Basic primed to answer wake-up call

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

Basic coach Cliff Frazier sensed a week before it actually happened that, despite a 5-0 record, his Wolves were heading toward a disaster.

The Wolves were not tackling well. They were taking unnecessary penalties. They just looked flat in a 37-16 win against Mojave in their final game before Southeast Division play.

How right Frazier was. The next week, Basic dropped a stunning 45-35 decision against Silverado in one of the season's biggest upsets.

"That was a big wake-up call for a lot of people," Basic senior quarterback Chris Montano said. "I think a lot of people thought we were going to go in and just run over them. I'm kind of glad that it happened because now we know that we're beatable."

Another loss to Foothill relegated Basic to the bottom of the Southeast, where the Wolves (SE-4, 7-2) grabbed the fourth and final playoff spot that earns them a Friday night date at Las Vegas (NE-1, 9-0) in an intriguing quarterfinal of the Sunrise Region tournament.

After upending Southeast champion Coronado in the final week of the regular season, Basic exudes a refreshed confidence that suggests it is ready to rejoin the city's elite.

"It showed people that we're still here," Montano said. "Just because we lost those two games doesn't mean we're out of it. Don't look ahead of us."

Basic certainly learned that no opponent can be overlooked, though it did not initially seem that lesson would be necessary.

A preseason favorite along with Foothill to win the Southeast, Basic saw its title hopes dashed with two weeks left to play. Being chopped down at the trunk by Silverado and Foothill forced Frazier and the Wolves to take a hard look at themselves and their goals.

"We got away from playing our type of football," Frazier said. "We didn't tackle well in some of those games. We just didn't do a lot of things right that we were doing before."

Basic's vaunted passing offense still performed up to its regard, but the Wolves failed to effectively run and defend. They gave up 94 points in two weeks and faced a must-win game against Green Valley just to qualify for the postseason.

The Gators, though, went through a down year and never really challenged Basic despite a 28-14 final. With the pressure-filled win out of the way, the Wolves played loose against the Cougars and served notice of their resurgence with a one-point win.

"We went out and had a really good game offensively and defensively," Frazier said. "It was big for us to get back on track going into the playoffs."