COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Orphans at Pierce Find Northwest Passage

Pierce College has been without a football coach for almost two months and Moorpark, its rival to the northwest, has reaped the benefits.

Quarterback Steve Haddad and tailback Robert Davis are among at least five players who have left Pierce and enrolled at Moorpark.

Haddad, from Alemany High, was Pierce’s starting quarterback at the beginning of last season. He later was demoted to the second string.

Davis, who was an All-City selection at Cleveland High in 1983, was Pierce’s No. 2 tailback last fall.

Both players fit into Moorpark’s plans for next season.

Ken Lutz, Moorpark’s quarterback last season, accepted a scholarship to San Jose State. Uasi Latu, the team’s starting tailback, is going to Eastern Illinois.

“We needed a quarterback and we needed a tailback,” said Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner. “We feel fortunate to have both Haddad and Davis on campus. We were impressed with them. Haddad has a strong arm and is just an outstanding player. And Davis, from what I saw, he looks like a real breakaway threat.”

Pierce defeated Moorpark twice last season: 31-28 in a nonconference game and 27-14 in the inaugural Brahma Bowl. Davis scored one of Pierce’s touchdowns on a four-yard run.

Haddad and Davis should help solidify a Moorpark team that has 10 starters returning after an 8-3 season. But Bob O’Connor, Pierce’s athletic director, said the pair could still return to the Pierce team next fall.

“They can come back and play if they left here at semester as long as they take 12 units,” he said. “Whether we will get any of them back is another story. I hope we get some of them back, but the kids that are gone are probably gone for good.”

O’Connor said Pierce might name a coach as early as next week. Former Coach Jim Fenwick resigned Feb. 7 after accepting a position as an assistant at Cal State Northridge.

Said O’Connor: “Some kids left before Jim resigned because they didn’t like him, and other guys left after he left because they did like him.”

O’Connor said several Pierce players have transferred to Valley College.

Add Brahma ball: The new Pierce football coach will have to be a full-time instructor in the Los Angeles Community College District because of proposed layoffs within the district.

One man to rule out is Jim Pendleton, the man Fenwick replaced five years ago. Pendleton is still a full-time instructor at Pierce.

“He’s a yachtsman now,” O’Connor said. “He lives on his boat in San Pedro and doesn’t want to coach on the field.”

There has been conjecture that O’Connor might become the coach.

Five of the seven teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. are ranked in the latest Collegiate Baseball Division II poll.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, off to its fastest start ever, is ranked No. 5. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is No. 13, UC Riverside is No. 14, Cal State Northridge is No. 16 and Cal State Los Angeles is No. 30.

Los Angeles moved into the final spot in the poll after sweeping a doubleheader from Chapman College. Chapman was No. 17 last week, but is now unranked.

Cal Poly Pomona, the only other team in the conference not in the rankings, won the CCAA last season.

Florida Southern, defending Division II champion, is ranked No. 4. Troy (Ala.) State is No. 1.

The Cal State Northridge softball team opens its CCAA schedule Saturday when the Lady Matadors play host to Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The CSUN pitching staff makes the Lady Matadors a good bet to defend the conference title. Another important factor in CSUN’s drive toward its fourth consecutive national championship will be shortstop Lori Shelly.

Shelly, a junior, was an all-conference second baseman last season. She has moved over to the left side of the infield this year and has drawn comparisons to Kathy Turner, who was an All-American for CSUN in 1984 and Linda Lowande, an all-conference pick last season.