The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 74

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1994 LOS ANGELES TIMES" Valley Sports Spark-less Matadors Torched THE HIGH SCHOOLS STEVE HENSON Crespi Gets Some Luck of the Celts i ce-- vJ College football: Northridge; shows no fire in 30-6 loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in conference opener. By STEVE ELLING TIMES STAFF WRITER NORTHRIDGE Better to burn out than fade away? Cal State Northridge might have done both in its American West Conference; opener on Saturday night. Playing on turf that was singed during pep rally bonfire at midfield earlier in the; week, the Matadors failed to set anything; ablaze and lost to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 30-6, before a homecoming crowd of at North Campus Stadium. This won't warm the cockles of any- body's heart, either: The Matadors (3-4)' failed to reach the end zone for the first! time since 1992 and have scored all of one touchdown over the past two weeks, both; losses. i "We got outplayed, out-coached and! out-hustled," Northridge Coach Bob Burt; said.

I Factor in the black cloud hanging over' Northridge's collective head because of! looming athletic budget cuts that might; jeopardize the team's future, and it was bleak night. A pedestrian effort seemed strangelyt apropos for a team that showed up with! generic red helmets. Players peeled the; Matador logos from their helmets in a showj of unanimity over last week's student? defeat of an election referendum that! would have generated more than $2 million; annually for Northridge athletics. "We felt that the school as a whole let' the athletic department down," senior! safety Joseph Vaughn said. "We weren't; playing for the school, we were playing for ourselves." i Much of the misery, for the second time! this season, was caused by reckless spe cial-teams play.

The Matadors committed; two fumbles on punt returns and allowed a' blocked punt that broke the game open. On the latter, a Northridge drive stalled! at the Cal Poly 45-yard line, though the; Matadors at the moment were still very much in the game. However, Richard Pesti's punt was blocked by David Lorn-; bardi and recovered by David Brown, who Please see CSUN, C17 Reality, 38-6: A procedure penalty at the Ventura one-yard line forced Glendale to settle for a field goal and Sierra's 22-yard kick put the Vaqueros ahead, 9-0. After McLane Hansen's 38-yard field goal drew Ventura to within 9-3, Hilton took the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown. Delgado passed to Estrada for the two-point conversion to make it The Vaqueros scored late in the half 0n Zilberman's three-yard run for a 24-3 lead; Jerry Hicks kicked a 43-yard field goal for Ventura as time ran out in the half Thousand Oaks Sweeps Mt SAC Invitational By JOHN ORTEGA TIMES STAFF WRITER WALNUT After coughing and sputtering for the first half of the season, the Thousand Oaks High boys' cross-country team shifted into high gear Saturday in the Mt.

San Antonio College Invitational. The Lancers resembled last year's undefeated squad for the first time while running away with their third straight team sweepstakes title. Thousand Oaks also won the girls' team sweepstakes easily. The boys' team, led by Keith O'Dohen-ty's third-place finish, placed five runners RELATED STORY: C23 Northridge linebacker Tony Simon forces San Luis Obispo quarterback Mike Fisher GEORGE WILHELM Loa Angeles Times to rush a throw during second quarter. Glendale Gives Ventura Painful Dose of 'Libs called the play.

Ltris threw the pass. Lins caught the pass. And as easy as one, two, three, Crespi High toppled St. Paul, the No. 9-ranked team In the state, on Friday.

Crespi Coach Tim Lins called for a quick sideline pass on fourth and one from the St. Paul 12-yard line with 28 seconds to play and Crespi trailing, 13-7. Crespi quarterback Dave Lins fired the pass directly into the upraised hand of a St. Satfl defensive end. The ball caromed high inline air, and landed in the lap of quarterback, not the coach, who injHdentally is not related to the quarterback.

thought about throwing it again," said 13ns, who instead dashed three yards for a firstdown. rspi hurried to the ball and Lins, the quarterback, coolly fumbled the snap. Crespi again hurried to the ball and Lins stepped the clock by throwing an incom-pleteupass with eight seconds to play. iLinsthe coach, called a slant pass to Mafcbs Solorzano. Lins, the quarterback, fifrjvim in the stomach with a touchdown passw Gjeg Boskin kicked the extra point to Crespi the victory, making every Lins iji attendance very happy.

Jdd Tim Lins: The victory was doubly sjveet for the coach, a St. Paul alumnus. Coach is a mellow guy and he didn ake a big deal out of it, but he told us he wasn't used to losing when he was paying at St. Paul," Dave Lins said. "I guess they always won when he was in school there." St.

Paul was 22-3 in 1977-78, when Lins ras-a Swordsman wide receiver. The Celts are 2-0 in Del Rey League glay after going 2-3 in nonleague games, poised to make the Division I playoffs with another victory. Last season Crespi started slowly, Squeezed into the playoffs and reached the semifinals before losing to Eisenhower, 7-3. I --Add Dave Lins: The 6-foot-2, 185-pound geriior is the area's leading Southern Section passer, having completed a remark-4ble 69.6 of his throws. Lins completed 21 of 24 for 164 yards 4galnst St.

Paul and is 134 of 193 for 1,396 yardj and 11 touchdowns this season. Oh, and he has one reception. U-turn: The low came a month ago in a 14-13 loss to Newbury Park, Agoura's fourth defeat without a victory. "That's when we got beat by a girl," said Charger quarterback Eric Fitzgerald, referring to Chrissy Sanford's winning field goal on the last play. Nobody cracked, nobody panicked, and Oie long wait to give rookie Coach Charlie Wegher his first victory came the next Week, 35-13 over Channel Islands.

Dramatic victories over Thousand Oaks Simi Valley have followed, and suddenly Agoura finds itself 3-1 in Marmonte League play and tied for second place. "We kept tne faith. Coach Wegher kept eUJug us we had to believe," said Ryan Cpetta, who caught two touchdown passes Friday in a 22-20 victory over pjffously unbeaten Simi Valley. Agoura's rebound is remarkable considering that both starting offensive tackles, 66, 300-pound Elliot Silvers and 6-foot, 235-pound Keith Ostwald, are out with injuries. Wegher patched up the line by moving fullback Jon Gibbs to guard.

ft Jason Hicks moved from guard to tackle and Scott McKinney, a 6-3, 270-pound senior, has filled on the other side, i "When we didn't have immediate suc-cs I had to take a close look at what we were doing," Wegher said. "But I determined that what we were doing eventually would work, and the kids have believed in it That's the key." i 308 A.D.: It took 25 years, but Larry logan made it look easy on his first try. In hs initial start as the San Fernando quarterback, the 5-11 junior broke the school record for passing yardage in a game by throwing for 308 in a 42-28 victory over Birmingham on Friday. Anthony Davis set the previous record of 2jJ9jigainst Hollywood in 1969. Davis, who went on to star at USC, holds nearly all of Sfmernando's career passing and rushing fecprds.

-J Logan, whose father, Larry, played defensive tackle for San Fernando in ij)7f-75, also set a record for best comple-tjonpercentage in a game, 63.2. El didn't expect records, but Larry has the; type of athletic ability that can make mnr a excellent quarterback," said Sean Blunt, the San Fernando coach. Logan replaced Keijuan Douglas, who moved to receiver. Logan connected with Douglas for a 15-yard touchdown to open tjie scoring and later teamed with him on a 50-yard touchdown pass play. Douglas also made an interception in the end zone.

"Keijuan showed me a lot, pitting his feelings aside and doing what best for the Blunt said, 1 Division game at Ventura High. Ilan Zilberman led the Vaqueros (4-2, 3-2 in conference play) by rushing for 134 yards in 19 carries and scoring on runs of 38, three and 16 yards. Glendale's Tony Delgado completed 10 of 16 passes for 151 yards, and Eddie Michel, who played most of the second half, completed five of 14 for 133 yards, including a 44 -yard touchdown to Tim Hilton. Kieron Estrada caught nine passes for 182 yards. And for the third consecutive week, the Camarilla's Eleazar Hernandez, front, )P drib rA r- fvl V- ii 1 mi Vaquero defensive unit, ranked third in the WSC, did not allow a touchdown.

Glendale has allowed one touchdown in four games. Ventura's Aaron Trianna completed .13 of 26 for 185 yards, with one interception. John Patton led Ventura (4-2, 3-1) with 75 yards in six carries, and Greg Johnson had five catches for 78 yards. Glendale led at halftime, 24-6. The Vaqueros took a 6-0 lead on their opening series when Zilberman broke loose on a 38-yard run.

Mike Sierra's extra-point attempt was blocked. 'DAVID KAWASHIMA For The Times had fastest time at the Mt, SAC Invitational. By JIM COLEMAN SPECIAL TO THE TIMES VENTURA-The Ventura College football team has come a long way this season, but Saturday night, Glendale showed the Pirates just how far they still have to go to compete with the big boys in the Western State Conference. The Pirates, who suffered through some miserable recent seasons, won four of their first five games this year before Glendale dominated them, 38-6, in a WSC North Hart Makes Tracks in the Desert, 42-7 By LARRY BOHANNAN SPECIAL TO THE TIMES PALM SPRINGS The Hart offense rolled through the desert Saturday night, but it was the Indian defense that most impressed the coaching staff in a 42-7 nonleague rout of Palm Springs. Hart (7-0), top-ranked in The Times' Valley poll, gave up only 54 yards in the first half and scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes of the second quarter to build a 35-7 halftime lead.

Palm Springs (3-4) scored on a 96-yard kickoff return by Bishop Miller, cutting Hart's lead to 21-7. It was the only time Palm Springs was able to use its speed effectively against a bigger, more physical Hart team. "We were concerned about their speed, because last week against Canyon we were horrible on defense," Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. "We were inept on defense, so we worked harder this week." While the defense held Palm Springs to 180 yards, Hart rolled up 447 yards behind the passing of Steve McKeon and the running of Ted Iacenda. Iacenda rushed for 172 yards in 16 carries and scored three times in the first half on runs of one yard, 62 yards and one yard.

McKeon completed 10 of 18 passes for 188 yards. His first completion of the night was a 33-yard scoring play to Domenic Dillillo, giving Hart a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. V1 Wlw1 I tin IW J'-- W1 1 i 1 'r i among the top 16 to total 49 points. Carmichael Jesuit, the top-ranked Divi sion II team in the state, placed second with 149 points, followed by Peninsula (167), Camarillo (170), San Jose Bellaf-mine 185 and Hart 189 Thousand Oaks was the No. 5 -ranked team in The Harrier magazine's national poll entering the meet, but early season injuries to Jeff Fischer and Kevin Marsdfen had prevented the Lancers from being ttfe dominant team of a year ago.

Until Saturday. OTDoherty timed 15 minutes 14 seconds over the three-mile course and feH8Sv seniors Marsden and Fischer finished eigpjh and ninth with identical times of 15:41. Please see MT. SAC, CIS 7 mm.0j 01 4 H.mmmmA.