By Ed Piper
Members of the Bishop's football team know who La Jolla linebackers Max Smith and Jack Wiese are--even if they can't pronounce the latter's last name.
"Wice?" asked Amaan Banks, starting running back for Head Coach Joel Allen's explosive Knights offense, tentatively. A reporter corrected him, "Weese". This was before a team video session Mon., Oct. 7, during last period at the private school.
"I was surprised" when Smith and Wiese and the interior defense of the Vikings provided such a stiff resistance in the first quarter of the two team's August 23 season opener, Banks admitted.
La Jolla, traditionally, hasn't been known for putting up the physical, even punishing opposition that Smith, Wiese, Dirk Germon and others have shown to the run this season.
Clarence Freeman IV, one of the Knights' prime receivers, also acknowledged Smith and Wiese.
Early in the Vikings-Knights clash at Edwards Stadium on week one, Bishop's Offensive Coordinator Danny Mitchell and Allen altered plans for their offense. Finding the middle clogged up for Banks pretty well, they called plays for quarterback Ty Buchner to employ Freeman more frequently.
Freeman began to catch passes down the right sideline, on the outside--avoiding Smith, Wiese, Germon, and company directly.
Banks, rushing 11 times for only 21 yards against La Jolla, has since carried 42 times for 308 yards to help lead the explosive Knights to five blowout wins, including two in which the team scored over 70 points in each game.
Amaan, who stands 5'9", 185 pounds, only nabbed one reception in the Viking game for 17 yards. Last week against Orange Glen in a 73-32 annihilation, Amaan amassed 164 yards on six catches.
Bishop's defeated La Jolla, 18-7. The two teams were tied midway through the third quarter. Since that game, the Knights' minimum differential of winning has been 29 points.
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