Little big men

ALBANY — Jordan Funderburk weighs 178 pounds and stands 5-foot-6 with the most generous measursing stick. In the Deerfield-Windsor defensive huddle, he’s blanketed by the cornerbacks’ shadows.

Yet, when that huddle breaks, he slips by the DBs, scurries past the linebackers and takes his spot — at nose tackle.

In a game where he was pitted against Southland’s 300-pound offensive lineman Langdon Wood, Funderburk gave up about seven inches in height and an oversized seventh-grader in weight.

On the first play, Wood and the center double-teamed Funderburk. They picked him up like he was playing football in a sitcom then placed him down 10 yards in the defensive backfield.

“After that, I had to use my small size to try and go around them,” Funderburk said, “and never go up high ever again.”

For the junior who never played a down of lineman in his life and only weighed 140 pounds before needing two knee surgeries four games into last year’s junior varsity football season, the idea of anchoring the defensive line isn’t the prototypical fit.

Which, on this atypical defense, it made him the perfect fit.

The Knights don’t employ a physical enforcer at linebacker, they don’t field a superstar forcing opposing coordinators to alter gameplans and they do start a 5-6 former JV defensive back at nose tackle.

But using a combination of speed and tenacity they have become one of the best defenses left in the Class AAA playoffs.

“We are not big, but we are fast,” said linebacker Michael Michas, one of the biggest of any DWS defenders at 195 pounds. “I don’t think any of us fear anyone else. We are all strong and know what we are doing. If we don’t win in one category we are going to make up for it in doing whatever it takes to get the job done in another.”

That includes the likes of Funderburk, who has become, “a great success story,” according to head coach Allen Lowe.

In fact, in the Southland game against Wood, Funderburk, who put on 40 pounds of muscle in the offseason, eventually helped hold the power run attack of the Raiders to seven points.

The output would otherwise be known as more of the same from a unit that allowed only 14 points in three Region 3-AAA games. In the last nine games, the Knights have four shutouts and allowed more than seven points only twice — both in blowout wins allowing late scores on the second string.

“It is fun for me to watch,” Lowe said. “I tell them every week, we shut them out I like our chances. I think after the first three or four weeks we got in a good groove.”

The Knights got their groove back when Lowe stepped outside of his own comfort zone.

After being physcially overwhelmed in the opening week against George Walton (a 16-6 loss), Lowe switched out of the 4-3 defense he’s used every year of his tenure at DWS for a split 4-4 defensive approach run by assistants Craig Rhodes and Rod Murray.

The look stresses speed more than size and pulls an extra defensive back into a linebacker role on the edge. It’s made stars out of players like Funderburk, 160-pound Walker Lanier, 190-pound sack leader Davis Moore and 210-pound Quinton Adkins.

“This is different because… last year we were all 200-plus,” Adkins said. “We had people that would hit you and talk to you while they hit you and didn’t even care. We aren’t the biggest team, but we take a lot of pride in our defense because we know we are going to come out and take care of business.”

The last time the Knights didn’t take care of business was against First Presbyterian Day. That game in Macon ended in a 24-21 defeat. Since, DWS reeled off nine wins in a row.

Tonight, FPD returns. This time with the season on the line in the second round of the playoffs.

The Knights can almost laugh while watching the film of that game, knowing how much different of a team they are today. It was only their second game since switching defensive schemes and the Knights were still toying with personnel all over the field.

“A lot of the stuff we were doing was very base in what we did,” Lowe said. “We feel like we are a different team now than we were then. I am sure they say the same thing.”

Tonight represents the first opportunity to show on a scoreboard how far this defense has come since opening the season 1-2.

It’s an opportunity for this undersized defense to flex its muscle against the one team that scored more points on them than any this season.

It’s a chance for the little guys to play big.

“We have been waiting for this game,” Michas said. “It is a big deal.”