HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Wild Card Shuffling Isn’t Funny To Kennedy

Is this wild card a joker?

Lee Joseph, a City Section athletic administrator, apparently thinks so. He is trying to cancel a girls basketball playoff game between Carson High and Kennedy scheduled for Friday because it would be a laugher.

“Carson is better off not playing,” Joseph said. “Kennedy is too strong.”

Carson, which finished 0-10 in the Marine League, made the playoffs as a wild card because 16 of 18 4-A teams qualify.

Kennedy, seeded No. 1, finished 10-0 in the Valley 4-A league.

No matter how Carson qualified, Kennedy Coach Craig Raub wants the game played.

“Four recruiters from major colleges are flying in to watch my girls,” Raub said. “The No. 1 seed plays the wild-card team every year. Why cancel the game this time?”

Joseph said that Carson Coach Jay Park had not been notified of the possible cancellation.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of him,” Joseph said. “But right now, the game is definitely off.”

Add Kennedy: The Streak is up to 80 and can reach 100 before one of this season’s varsity players, sophomore Latisa Rush, graduates.

The Golden Cougars once again breezed through their league schedule, the eighth straight season they have had a 10-0 league record.

Craig Raub, who not coincidentally has coached Kennedy for those eight years, isn’t wholly satisfied, though. Kennedy, for all its perfection in league, has lost three of four City Section finals to Locke.

Only in 1982 did Kennedy find the key to beating Locke.

Raub is taking nothing for granted this season. Even in games the Golden Cougars have won by 50 points or more, he verbally pushes the team from the bench.

“The girls know we’ve made four trips to the finals and have come back with only one title,” Raub said. “I don’t want any letdowns.”

A letdown isn’t likely with Raub around.

City is un-Locked: Don’t look for Locke in this year’s final. Locke was 3-7 in the Marine League and Kennedy beat the Saints, 92-36, in December.

“Their program is down,” Raub said. “I don’t look for them to go far in the playoffs.”

Peek at another streak: The Canyon football team, with 38 straight wins, also has a remarkable streak going. And if it lasts one more season, the Cowboys will have a state record.

Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa won 47 in a row from 1972-77 for the existing mark. Canyon is sixth, behind St. Helena (46, 1960-65), Temple City (46, 1969-73), San Jose Willow Glen (42, 1958-62) and Los Angeles Wilson (42, 1975-78).

Canyon has the third longest current streak in the United States. East St. Louis, Ill., has won 40 straight and River Ridge John Curtis, in Louisiana, has won 39.

Get out the buckets: The gyms at North Hollywood and San Fernando both have roofs that leak.

So who is paired in Friday’s first round of the City playoffs, a day on which rain is forecast?

North Hollywood and San Fernando, of course.

A home team hasn’t been decided. If San Fernando wins a makeup game today, a coin will be flipped to see which school’s roof will leak on the game.

Making up strategy: San Fernando must beat winless Canoga Park today in a Northwest Valley League makeup game to have a chance to flip a coin with North Hollywood for the home court advantage in Friday’s playoff opener.

San Fernando Coach Dick Crowell offered to have the coin flipped Tuesday. If San Fernando lost the flip, there would be no need to make up the game with Canoga Park. North Hollywood would play host whether San Fernando beat Canoga Park or not.

North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller declined the early flip, however, forcing the makeup game.

“It’s a strategy move on the part of Miller,” Crowell said. “He’d rather see us play Canoga Park than have a day to practice.”