The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 64

pi iy Upmyp SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1994 LOS ANGELES TIMES Valley Sports tuc tutu enuAAi STEVE HENSON 'ill 'i i i No Guts, No Glory for Coaches v. tttU Si S-r CGRARD BURKHART ForTheTipica Safety Joseph Vaughn of Cal State Northridge (12) closes in on Cal State Chico's Richy Jacobs during the first quarter of nonconference game at North Campus Stadium. Northridge Gives Chico Eye-Opener, 47-17 i t. The decision Is made in a matter of seconds, but it must be lived with for an ccntire week. It's fourth down or a game's last play, in opponents' territory.

Go for it, or try to kick a field goal? c-t The call is made and the players try to execute it The gun sounds and the coach either is labeled a genius or a dolt, no i in-between. Dolts are in good company. Form a line behind Don Shula and Art Shell Trailing by three points last week, Shula's Miami Dolphins go for it on fourth and goal from Minnesota's 10-yard line with less than three minutes to play and fail. The Vikings win, 38-35. Trailing, 20-3, late in the first half, Shell's Raiders go for it on fourth and three at the San Diego Chargers' six-yard line.

A running play comes Up short as i eventually do the Raiders, 26-24. Next up would be Kennedy High's Bob Francola. His team trailed, 7-6, and faced fourth and five at the Granada Hills i six-yard line with five minutes to play Friday night. Francola sent in a kicker who had missed seven of eight extra-point attempts to try a 22-yard field goal, i The kick ended up closer to the conces- sion stand than the goal posts. Kennedy lost, and Francola was left muttering about recruiting a kicker from the soccer 1 team.

Equally doltish was a call made by 1 Birmingham's Chick Epstein with 16 sec-j onds to play in the first half and his team on Taft's four-yard line. Epstein elected to run the ball. The play was stopped and (Taft took a 10-0 lead into the locker room. Epstein didn't have to be Einstein to figure out that a field goal would have been preferable: Birmingham lost, 17-15. wf Geniuses, line up behind Bobby Ross, wCoach of the Chargers.

Trailing by two with two minutes to play last week, the Chargers faced fourth 'nd one at the Raiders 24. Ross risked a permanent place in the dolt hall of fame by Agoing for it. Stan Humphries passed to Ronnie Harmon for eight yards and mo-ihents later John Carney kicked the win- fling field goal. Newbury Park Coach George Hurley, ttake a bow for sticking with kicker Chrissy Sanford, despite her failed extra-point attempt earlier in the game. ft: 'l -N.

Adkins, who later dropped a potential touchdown pass in the end zone, never knew what hit him which pretty much covered the feeling for his mates. It all left the Matadors with a very homey feeling. Northridge (2-2) has out-scored the opposition, 99-30, in two home games, both victories. "If you gave me a choice, I'd rather be at home," Northridge Coach Bob Burt said. "When we were in Texas last week, I'd rather have been in Philadelphia." Chico (1-3) rallied briefly in the third quarter, but couldn't erase a 33-3 lead Northridge built after a 37-yard field goal by sophomore Matt Ornelaz with 9 minutes 3 seconds left in the third.

The score was set up by Rose's interception, one of three by the Northridge defense. before 2,509 at North Campus Stadium. To encapsulate the Chico experience, consider this humbling third-quarter blunder: Quarterback Chris Zermeno faded back and tossed the ball to receiver Raymond Adkins, who was streaking downfield. Adkins never turned around, the pass hit him in the back and caromed into the arms of Northridge linebacker Andrew Rose, who rumbled 16 yards to the Chico 31 -yard line to set up a field goal. Last week Rose, the long snapper at the time, twice hiked the ball over the head of the punter to set up 10 points in a 28-23 loss to Southwest Texas State.

"I'll take what I can get," Rose said. "Last week, they took what they could get." College football: O'Laughlin passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Vaughn adds two interceptions, one for a score. By STEVE ELLING TIMES STAFF WRITER NORTHRIDGE A no-look pass in a football game? For Cal State Chico, perhaps the whole affair would have been better with blinders, if not dark sunglasses, over their eyes. Cal State Northridge scored on five consecutive possessions through the second and third quarters and rolled over Chico, 47-17, in a nonconference game .1 3 Leading, 23-3, Northridge took, the opening kickoff of the second half apd moved downfield on the arm of quarterback J.J.

O'Laughlin. O'Laughlin completed passes of 23 and 18 yards, then hit tight end Travis Hall with a 12-yard scoring pass that gave the Matadors a 30-3 lead. O'Laughlin completed 17 of 31 for 247 yards and three touchdowns, which seemed to open things up for 10 other guys on offense. Even the ground game showed signs of life. Tailback Mark Harper, who entered the game with a team -high 99 rushing yards, finished with 101 in carries.

Darren Walton, starting for the first time at fullback, gave Northridge a shot in the Please see CSUN, C17 Loyola Turns Antelope Valley Around, 14-7 By PAIGE A. LEECH TIMES STAFF WRITER GLENDALE If turnabout is fair plajr, consider Antelope Valley and Loyola highs even for the past two seasons. Loyola scored a go-ahead touchdown with seven minutes remaining and nekton to beat the Antelopes, 14-7, in a nonleagije football game Saturday at Glendale A year ago, Antelope Valley scored tMfo fourth-quarter touchdowns in a come-from-behind victory over the Cubs, wflo were ranked sixth in the state. A year later Loyola, ranked eighth in the state, turned the tide on the Antelopes with its own brand of heroics. i Antelope Valley (2-2), which third -ranked Bakersfield last week, clinging to a 7-6 lead and had the Cubs facing fourth and inches at midfield whe'n the momentum turned.

Loyola's Mike Ellison, who rushed for 135 yards in 25 carries, picked up the first down, but there was a flag on the play. The referee, however, picked up the flag waved off an apparent penalty on "There was illegal motion on that fourth and short; the referee saw it, flagged it, arid then ate his flag," Antelope Valley Brent Newcomb said. On the next play, Loyola quarterback Kyle Spielbuehler completed a pass to Joe Cesta over the middle. Cesta ran to the five, but Jermaine Lewis forced a fumble. As Lewis tried to recover the ball, Cesta, a 6-foot-l, 233-pound tight end, fell on him and Ellison, trailing, recovered the fumble at the two.

The play covered 42 yards. On the next play, Ellison scored his second touchdown of the game, and 'a two-point conversion gave the Cubs (4-P) a seven-point lead with 7 minutes 6 seconds remaining. i Loyola's swarming defense held Lewis, who gained 108 yards against the Cubs last season, hi check. Lewis finished with 50 yards in 14 carries. Antelope Valley had trouble holding Ihe ball in the first half, fumbling three times, but losing possession only once.

Quarterback Bobby Brown, who earned his first start because Trymon Redick had the flu all week, fumbled the snap on the Antelopes' second offensive play. Cesta's recovery on Antelope Valley's 15 setiip the Cubs' first score. Ellison bolted upjthe middle on the next play to give Loyola a 6-0 lead just three minutes into the gamei The Antelopes answered with a 12-play, 49-yard drive, but Chad Shrout's 39-yard field- goal attempt sailed wide right. The Antelopes claimed a 7-6 lead on Brown's 56-yard pass play to Chad Murphy with 29 seconds remaining in the first half. With Newbury Park trailing Agoura, 13-12, Sanford cave the Panthers a 15-13 victory with her first field goal on the last 1 il.

uiay ui ii ic game. 'I A 1 nrt Knftlrinr, Also basking in brilliance is Roger JMcCamy of Simi Valley. Holding a 6-0 lead in the third quarter, the Pioneers faced fourth and four from Camarillo's eight. McCamy kept Tim Wol- leek, perhaps the area's best kicker, on the sidelines and went for it. JS Tim Bennett threw a five-yard pass to Chris Azzinaro for a first down.

Azzinaro scored a couple of plays later and Simi galley eventually won, 20-14. fOf course, had the plays called by Urancola and Epstein been executed suc-jcessfully, they'd be candidates for MENSA itilong with Hurley and McCamy. Maybe next week. Nobody can go from dolt to genius faster than a football coach. I Or vice versa.

Fair and square: With five players suspended for roughhousing a junior varsity player, Montclair Prep lost to Kilpatrick, 126-14, for the first time in five meetings between the schools. Sheer coincidence, said Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini. "Kilpatrick is a good team and would have beaten us even jif those kids had played," Giannini said. tThe suspended players will be reinstated L4his week, he added. Tie-dyed: In preparation for Homecoming, several Quartz Hill seniors were instructed to paint something on the football field.

"Something" turned out to be a vhuge mellow yellow peace sign. Perhaps it had a subliminal effect on the game. Quartz Hill and Saugus tied, 12-12. eReed all about It: Tailback Larry Reed as sidelined with a sprained right ankle, i so Van Nuys (3-1) used opportunistic defense to defeat North Hollywood, 22-20. I JThe Wolves intercepted a pass and jf recovered three fumbles, the last by Allen Vides at Van Nuys' 13-yard line with less $ian a minute to play.

Reed, who should play next week, has M41 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. U'It would help," Coach George Eng-lecht said. "He is a threat to score from anywhere on the field. i On a key third-down play against Burbank, El Monte Arroyo I Wide receiver Robert Ochoa began to lose jf kis balance while the quarterback called i signals. To the astonishment of Burbank players and coaches standing a few feet Laway, Ochoa leaned forward, farther, farther, until he fell flat on his face for vj five-yard penalty.

Burbank went on to fell Arroyo, which Vlias reached the Southern Section playoffs jjvery year since 1983. RICHARD DERK Los Angeles Times Terrence Thomas of Cal Lutheran (8) runs for some of the 80 yards he gained during Kingsmen's loss to Occidental. Cal Lutheran Defeated in a Decision Strategy: Occidental causes nothing but trouble for Kingsmen offensive line. By JEFF FLETCHER TIMES STAFF WRITER THOUSAND OAKS-The Cal Lutheran football team was beaten by one man on Saturday. But it was a different one on each play.

"We would get all the blocks, but then one guy would slip through," Cal Lutheran offensive guard Tony Papa said. "We were always one guy short." Occidental seemed to slip one unblocked lineman or linebacker through whenever Cal Lutheran faced a key play. The deciding score in Occidental's 19-17 victory over the Kingsmen on Saturday at Mt. Clef Stadium came on just such a play. Cal Lutheran quarterback Ryan Huisenga was sacked by a linebacker and he fumbled into his end zone, where Occidental's Andre Coleman fell on the ball.

"They were giving us a lot of pressure which we weren't picking up," Coach Joe Harper said. "We thought our blocking schemes at the beginning of the game would work, but they didn't." Please see LINE, C16 Football: Failed gamble on fourth down is costly in 19-17 loss to Occidental. By JEFF FLETCHER TIMES STAFF WRITER THOUSAND OAKS-At first glance, Cal Lutheran's 19-17 loss to Occidental on Saturday at ML Clef Stadium looks just like another wild game with the winning score coming in the final minutes. But the key play came midway through the fourth quarter, three minutes before Cal Lutheran quarterback Ryan Huisenga fumbled into his end zone and Occidental lineman Andre Coleman fell on the ball for the go-ahead touchdown with 5 minutes 23 seconds left. The Kingsmen led, 17-13, and faced fourth and four at the Occidental 15.

Rather than having Dan Leffler attempt a 32-yard field goal, Coach Joe Harper elected to try for the first down. Tailback Terrence Thomas went up the middle and was stopped by the Tigers after a two-yard gain. He had lost a yard on a third-and-three carry. "I felt that we were going to need more than three points," Harper said. "We had moved the ball extremely well down there on that drive, and I felt with two downs to Please see CLU, C16.