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    | | | | | | | | | | | | Water Polo search Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH › › Notebook: St. Bonaventure's defense to be put to the test By ( ) Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Download this story as a podcast! STORY TOOLS More from Water Polo The best offensive player on the St. Bonaventure High football team could see only limited touches in one of the biggest games in the program's history. Having USC-bound Patrick Hall at his best on defense is the Seraphs' No. 1 priority for Friday's road game against the No. 1-ranked team in the state Long Beach Poly. "Our game plan is to get Patrick the ball as long as he can stay fresh on defense," said St. Bonaventure coach Todd Therrien. If St. Bonaventure gets behind by 10 or more points, that strategy could change. Against a Long Beach Poly program that is ranked No. 4 in the nation by MaxPreps and No. 6 in polls by ESPN/Rise Magazine and USA Today, it is the St. Bonaventure defense that takes center stage. That is a departure for many of the major confrontations that the program has encountered over the past 10 years. In past years, St. Bonaventure looked to running backs Lorenzo Booker, Matt Lee, Michael Lee and Darrell Scott, wide receiver/running back Whitney Lewis and quarterbacks from Jack Swisher to Brian Stevens to Matt Evans to Casey Serna to light up the scoreboard. Scoring could be difficult for St. Bonaventure this week. "Long Beach Poly probably has the best defense that I have seen at the high school level," said Therrien. Among the Long Beach Poly defensive players attracting interest from Division I schools include Iuta Tepa, Matthew Jones, Juwuan Brown and George Daily-Lyles. "There's a fine line between playing well offensively with Patrick and without him," said Therrien. "If we are playing well defensively and we're still in the game, Patrick will get his touches." Before it took a one-week break, St. Bonaventure saw Hall make a major offensive impact against then-nationally ranked Crespi. In just four carries, Hall rushed for 146 yards, including two long touchdowns in a 31-14 win. In this week's preparation for Long Beach Poly, Therrien will have his No. 1 offense practice against the No. 1 defense. It will be as close as the Seraphs can get to seeing the kind of speed on both sides of the ball that they will see in the game. Take away the rankings and hype about the two teams' talent, it still comes down to basics, says Therrien. "Whether it's the Super Bowl or a youth football game," Therrien said, "if you can block and tackle better than the other team, you can win the game. "We'll have to tackle dudes that haven't been tackled much before." Making waves: When Karly Jones undertook an ambitious plan to organize a Channel Islands boys' water polo program three years ago, she had the bare minimum of players — seven — to start a game. Not all had taken swimming lessons. Not much has changed since that first fall season. Oh, the numbers are up. Jones has her pick of 18 on the varsity roster. Assistant coach David Haynes has taken four newcomers under his wing in a learn-to-swim program. And the team still has to make its way over to Hueneme to practice. Channel Islands continues to maintain an abbreviated freelance program. What has changed are the results. Not only did Channel Islands beat Hueneme, 17-5, last Tuesday for the program's first-ever win, the Raiders followed that up with a 9-3 victory on Thursday to improve to 2-2. In the first win over Hueneme, senior co-captains Ed Harkless (eight goals) and Ian Elsenheimer (six assists and four steals) were the leaders. Jairo Camarena had four goals, four steals and three assists, while Zane Elsenheimer had 14 blocks and four assists. "I have several players who have been with me for the three years," said Jones. "My goal was to get our first win for them. I wanted them to experience that feeling of winning." Scheduling games has been difficult for Jones. Until this year, she could not assure prospective opponents that there would be enough players on her team to actually have a game. Channel Islands has eight games on its schedule as well as another four or five games this weekend in a tournament at Anaheim Canyon. The team's next step is to become a full-fledged member of the Pacific View League for boys' water polo next fall. All other Channel Islands' sports teams are in the PVL. — Derry Eads' e-mail address is . Discussions Posted by Chiva on October 7, 2008 at 12:14 a.m. ( ) St. Bonizzy, in the LBCizzy, on Friday Nightizzy laying it down with the JackRabbitizzy. Will the D-O-GG be in attendance? Can the Jack Rabbits play for 4 quarters? Can the Seraphs limit the Rabs to minimal yards on first and second down when they hit em w/ Power O. I guess we will see on Friday huh. Discuss this article (Requires free .) 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