SD Prep Sports: Football
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Consistency key for Highlanders
By Joe Naiman
After starting the season with a 55-21 win over the defending CIF
Division I champion, Helix High School's football team has shown the
potential to repeat as the Division II champs. The win also showed
potential for weaknesses, which Helix hopes to improve during the
season.
"We do have big playmakers, but we want to be able to be more
consistent," said Helix coach Gordon Wood.
Although the Highlanders went 13-0 last year, including a sweep of
their four Grossmont South League games, the team returns only four
starters on offense, one of whom is Reggie Bush, who has moved from wing
to halfback. On defense the Highlanders return two full-time starters,
both cornerbacks, from last year.
"It was quite a job that Donny Van Hook did on Friday night," Wood
said of his defensive coordinator. "I thought he did a heck of a job
against that offense."
While Bush scored four of Helix's eight touchdowns in the opener
against Fallbrook, the other four were scored by running backs Darell
Hutsona and Rajive Otah and receiver Charlie Smith, all juniors who
spent 2000 on Helix's JV. Wood notes that the team's skills aren't
limited to the players who score points. "All those guys are going to
be key."
Between the 2000 and 2001 football seasons, Hutsona and Bush were
on the Helix track team and were members of the 4x400 relay team which
won the gold medal at the state meet.
The game against Fallbrook showed another area in which Helix could
improve. "Special teams we need to work on. That one punt return (a
95-yard touchdown by Bush) was all Reggie," Wood remarked.
While Wood has yet to lose a game since taking over as the
Highlanders' coach, he doesn't feel that the season's remaining games
will be easy. "Just going to take it one game at a time and see what
happens," he noted. "You can't tell by one game, obviously. Depends on
how fast they get experience and how healthy they stay and how they do
in the classroom."
Another CIF title would mean an additional
12 games for Helix
this season. Wood feels that the team has the potential to repeat.
"I'm always real optimistic about the team. I think that's the only way
to coach."