During his wildly successful 28-year run as Myrtle Point's girls basketball coach, Marty Stallard developed his signature strategy: the 1-2-2 match-up zone defense.
Between 1987 and 2015, it was the bread-and-butter for teams that won 519 games, made 23 state tournament appearances and captured 2A championships in 2003 and 2006.
After leaving Myrtle Point, Stallard resurfaced as an assistant at Marshfield, helping the Pirates to the 4A title in 2018. And now he is working his magic at Coquille, where the Red Devils are 15-1 and ranked No. 4 in the OSAAtoday 3A coaches poll.
Using his 1-2-2 zone, Coquille is holding opponents to a 3A-low 24.9 points per game. The Red Devils, fueled by their quickness, rack up 16.0 steals per game.
“There's a few guys I've showed it to, and they've all been successful with it,” Stallard, 76, said of the defense. “When you have the right kids and you can do it, you can change it up and do whatever you want. If you do it right, you can play the best teams and not let them score. You've got to have kids with heart and smarts.”
In his first season at Coquille in 2021-22, the team improved from 2-10 to 16-5 and was co-champion in the 2A Sunset Conference. The Red Devils moved to 3A and went 20-9 and 23-4 the last two seasons, both times coming within one win of the state tournament.
With the team returning virtually intact this season, “our expectations were high,” according to Stallard.
“We had a really good summer,” Stallard said. “We played about 30 games and didn't have any trouble with anyone. I knew we had a good nucleus of kids this year.”
Stallard – whose career record of 593-201 puts him at No. 3 on the state's all-time wins list behind Brad Smith (628-92) and Dave Wakefield (614-127) – said it took a season or two for the Red Devils to grasp the principles of the zone. Prior to his arrival, they had been schooled in the 2-3 zone.
“I never said the word 'no' so much as when these kids were freshmen,” Stallard said. “'No, you don't do that. No, who taught you that?' We've gotten better each year.”
The team's four seniors have been working with Stallard for four seasons, including left-handed point guard Holli Vigue, the team's catalyst. The 5-foot-9 Vigue is averaging a team-high 14.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 4.2 steals.
“When she came in, she became the point guard, and that's the one thing they lacked was a point guard,” Stallard said. “She's the one that makes us go. She's really talented.”
Junior post Alexi Lucatero (8.3 points), junior guard Synthia Salazar (7.4 points, 3.6 steals) and senior post Jenna Willis are mainstays in the starting lineup. The lightning-quick Salazar (5-4) is a terror playing the point of the 1-2-2 zone.
The only blemish on Coquille's record is a 40-37 loss to 4A No. 1 Philomath in the opening round of the South Coast Les Schwab Holiday Tournament in December. In that game, the Red Devils led by 10 points at halftime, fell behind by 10 points in the second half and rallied to within one point late.
“We had Philomath beat. We should have beat them,” Stallard said.
Coquille rebounded in the tournament to defeat two 5A teams, topping Mountain View 49-33 and Bend 48-32. The Red Devils also have defeated 4A No. 10 Marshfield 43-33, 3A No. 5 Pleasant Hill 48-39 and 1A No. 6 North Douglas 44-43.
Coquille and No. 10 Sutherlin (11-5), co-leaders in the Far West League at 3-0, meet Friday at Coquille. The Bulldogs have won 60 consecutive regular-season conference games going back to 2019.
Stallard is hoping his team will shake off a recent lull that has coincided with an illness to Vigue and blowout wins over lesser foes.
“We're still winning, but we're not playing well,” Stallard said. “Hopefully we'll get some things ironed out. When we play and we have structure, we're pretty darn good.”
jerryu@osaa.org
Subscribe
