By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Brock Hutchinson sat in his classroom shortly before school ended on Nov. 9. Hutchinson, the veteran Smith Center defensive coordinator, looked forward to practice later that afternoon. Hutchinson, though, also was excited about that night's "Monday Night Football" game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos.

Hutchinson follows one NFL team ­-- the Steelers. In particular, Hutchinson focuses on Pittsburgh's defense and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. LeBeau, the architect of the zone blitz defense, has helped teams to five Super Bowls, including two championships. This season, the Steelers rank first in rush defense and sixth in scoring defense.

"In my opinion, Dick LeBeau is a defensive genius," Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson has followed many of the same tactics as LeBeau and produced similar results. Hutchinson, who runs a 4-3 front and a zone defense scheme, has helped Smith Center to one of the best defensive efforts in Kansas. In his 12 seasons as defensive coordinator, Hutchinson has been part of five straight championships (six total) and coached all of Smith Center's Kansas record and nation's-best (11-man) 78-game winning streak.

This season, he has routinely played six sophomores on defense, yet Smith Center has permitted 79 points, fourth-best in Class 2-1A, including 20 in three playoff victories. Last week, Smith Center shut out Meade 10-0. On Friday, Smith Center (11-0) plays host to Oakley (11-0) in the sub-state championship game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Hubbard Stadium.

Offensively, senior halfback Colt Rogers has 4,304 career rushing yards and leads Smith Center with 1,529 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. In addition, senior fullback Matt Atwood has 971 yards rushing. However, the defense has paced Smith Center.

"It's the speed," Meade coach Scott Moshier said. "If you can't run, you can't play defense, and everybody on their defense can run. That's just the long and short of it. They just flat-out can run. They get into you, they get off their blocks quickly and they just fly to the ball. That's why they've won. Their offense puts up gaudy numbers and just great things like that, but they can run."

That defense has helped Smith Center maintain its winning streak and win four close games. The Redmen, who have scored at least 646 points in each of the last three seasons, have produced 428 points this fall.

Yet Smith Center has not allowed more than 14 points in any game and has won contests by scores of 20-14, 14-12, 16-10 and 10-0. It's the first time in the Redmen's run of six straight undefeated seasons they've had four games within six points.

"Our defensive coaches, in particular, Coach Hutchinson, he is a great D-coordinator and does a lot of different things and makes it tough on the opponents," Smith Center coach Roger Barta said. "He is well-prepared and they play hard."

"I take pride in defense," Rogers, a four-year starter, said. "I love playing defense."

Under Hutchinson, the Redmen have continually kept teams off the scoreboard, especially in postseason. Smith Center has won 28 straight postseason games and only once, a 56-26 state title win against St. Marys in 2006, have the Redmen allowed more than 20 points. They've permitted 8.6 points per game in the state playoffs since 2004.

"We know their offense is great, but their defense, that's what wins championships," Moshier said.

Hutchinson, a Smith Center graduate and former defensive back who played on Fort Hays State University's last playoff team in 1995, took over the defensive coordinator role when he returned to Smith Center in the late '90s. He learned the aspects of the 4-3 defense from former Redmen assistant Bob O'Connor. Most of his philosophy, though, derives from LeBeau. He and his four children watch Steelers games every week.

"He is kind of my hero," Hutchinson said. "I would really like to meet him."

Hutchinson worries little about yards allowed. Instead, he focuses on scoring defense and turnovers. In the last three seasons, Smith Center leads area teams in scoring defense and turnovers. This fall, the Redmen have picked off 19 passes, seventh-best among Kansas 11-man teams, according to MaxPreps.com, and recovered 11 fumbles.

"What I care about is turnovers," Hutchinson said. "What I care about is being in the right place at the time, making plays when we are in a position to make plays. Scoring defensively is huge. If you look at Dick LeBeau and you see how he does it, the guys, they don't even line up half the time. That's a little bit how I am. I don't care how you line up. You need to be at the right spot at the right time when you need to be there.

"If you are, good things are going to happen. Anytime there is a ball on the ground, we try to scoop it up and we try to score. Anytime we intercept a pass, we are trying to score. We are not happy that we got it. We want to score. That's kind of my philosophy," he added.

This season, Smith Center returned three all-conference players in senior defensive end Dillon Corbett, senior linebacker Logan Tuxhorn and Rogers as a defensive back, yet lost three all-Mid-Continent League players in defensive linemen Trevor Rempe and Justin Nixon and defensive back Marshall McCall. But Hutchinson, like the Steelers, has retooled with new personnel.

"The thing about Pittsburgh, it doesn't matter who you are, you are gone," Hutchinson said. "If Ben Roethlisberger doesn't perform, and he is a franchise player, he is gone. That's why I love Pittsburgh. They will bring somebody in that will do the job."

Senior Shawn Stansbury, the team's starting quarterback and defensive back and captain, missed half the season with an injured collarbone and didn't return until the Meade game. Junior Aaron McNary (39 tackles, 4 interceptions) missed a month with a shoulder injury.

This season, two of Smith Center' top five tacklers are sophomores. Tuxhorn leads the team with 84 tackles, while Louis Frazier ranks second with 82; Frazier recorded one varsity tackle in 2008. Sophomore Nathan Cox stands fifth with 55 tackles after not collecting any tackles last fall. Sophomore Trey Molzahn has 35 tackles, while sophomore Truitt Kuhlmann is second on the team with four interceptions.

"Very, very talented young kids that are playing in a football game," Hutchinson said. "Six sophomores in a game defensively. That's young. That's too many sophomores really, but they are good and they take coaching very well."

The leader, though, is Rogers, who ranks third on the team with 64 tackles and paces Smith Center with five interceptions. Rogers, 5-foot-5 and 155 pounds, has 260 tackles and 15 interceptions in his career.

"We don't have a (Steelers' All-Pro safety) Troy Polamalu running out there," Hutchinson said. "Colt is as close of a high school player as you are going to get. ... Having Colt Rogers back there is going to be hard to replace. It's going to be hard to do it and we will do it. He gets us in the right coverage 99 percent of the time."

Rogers is one of the team's vocal leaders, especially on pre-snap reads defensively. Hutchinson calls the front blitz and Rogers calls the coverage. Last Friday, that teamwork never let Meade, a team that had averaged 50 points a game, cross the Redmen 28-yard line. Smith Center picked up its fourth shutout this season, 11th in 28-consecutive playoff victories.

"In the secondary, check and depending on what formation they are in, pay attention to down and distance and what they favor in that type of down and that type of distance," Rogers said. "We are pretty vocal out there and we like to know what they are doing out there and do that together.

"Just hitting gaps and just reading what we are supposed to be reading and reading the right person. It can be confusing if you are not reading the right thing. If we read the right thing, then we are going to be just fine," he added.