Prep football game of the week: Norco at Upland
The third- and fourth-ranked teams in the Inland Division clash tonight in what could be a playoff preview in the new-look CIF-SS Inland Division. Upland (3-0), at No. 3, is defending Central Division champion and No. 4 Norco (2-0) is a perennial contender.
Spreading the love: No longer is Norco's offense three yards and a cloud of dust, although it rarely was limited to three yards. The longtime power running game isn't exactly gone but the Cougars do their running out of a different formation.
With freshman Coltin Gerhart - the youngest son of head coach Todd Gerhart - at quarterback, Norco decided to shift from the double-wing/I formation to a spread offense. The primary weapon in the offense, however, continues to be a running back. This season that is 5-foot-10, 192-pound senior Kelsey Young, who is verbally committed to Stanford.
"They could line up in any offense and be good," Upland head coach Tim Salter said. "I think it has less to do with their offense and more to do with their players. They're a power running team out of spread offense so you have to respect the pass and still stop the run. And if you give their running back a crease he's gone. Nobody has been able to stop him out in the open yet."
Equipped for the spread: Upland's defense, which carried the Highlanders to the 2009 CIF title by allowing 10.7 points per game, largely was effective because of its speed. Hence, Salter believes his team is better equipped to defend the spread offense than the Norco offense of old.
"We did pretty well against the power pitch of Tustin last week," Salter said. "But we're more designed for spread teams and historically we've done better against spread teams."
This year's version of the Highlanders defense has allowed 14.6 points per game against a trio of teams that won 27 games among them last season. Neither Miller, Tustin nor Serrano, however, measure up to Norco, according to Salter.
"I think that, without a doubt, this is the toughest team we will have faced to this point," Salter said. "Miller had some speed and Tustin stayed in the same defense the whole time so it was easy to figure out how to attack it. Norco won't do that."
Who has the power: Just two years ago Upland had a Stanford-bound star running its own high-scoring version of the spread offense. Now that quarterback Josh Nunes is in Palo Alto and given the development of the Upland defense, the Highlanders' offense resembles more of a clock-controlling game that would make Norco proud.
Quarterback Justin Nunes has been a good game manager for Upland while the running back duo of junior Donta Abron (31 carries, 173 yards, two TDs) and senior Cole Chapman (47-229, four TDs) have provided ample offense on the ground.
About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
Email Clay here
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