Orange County Prep Review : Avalos Injury Spurs Ambulance Debate

Team doctors and trainers from Saddleback and Santa Ana high schools surrounded Jose Avalos Friday night after the Saint lineman had been injured in the fourth quarter of their football game.

They couldn’t diagnose the injury, but they knew it could be serious--Avalos had suffered a blow to the neck or head while making a tackle on Saddleback tailback Nate Primous.

They looked toward the south end of the field for the ambulance, which is usually stationed next to the locker rooms beyond the end zone for every game in Santa Ana Stadium.

It wasn’t there.

Morgan Ambulance Service staffs football games at Santa Ana Stadium as a community service and at no cost to the Santa Ana Unified School District or city, neither of which has a contract for ambulance coverage at football games.

But apparently someone at Morgan had misplaced the master football schedule and no ambulance was sent Friday.

And even if the service had been aware of the game, it is possible it would not have been there. Harry Evans, activities director at Saddleback, had a stadium employee call Morgan at halftime after Evans noticed there was no ambulance. But at the time there were no ambulances available.

About 15 minutes after Avalos was injured, a Santa Ana Fire Department ambulance arrived and took Avalos to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where his injury was diagnosed as a concussion. He was treated and released Saturday and could miss two or three games.

Fortunately for Avalos, his injury was not more serious. But had it been, the delay in transporting him could have been critical.

The subject of emergency coverage will be addressed today by coaches and administrators at both Saddleback and Santa Ana, and school district administrators.

“I think we are blessed that something really bad didn’t happen,” Santa Ana Coach Dick Hill said. “It gave us a good warning. Obviously, it took us way too long to take care of an emergency.”

Added Evans: “Something definitely should be done. A kid laying on the field for that long . . . put yourself in the parents’ situation. I really felt for them.”

Mark Verbeck, a manager at Morgan, found the schedule Saturday night.

“I don’t have the foggiest idea how it got lost,” Verbeck said. “But it won’t happen again as long as I’m here.”

Verbeck said that, in addition to the city schedule, he usually receives schedules from each of the Santa Ana schools--Santa Ana, Saddleback, Santa Ana Valley and Mater Dei.

As of Saturday, he had received only Santa Ana’s schedule.

“They’ll have our schedule Monday morning,” Saddleback’s Evans said.

However, even if Morgan had staffed Friday night’s game, there’s a chance the ambulance wouldn’t have been there when Avalos was hurt.

Morgan’s agreement with the stadium is that it provides an ambulance--with two emergency medical technicians--on a call-out basis. Should there be another emergency, that ambulance could be called away at any time during the game.

There are no laws or regulations in California that require an ambulance at high school football games. The state Education Code does not require them, nor do most school districts, though several recommend that they be there.

However, some schools, such as those in the Garden Grove Unified District (Bolsa Grande, Garden Grove, La Quinta, Los Amigos, Pacifica, Rancho Alamitos and Santiago) pay $78 to have an ambulance present at home games.

“That’s an option that will be explored,” said Nancy O’Connor, Saddleback principal.

Rebel(lion): The Savanna football team, with victories over Garden Grove (22-14) and Rancho Alamitos (12-0), already has won more games this season than in the past two seasons combined.

But first-year Coach Dana Coleman, who suffered through 0-10 and 1-9 seasons as a Rebel assistant in 1984 and ‘85, feels he’s still fighting an uphill battle when it comes to convincing students, teachers, parents and fans that Savanna has a good team.

“As soon as we lose one, people are going to say, ‘Well, that’s Savanna,’ ” Coleman said. “There’s still an ‘I’m from Missouri, show me’ attitude here. I don’t think we’ve made everyone believers. We’ll have to wait and see.”

What will make them believe?

“Probably a CIF championship,” Coleman said, resigning himself to the improbability of such an occurrence.

Coleman prefers to take it one miracle at a time. He isn’t worried about reaching the playoffs or winning a championship. His mind is on this week’s opponent, Bolsa Grande (2-0).

Regardless of the outcome, Coleman has made great strides in curbing the losing attitude at the school--at least among his players.

“We kept telling the kids if they work hard it’s going to pay off,” Coleman said. “Now, because they’re 2-0, they’re starting to believe that. Some kids are really excited, and they’re having a lot of fun. It’s always easier to practice when you win.”

Two other schools that have experienced a resurgence are Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach. Members of the newly formed Pacific Coast League, they are 2-0 after coming off 3-7 seasons.

And get this. The Pacific Coast League, whose six teams (Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Orange, Trabuco Hills and Woodbridge) had a combined 11-32-1 record last season, has the best combined record (9-3) after two weeks of any Orange County league.

On the flip side, Mission Viejo, which reached the Southern Conference final last year; El Modena, a Southern Conference semifinalist; and Marina, a Big Five Conference semifinalist, are each 0-2.

Prep Notes

Five former Orange County high school football players, including Foothill stars Jud Dutrisac and David Gazzaniga, are on the Dartmouth College team. Two of the five, John Fuhrman, a 1983 graduate of Servite, and David Kitchen, a 1983 graduate of Sunny Hills, start. Fuhrman is an inside linebacker and Kitchen is an offensive tackle. Dutrisac, a quarterback, and Gazzaniga, an offensive tackle, 1985 graduates of Foothill, and Arnold Wensinger, a defensive end and 1984 graduate of Garden Grove, are reserves. . . . El Toro’s athletic department has openings for a soccer coach and two assistants, an assistant volleyball coach and an assistant track coach for its boys’ teams and a track coach and assistant for its girls’ teams in a walk-on capacity. Interested parties should contact Ed Adams at 586-6333. . . . Former El Dorado running back Doug Sipple is the starting fullback for UC Santa Barbara. . . . The Foothill-Tustin football game scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3, has been switched to Thursday, Oct. 2. The game will be played on Tustin’s Northrup Field. . . . Servite is hosting a charity golf and tennis tournament Oct. 13. The golf tournament will be at Candlewood Country Club in Whittier and the tennis tournament at Santiago Tennis Club in Orange. All proceeds will benefit the Friars’ athletic department. Interested parties should telephone 774-4350 for reservations. . . . The Los Alamitos band has been invited to perform during the fifth game of the World Series Oct. 23 in Anaheim Stadium, should the California Angels reach the World Series and should the series extend to a fifth game. . . . The Ocean View basketball team will be in Hawaii from Dec. 28 to Jan. 6 to play against Maui High and Baldwin High of Maui.