He Has His Guard Up : Bruce DuBois Proves That Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better

Bruce DuBois, a nose guard from Edison High School, proved for two seasons that size doesn’t measure football talent.

DuBois, who is 5-feet 9-inches and 167 pounds, often played against opponents who outweighed him by nearly 100 pounds.

Yet, DuBois established school records for sacks for a season (14) and for a career (22). He was named the Sunset League’s leading defensive player.

He will be the starting nose guard for the South in the 28th Orange County All-Star football game for graduated seniors July 17 in Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium.

DuBois, 17, has proven to be effective in recent practices.

“I finally had to pull him out of practice because we couldn’t execute our running plays,” said Bolsa Grande’s Greg Shadid, South coach. “If you didn’t know better, you would think he knows the plays. He’s one of the quickest linemen I’ve ever seen.”

DuBois’ coach at Edison, Dave White, is not surprised by such praise.

“He’s a typical Edison lineman who played tailback on our lower level teams, and then we converted him into a defensive lineman,” White said. “We like that quickness on the line.”

White likes to recall how DuBois intercepted a handoff against El Modena last season and ran 70 yards for a touchdown.

“I’d never seen that before,” White said. “He outran everybody for a touchdown. A year earlier, he played one of the best games I’ve ever seen a nose guard have in our championship game against (Long Beach) Poly.

“He was really outsized that night, but he played a great game. They never could get their running game going, and Bruce was voted player of the game.”

Despite his success, DuBois said he was surprised to be selected to the all-star team.

“One of my goals since my junior year was to play in the all-star game,” he said. “I went to last year’s game to watch (former teammates) Rick Justice and Franco Pagnanelli play.

“I thought they might think I was too small. I dream about being bigger, but I think being so small had a lot to do with my success. It’s made me more determined.

“Most of the guys I’ve gone up against think they’re going to kill me. I played with Vince Legaspi (5-9, 170) on the defensive line, and everybody laughed at us. But we were the ones doing the laughing at the end of most games.”

DuBois’ technique is relatively simple. He tries to find a gap between the center and guard and then use his quickness to make a tackle. He said pass rushing is his forte.

“I try to slip around most of the bigger guys,” he said. “I don’t try to overpower anybody. My line coach, Terry Lorentzen, taught me to always play with a big heart.

“If an offensive lineman gets you on one play, come back and get him on the next play. I was double-teamed most of the time last year, but we still got the job done.”

DuBois’ rise to become the Chargers’ best defensive lineman is a result of hard work and dedication. He was a guard on the Chargers’ second freshman team and a reserve the beginning his sophomore season.

He got his break his sophomore season when a teammate was injured early in the second game. DuBois came in and recorded three sacks at nose guard. Midway through the season, he moved to tailback when the Chargers had more injuries.

“I remember Bruce’s sophomore year when Edison was playing Fountain Valley,” said Bill Workman, the Chargers’ former coach, now at Orange Coast College. “Edison lost two running backs in a matter of minutes and had nobody left.

“The coaches put Bruce in at tailback, and on his second carry, he went 72 yards for the winning touchdown. Everybody said, ‘Look at that little nose guard go.’ ”

DuBois will be reunited with Workman in the fall at Orange Coast, and DuBois considered moving to outside linebacker. But Workman insisted that DuBois remain at nose guard.

“With players like Bruce, you don’t measure them or weigh them,” Workman said. “You just let them play. I’m not going to be the one to tell him he’s too small to play nose guard.”

Prep Notes

Former Edison lineman Randy Gowens has left Cal State Long Beach and will enroll at Golden West College in the fall. . . . Reservations are being accepted for the first Southern Section invitational golf tournament, scheduled for Aug. 27 at the California Country Club in Whittier. Among the celebrities scheduled to play in the shotgun scramble are Wes Parker, Pat Haden, Jamaal Wilkes and Rick Dees. Entry fee is $150. . . . Former Esperanza running back Jim Farrell has left the University of Colorado and transferred to Fullerton College, where he will be eligible in the fall. Farrell established a county record with 32 touchdowns three years ago at Esperanza. . . . Reggie Brown, a former Buena Park three-sport star, will play baseball at Lewis and Clark College next season. . . . Mike Barron has resigned as Buena Park football coach to assume a similar position at Santiago. . . . North roster additions: Cypress wide receiver Troy O’Leary (6-0, 170), Orange defensive end Chris Macias (6-0, 215), Cypress lineman Brad Heidelberg (6-2, 255) and Sunny Hills lineman Shannon Lawler (6-1, 225). . . . The Orange Invitational basketball tournament has added Orting High of Tacoma, Wash., and Palm Beach Garden High of Florida. Orting has won Washington’s state championship twice in the past three seasons, and Palm Beach Garden was a semifinalist in the large school division of Florida’s state tournament.