Prep football: End results

Barry Faulkner

Since being introduced for the first time last spring, Newport

Harbor High seniors Garrett Troncale and Ian Banigan have shared a common

bond. As starting defensive ends for the Sailors, they enjoy talking

football, swapping war stories and enjoying the success they’ve helped

the CIF Southern Section Division VI quarterfinalist achieve.

Their favorite place to hang out, however, is not the locker room. Nor

is is the beach, the mall, or just about anywhere else teen-agers

typically socialize.

Rather, these two enjoy meeting most at the quarterback.

“We both want the sack,” said Troncale, a 6-foot, 185-pound package of

strength, quickness and single-minded focus.

“We feed off each other,” said Banigan, a 6-3, 218-pound Santa

Margarita transfer who, though also extremely quick, usually relies less

on technique than brute force to leave would-be blockers in his wake.

Individually, they would give any team the kind of trench weaponry

capable of sabotaging the most well-conceived offensive plans. Together,

they envelop offenses in a parentheses of plague, invoking unprecedented

bookend bedlam.

Tonight, Kennedy High accepts the challenge in a 7:30 Division VI

quarterfinal clash at Western High.

“As a pair, they’re the best we’ve ever had,” said Newport Coach Jeff

Brinkley, in his 15th season at the school. “They make it very hard for a

team to say, ‘OK, he’s the guy we have to stop.’ You really have to block

both of them.”

Corona del Mar High Coach Dick Freeman, a veteran defensive

coordinator who can appreciate destructive play, was open about his

admiration for this dynamic duo.

“You’re not going to find two better ends,” Freeman said, before

Harbor handled his Sea Kings, 35-7, in the annual Battle of the Bay Sept.

22.

Angled inward on the perimeter of the offensive line, in what the

Sailors refer to as “arrow” alignment, the carnage clones enjoy plenty of

room to operate.

“Being able to start on the outside shade, allows us to basically cut

a man in half,” Troncale explained. “If you’re only attacking one side of

a 300-pound tackle, it’s like going against 150 pounds.”

Though both adhere to “assignment football,” a time-honored Brinkley

adage, Sailor defensive line coaches Mike Bargas and Pat Paternie believe

relentless aggression may be their biggest asset.

“They’re just good athletes, who run hard and play hard, no matter

what,” Bargas said.

“They only know one speed,” Parternie said. “We try to go half-speed

in practice, sometimes, but you can’t do it with them. They’ve even hit

Bargas and I in drills, at times, and it’s like ‘Whoa!’ ”

Said Brinkley: “They both run like running backs. They both get after

it and want to be where the action is.”

Banigan started at center, as well as defensive end at Santa Margarita

and he believes his offensive experience helps him break down opposing

blockers.

Troncale also played some offensive line. But he is, his coaches

agree, less analytical about the game.

“Ian asks a lot of questions and he’s more concerned about the big

picture. He’s very businesslike,” Paternie said.

“Garrett is more of a laid-back surfer,” Bargas said. “But you tell

him to run through a wall and he’ll go through it.”

Walling off these twin terrors has been problematic for offensive

coordinators.

They both have nine quarterback sacks and both have snuffed seven

running backs for negative yardage.

“The other team knows we’re coming,” said Troncale, who missed two

games after badly spraining an ankle in Week 4, and is just now returning

to full speed, according to his coaches.

He has 21 sacks in 22 career varsity starts and will be remembered in

Sailor lore for forcing the fumble (by drilling the quarterback in the

pocket) that teammate Andy Kalanz returned for the game-winning touchdown

in last year’s 19-18 CIF Division VI title game victory over Irvine. He

also blocked a field goal to preserve the Tars’ 12-10 league win over

Irvine last fall.

He earned first-team All-Sea View League honors, was recognized on the

Newport-Mesa District Dream Team and is one of four team captains this

fall.

Banigan, a three-year varsity starter, was second-team All-Serra

League on offense as a junior. Villanova and Colorado State are among the

schools which have already shown recruiting interest.

Both are strong candidates for All-CIF recognition this fall, though

individual accolades don’t fuel their fire.

“We just both love to play hard,” Banigan said. “That’s what it’s all

about.”

Added Troncale: “We take care of business and try to have fun doing

it.”