrounded by playmakers.
He’ll stretch the field with twin 6-foot-2 receivers James Perez and Joe Okitukunda, both of whom found the end zone last week. Okitukunda scored on a 12-yard run, while Perez reeled in a 15-yard pass from Sanchez.
Fullbacks David Valverde (5-6, 180) and Jacob Vainuku (5-11, 235) hit like a ton of bricks, while wingbacks Kendrick Bond and Nate Garcia provide a speed element.
"They’re good. They’re legit,” Plaa warned. “There’s no about it.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 1:54 PM with the headline "'They had an off year.' After disappointing 2016, Patterson has Downey's attention."