LJ FB: Preview of Bishop's

Bishop's head coach Joel Allen

By Ed Piper

"The student body is going to go over at 6:30," said Bishop's football coach Joel Allen of his school's fan contingent for the season opener against La Jolla at Edwards Stadium Friday night, August 26, at 7 p.m. "It should be a good crowd." Bishop's will be home team this time.

The private school began classes Mon., Aug. 19, so there has been an opportunity to build spirit toward the initial football game. In contrast, La Jolla High doesn't begin classes until a week later, following the start of the season.

"We've talked about this week for a long time. It seems like forever," said Allen, also his school's athletic director, near the end of an interview in his office the day before the game. He took a break to give a reporter an interview in the midst of other campus duties.

What was kind of humorous was that staff members had gotten the idea someone was coming to ask the coach questions in a police investigation. The reporter got a good chuckle over that, the first time that has happened in a sportswriting career bookending a 35-year teaching career. "An inspector, not a detective," the staff members clarified. I mentioned the "Father Murphy" TV program, which involves crime investigations. "I like that program," said the athletics secretary.

But Allen, a former star quarterback in his prep days at Christian High, was all business. One got a sense of what it would be like playing for such a coach, who communicated an intensity, professionalism, and higher understanding of the sport of football.

"There are three rules in football," he explained in answer to an initial question about his team's defense. "One, have fun, two, know your assignment, and three, get to the football.

"The players are working really hard, They're invested. They know their roles. They let others do their job. That's part of knowing your assignment: You don't go off your assignment and interfere with someone else's."

Asked a follow-up question about his point about "letting others do their job", Allen said, "Think about it. If I'm (playing one position), it helps me to know what the assignment of the player next to me is. If a tackle is made, the player who made the tackle is responsible. But actually it was the action of (other players who did their job) that led to the tackle."

Leaders on the squad, picked by the local metropolitan newspaper to finish third in the Coastal Conference, are senior Charlie Mossy, Chase Ladrido, and Griffin "Griff" Dooley.

"Charlie had 17 sacks last year at defensive end. We're moving him to middle linebacker. He's committed to Penn at defensive end," said the coach.

"Chase and Griff are our free and strong safeties. Charlie and Chase are team captains."

Asked the Bishop's team ethos, Allen responded, "I think one thing that's helped us, we've never thought things are going to be easy. There's an understanding of what each person does. We have very bright kids. There's very little coaching during the game, because they're out on the field. It takes a while for football to click, Maybe the sophomore year, maybe the junior year it clicks.

"So the ethos of the program is for each player to have a really good understanding of football."

Regarding Ty Buchner, a 6'2" junior who has only started four games on varsity, yet is a commit to Notre Dame, what do you surround him with to help him be successful?

"You don't," said Allen. "If we believe that 11 guys make up the team (on the field), he's just one of 11. Last year (when Buchner was lost for the season with an ACL tear on the first series of the first game), we went 5-5 and won the league title. We found we could put things together, though we could have won more games (with him at quarterback). He's just one piece."

In anticipation of the game against La Jolla, the Bishop's coach said, "To be general, we're going to try to win. We're going to have fun. It's fun to have it back on (the schedule). We really respect (Viking coach) Tyler (Roach), and we've enjoyed working with the athletic director (Paula Conway). We've stretched ourselves the last couple of years, playing Grossmont.

"There'll be some nerves and excitement. We've talked about this week, it seems like forever."