Players Make Passing Grade With Reckless Style of Play

Some of the best football players in the Valley area said aloha twice Thursday night at Pierce College’s John Shepard Stadium.

Goodby high school. Hello college.

The players in the Daily News All-Star game--especially those on the East team--drowned their high school memories in wide-open, junior college-style action.

Consider it an entrance exam. Then give the players headed for local community colleges a passing grade.

The all-stars didn’t approach the usual high scores of JC games. But they had only 48 minutes to pile up points. They’ll get 60 in college.

The 35 all-star players who will play at junior colleges proved they are ready to play a reckless brand of ball.

There were 64 passes in the game, 11 sacks and plenty of scrambling from the four quarterbacks.

Gary Lotka, who will play at Valley College in the fall, led the East’s 27-13 victory by completing 10 of 22 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

First-quarter TD bombs to Rocco Palamara (45 yards) and Mark Setterberg (38 yards) from Lotka gave the East a lead it never relinquished.

“Lotka can find the open man,” said Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero, who was watching the game from the East sideline. “That’s what I like best about him.

“He will fit in very well with our pass-heavy spread offense. We like to put the ball in the end zone.”

Most JC teams score often. More than 70 points were scored in several games last season. Some examples:

Pierce 57, Moorpark 54

Glendale 52, Moorpark 30

West Los Angeles 69, Pierce 28

Valley 48, Santa Barbara City 27

Even last year’s Potato Bowl, the top JC game in California, was a high-scoring affair. Taft defeated Pierce, 51-27.

The high scores are exciting, but are not always a result of well played football.

“We had some stretches last year where we made lots of mistakes,” said Pierce Coach Jim Fenwick, whose 9-1 team was one of the best in the state.

Likewise, the all-star action was alternately spectacular and ragged--but never boring.

Lotka had three passes intercepted, including two of his first four. There were five interceptions in the game.

Plenty of passes--and one punt--were dropped. Blocking assignments were missed.

“I thought we had those things down in practice,” East co-Coach John Hazelton said after Lotka was sacked in the fourth quarter.

The teams had only two weeks to prepare, so many of the mistakes were expected. Lotka didn’t expect to have to run for his life nearly every time he dropped back to pass, however.

After all, the East outweighed the West across the line.

“I didn’t figure to have to scramble as much as I did, but it worked out OK,” said Lotka, looking at the scoreboard with two minutes left in the game.

A 21-yard completion by Lotka to David Sipes with 9:32 left in the game typified the 5-10 quarterback’s ability to spot a receiver while under pressure.

Lotka was forced to race pell-mell toward the left sideline by three West defenders. Two steps before being flattened out of bounds, he wheeled and flipped the ball on a line to Sipes, who had hooked over the middle.

Imagine, throwing a pass with a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

The junior college coaches in attendance must have smiled. These kids have left high school behind.