Prep Review / Julie Cart : Cypress Has No Gain but a Lot of Pain

The War of Attrition began in September for the Cypress High School basketball team. The Centurions’ best all-around player and team captain, Darren Johnson, got into a car accident and almost lost the little finger on his right hand. That’s his shooting hand. Plastic surgery was required to repair severed nerves and tendons.

It was a blow, said Coach Ron Craig, that in normal circumstances Cypress might have been able to absorb. Circumstances have been anything but normal:

--Two weeks before the first game returning starter Chris Civitelli broke his toe and was out three weeks

--In the third quarter of the first league game, the Centurions’ tallest starter and best rebounder, center Chris Yoxtheimer went up for a rebound. The 6-foot 6-inch junior “came down funny,” as Craig recalls. Yoxtheimer broke both bones in his right leg and had to be rushed to the hospital. The breaks were so severe that a blood clot developed in his legs. Some time later, an infection developed around an eight-inch stainless steel plate that was placed in the leg. Yoxtheimer still is in the hospital.

--Mike Cote, a 6-0 forward, had a tooth knocked out in a game. That led to a root canal. Cote was out for a few days.

--In that same game leading scorer Greg Bausch went out with a severe ankle sprain. That just about healed, then he suffered a knee injury against Los Alamitos.

--Johnson (sliced finger) has recently sprained his ankle. He hasn’t played since.

--Eric Krivashei, the school record holder for the most assists, sprained his ankle in the fall and has been playing for weeks with a sore hip.

“We have made seven emergency trips to the hospital this season,” Craig said. “We know every paramedic in the county on a first-name basis. La Palma Hospital is starting a Cypress wing. However, I’m in great shape. I have several pillows around the base of my bed so if I fall . . . “

With six returning lettermen, Cypress had reasonable expectations for making the Empire League playoffs. Craig has brought up two players from junior varsity since all the returning starters have made trips to the emergency room.

Despite the injuries, the Centurions (2-8, 4-12) have had a respectable showing. This season Cypress has lost eight games by four points or less.

“They’ve had to change their goals,” Craig said. “We thought that we had a shot at winning the league or at least making the playoffs. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.

” For the seniors, it’s been a heartache. But you go out and do your best. I’m very proud of this team. The great thing is, the kids are not using the injuries as an excuse. That could be a cop out. But they still get mad at themselves for not winning. It’s great.”

Prep Notes

Three former Orange County volleyball players were named to the all-tournament team of the 20-team Collegiate Volleyball Tournament at UC Santa Barbara’s Events Center last weekend. Seniors Dan Vrebalovich (Estancia), UCLA and Bill Yardley (Newport Harbor), USC and freshman Scott Fortune (Laguna Beach), Stanford were named to the team. Stanford upset UCLA, 15-10, 2-15, 15-5, 15-9, to win the tournament. UCLA had won the event seven straight years. . . . Goldenwest Christian High of Garden Grove, with an enrollment of 75 students, is the only school in the Southern Section with undefeated boys and girls basketball teams. . . . Among the major rule changes adopted by the National Federal of State High School Assn. for the 1985 football season include a five-yard penalty assessed to a team that kicks off and the ball goes out of bounds instead of the receiving team getting the ball at the 40-yard line; an ineligible receiver downfield penalty reduced from 15 to 5 yards and a loss of down and an illegal use of hands penalty reduced from 15 to 10 yards. . . . Former Servite High placekicker Doug Davidovich, of the University of Santa Clara, was named to the Associate Press Little All-American second team.