The four-year starter at tackle, the defense’s emotional pulse, stands 5-foot-9. A linebacker, the team’s leading tackler, goes 5-10. There are DBs that weigh 150 pounds, after steak and potatoes.

But as the saying goes, with Lincoln High School’s defense, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog.

The Hornets (11-2) will play for their second state championship in three years come 8 p.m. Friday at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, taking on Pittsburg (12-2) for the 1-AA title.

Averaging 40.6 points a game with a quarterback that has thrown 40 touchdown passes with zero interceptions (the zero INTs is not a typo), Lincoln’s defense will be tested.

The Hornets’ attitude? Bring it on.

Or as adviser/assistant coach Jared Stuts said, “It’s kind of tough to throw on your back.”

Lincoln sacked Newbury Park quarterback Brady Smigiel seven times last week, so the Hornets, who do not often blitz, know how to abuse quarterbacks.

It’s a sassy defense, one that has barely allowed two touchdowns per game. Head coach David Dunn had so much trouble finding San Diego Section teams willing to play Lincoln that the Hornets’ non-league opponents all came from outside the county.

The Hornets posted a 6-0 record against locals. Average points allowed: 4.5 per game. Lincoln’s defense shut out three teams.

As for appearances, Dunn knows his defense does not strike fear into opponents.

“We’re very light, undersized in places,” said Dunn. “But they have big motors. And they’re fighters. People see their size and underestimate them. They think, ‘We’ll come out and kick this guy’s butt.’ But these guys play with a chip on their shoulder. If they get their butt kicked, it’s not going to be consistently. They’re going to find a way.”

The player with the biggest chip on his shoulders, about the size of Mount Rushmore, is the four-year starter at defensive tackle, Eugene Rice. Rice is the Hornets’ second-leading tackler (107). It’s a rare stat for tackles, who get clogged inside and draw double-teams.

Were Rice 6-3 instead of 5-9, Dunn is convinced he’d have his pick of major colleges. Instead, only Division III schools are offering scholarships.

“I’m not the biggest, strongest, fastest lineman,” said Rice, who will be a leading CIF Defensive Player of the Year candidate, “but bring somebody against me and they’re going to get knocked down.”

“He plays with a whole different motor,” said Dunn. “He doesn’t realize how strong he is. We call him Old Man. He’s got old man strength.”

In the Lincoln locker room, Rice is spoken of in reverential tones.

Said linebacker Dylon Dunn, the head coach’s nephew and the Hornets’ leading tackler with 121: “He’s one of those guys, he doesn’t care. He’s going to tell everyone right from wrong, even if people don’t like what he has to say. It’s said with energy and a vibe.”

Lincoln’s defense is nicknamed “The D Boyz.”

Said Rice, “If you hear ‘D Boyz,’ you know you’re talking about the Lincoln Hornets.”

Two things characterize Lincoln’s defense: speed to the football and effort. Two plays this season epitomize those characteristics. In the San Diego Section Open Division semifinals, Lincoln was pushed to overtime by Mission Hills.

On the first play of OT, from the Lincoln 25, Mission Hills running back Giovanni Hart broke free off left tackle. Hart was alone, in space, seemingly on his way to a touchdown, when Nico Ta’a hurdled a teammate, ran Hart down and punched the ball out of Hart’s arm just before he broke the plane of the end zone.

Lincoln scored on the next play to advance to the title game.

Said Dylon Dunn: “I have thanked Nico so many times.”

The next week, in the title game against Cathedral, Dons running back Jonathan Solomon busted loose for a 45-yard gain. But cornerback Isaac Turner sprinted from the far side of the field and punched the ball out for a fumble.

Again, Lincoln scored on the next play, the key sequence in a 31-13 win.

“Our coaches always say, ‘Eleven hats to the ball,’ no matter where you are on the field,” said Turner. “Find a way to the ball. Our coaches always say, ‘Effort, effort, effort.’”

Here’s how fast Lincoln is to the football. After one play in the Open Division semifinals, Mission Hills quarterback Troy Huhn said to a Lincoln player, “I think you’ve guys got 12 people on the field.”

Said Turner, “I started looking around and thought, ‘It does look like we have too many guys.’ But I counted. No, we had 11 players.”

Like all teams, the Hornets are not above looking for perceived slights. And at halftime of Lincoln’s 34-27 Southern California Regional win over Newbury Park, players said Newbury Park coach Joe Smigiel quipped during a TV interview, “I don’t know who (Akili) Smith is?”

Odd, given that Lincoln star quarterback Akili Smith Jr. is the son Akili Smith, the third pick of the 1999 NFL Draft and, like his father, bound for Oregon.

Smith finished the game 18 of 27 for 272 yards, three TDs and a 29-yard scoring scramble.

“He found out (who Smith is),” said Stutts.

Now the Hornets face Pittsburg and a quarterback with 40 touchdown pass and not a one that has been picked off this season.

Underconfident, Lincoln is not.

Said Dylon Dunn: “He’ll have one intercepted Friday.”