Redell Hears Worst Calls Off the Field

For Crespi High Coach Bill Redell, the laughs come easily these days. His team has started the season with six straight wins, all by large margins, and he has the best seat in the house each week to watch the area’s most exciting player--sophomore running back Russell White.

Life is so good for Redell, he can even laugh off death threats, which he was forced to do twice this week.

The first threat came Tuesday when Redell received a threatening telephone call at school. “The only thing that bothered me it was the voice of an adult,” he said.

On Friday, he received a threatening letter at school. Crespi officials contacted the police, who sent an extra officer to guard Redell at Friday’s game against archrival Notre Dame at Crespi. The game was played without incident to the Crespi coach, who did his best to downplay the experience.

“I wasn’t too unnerved because I thought it was a joke,” he said Saturday. “It was just a hoax. It must have been a hoax because I’m still here.

“I wear the same coat to every game and I asked all my assistant coaches to trade with me but none of them would,” he joked. When asked whether he told his wife about the threats, Redell joked again, saying, “Yeah, I told her and she just wanted to know how much life insurance we had.”

Redell admitted to one moment of worry Friday night. After the final gun sounded on Crespi’s 41-3 win over Notre Dame, he headed off the field through a large crowd of fans.

“I thought about the threats as I walked through the crowd with the cop next to me. I just wanted to get inside quickly,” he said.

No connection has been established between the threats and Notre Dame, Crespi’s bitter rival. No connection except in the minds of the Crespi players.

“They painted ‘ND’ on our field and our parking lot, and we started putting two and two together,” senior tight end John Carpenter said. “When Coach Redell first told us of the threat, I could tell by the look on his face that this wasn’t one of his little stories. It pretty much freaked us out. We went into the game wanting to give them hell anyway, this just added to it.”

Crespi had little to worry about during the game, the Del Rey League opener for both teams. The Celts were favored over Notre Dame (2-4) and stifled any thoughts of an upset on Notre Dame’s first play from scrimmage. Jon Budge intercepted a Morgan Shepherd pass and returned the ball 38 yards for a touchdown.

“About 99% of the fight went out of them after that play,” Carpenter said.

Fantastic finish: A year ago, Royal lost to Westlake, 60-0, but Friday’s three-point defeat at Simi Valley High may have taken more out of the Highlanders than the 1985 blowout. With two seconds left in the game, Royal quarterback Shaun Christensen threw an apparent 62-yard touchdown pass to Chad Sourbeer, but the play was nullified when officials ruled Christensen had crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball, allowing Westlake to escape with a 20-17 victory.

The play completed a wild final four minutes of the game. With Westlake holding a 10-9 lead, the Warriors scored on a three-yard run by Rob Mandel to take a 17-9 lead with four minutes left. Royal promptly matched 77 yards, capping the drive on a seven-yard touchdown run by Ralph Blanks. Christensen’s pass to Manny Escobar for the two-point conversion tied the game with 1:19 left.

Westlake then struck back for a 20-17 lead with 28 seconds left in the game on a 32-yard field goal by Garret Messner. On Royal’s first play from scrimmage following the ensuing kickoff, Christensen completed a short pass to Sourbeer, who broke outside and raced through the Westlake secondary for the apparent touchdown.

But the Royal celebration ended in a hurry.

“I was in the end zone with Chad on my shoulders,” Royal lineman Eric Anhalt said. “We were celebrating, then all of a sudden it got real quiet.”

No one from Royal disputed the call. “As soon as Shaun threw the ball, I saw the flags,” lineman Felipe Vasquez said. “It wasn’t a controversial call. It was just a bad feeling.”

Said Royal Coach Tom West: “It was a good call. I saw the flag and we weren’t getting too excited. It was sort of negative anticipation.”

Still, West said it was better to lose a heartbreaker than a blowout.

“When you get beat 60-0 you have real serious question marks about your program,” he said. “Now we know we’re doing things right. We know we’re competitive.”

Then he added with a laugh, “Heck, we’re 57 points better than last year.”

Made for each other: Entering Friday’s game, Tri-Valley League teams Moorpark and Oak Park formed a double image of frustration. Each was winless in five games, including two league games. Oak Park had yet to score a touchdown in five games, and Moorpark had justed added two more indignities to its legacy.

Moorpark lost to Fillmore two weeks ago, 19-15, allowing Fillmore to end the Southern Section’s second-longest current losing streak at 14 games. A week later, Moorpark lost to Carpinteria, 42-0, and still hasn’t beaten that team since 1934.

So what happened when Moorpark and Oak Park met? A 7-7 tie. On the bright side, Oak Park finally scored a touchdown and neither team lost.