Foot in the Door : After Sales Pitch From Coach to Mother, Brache Becomes Exceptional Kicker at Village Christian

SUN VALLEY — Finding a talented kicker on campus was one thing. Getting him on the football team was nearly mission impossible for Village Christian football Coach Mike Plaisance.

It was a hard sell for Plaisance, who discovered Ignacio Brache (pronounced Brah-SHAY) on the soccer field during the first week of school last year. Brache was sold, but his mother wasn’t buying. And dad was backing mom’s decision. Somebody had to look out for their oldest son’s health and personal welfare, the folks figured.

Begging. Pleading. Cajoling. Plaisance tried all on Shelly Brache until finally she agreed to let her son play--but with one strict condition: Ignacio must only kick, nothing else. He must not catch a pass, carry a football, block or tackle. Understood?

Condition accepted, Plaisance said, who had been searching for a competent kicker since Village Christian lost a 1991 semifinal playoff game, 13-12. And immediately the condition of the team improved. Last season, Brache set a school record for most extra points, making 34 of 35. This season, he has made field goals of 54, 52, 49 and 32 yards.

Interestingly, Shelly and husband Ignacio Brache, both Cuban-Americans, have been avid football fans since moving to the San Fernando Valley in 1961. The Braches would frequently take in a local high school or Valley College football game, even though they did not know any players.

“My husband and I love the sport,” Shelly Brache said. “We’re football fanatics. But I don’t know if I could see my son in the bottom of a pile.”

Because of a Southern Section rule requiring players to practice 10 days in pads before playing in a game, Brache made his high school debut in the third game of the season last year. And it is one he won’t soon forget. In the second quarter against Kilpatrick, Brache failed to boot a kickoff into the end zone--and the inevitable happened.

“The guy catches it at the one-yard line and runs it back . . . and guess who the last person is back there?” said Plaisance, who had not taught Brache any tackling techniques.

Acting on impulse, Brache headed toward the runner and managed to put a shoulder on him, but didn’t come close to making the tackle.

“The first thing they did was look up in the stands to see my reaction,” Shelly said, laughing at the memory.

Plaisance has had to answer for that incident ever since. He routinely jokes with Shelly Brache, pointing out that the only reason her son was facing a charging ballcarrier was his own failure to kick the ball into the end zone.

Most of the time, Brache does his job: He boots kickoffs into the end zone four of five times. Still, Plaisance isn’t taking any chances.

“Now, we at least let him hit the tackling dummy (at practice),” Plaisance said.

Most mothers probably share Shelly’s concern about their sons playing a violent, full-contact sport. But Shelly’s son is not exactly frail.

Brache, known to teammates and coaches as Nacho, is 6-foot and a solid 190 pounds. “And believe me, here at Village, that’s lineman material. We don’t have any big-sized (players),” Plaisance said.

But, per agreement and regardless of his size, kicking and punting remain Brache’s only responsibilities. And that’s just fine with Brache, who has no strong desire to expand his role.

“I like doing what I do,” said Brache, who takes part in all conditioning and non-contact drills. “I think the other guys are jealous sometimes because all I have to do is kick. I never get hit.”

Brache, a junior, is also very adept at what he does. He has made seven of 11 field goal attempts in his career, three of the misses coming from beyond 50 yards and the other from 42.

“In all honesty, I’m on a quest,” Plaisance said. “I really want to get this kid a (NCAA Division I) ride. We’ve never had anybody leave Village and get a Division I scholarship. This is the closest, I think, that we’re ever gonna come to it.”

Considering Brache’s talent and size, Plaisance is delighted to know that Ignacio’s younger brother, Carlos, plays center on Village Christian’s junior high flag football team.

Shelly, however, has no plans for Carlos to break Brache tradition.

Said Ignacio: “She asked me a couple of nights ago to teach him to kick because she didn’t want him to play.”