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By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

 

Since the first day he walked onto East St. John’s campus as head football coach, Phillip Banko has made it his mission to make the idea of team over individuals a permanent part of his program’s culture.

The furthering of that idea was fully on display Friday night at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium, as the Wildcats played their annual Black and Gold spring scrimmage before their fans.

It was a night that saw the defense come away with a 26-15 victory — significant in that it’s a departure from the usual offensive dominance on display at the game.

The offense was the “gold team” and the defense was the “black team” in the scrimmage.

But this year there were no numbers on the player’s jerseys, something Banko said he adopted from his days as an assistant at John Curtis.

“The biggest thing is we’re a team. We don’t have stickers on our helmets or numbers on the jerseys,” said Banko. “I got that from J.T. Curtis. We try to emulate them … We’re a team. We’re one, with one heartbeat. We discussed it as a staff and it’s what we decided to do.”

Last season, Banko liked to speak of his defense as a “no-name” unit that overcame its lack of star-power with grit and unselfish play.

He had to limit the “no-name” label to his defense, and not the full team, however — there was no question that the team had a superstar in senior quarterback sensation Darion Monroe, who signed with Tulane earlier this year.

Monroe was at the scrimmage Friday, assisting the ESJ staff in coaching up the players and in general showing the same leadership he did as a player.

But his absence from the on-field activities, Banko said, means his players have each had to take on more ownership over their team.

“Last year, we get down to third or fourth down, and everyone looks at D-Bo like, ‘So, what are you gonna do now?’” said Banko. “This year, everyone understands that it’s not on someone else to do it. It’s on each and every guy.”

Who will step in for Monroe has not been settled, and according to Banko, nor will it be until the team’s jamboree later this year. But Leonard Davis started with the first team on Friday and got the offense off to a strong start, connecting with Deszmann Broussard on a 70-yard touchdown to push the offense ahead 6-4. (The defense earned points for three-and-outs, sacks and turnovers).

The defensive team took back the lead with the second teamers on the field on an interception by Darren Darensburg. That made it 7-6. With the first teamers back out, an interception by Deston Stewart made it a 10-6 lead for the defensive team.

The defense continued to extend its lead. A pair of sacks and a third down pass breakup pushed things to 13-6.

The first team offense had a chance to make a move thwarted when a drive deep into defensive territory resulted in Xavier Lewis intercepting a Davis pass intended for Broussard in the endzone. That made it 19-6.

The black team lead would grow as large as 14 at 20-6. Then the third team punched back for the offense, as Torien Etienne broke a 40-yard run that set up a Clyde Marcel 2-yard touchdown plunge. That resulted in nine offensive points — Etienne’s long run cashed in three for the offense before the score — making it 20-15.

But the defense iced the game from there. The first team offense had one last chance to answer, and seemed on their way after Davis scrambled for 20 yards into defensive territory. But Stewart intercepted Davis to collect his second turnover of the night, ending the scrimmage and capping a sterling defensive performance on the night.

Banko said that the performances at quarterback by Davis, Lewis and Gerald Munoz were not spectacular, but it was to be expected from a group of new passers in a shortened spring session. The game was played after just seven days of spring practice.

“Our guys were a little sloppy in terms of putting it in the right spot, but we really didn’t throw (this spring). We will this summer,” said Banko. “We’ve been working in the weight room … All three guys did what we wanted.”

As far as the defense, Banko was pleased with his front seven especially.

“We’ve established a front seven that looks pretty doggone good,” said Banko. “We needed to be tougher coming out of this thing. We’re right where we want to be.”