AROUND THE LEAGUES : Crespi Shows Supporting Cast Behind the Russell White Show
When Crespi rebounded from a 14-0 halftime deficit Saturday night to beat Loyola, 21-14, the biggest surprise was that sophomore running back Russell White was hardly a factor. White, who has set the school’s season rushing record, gained 71 yards in the first half but fumbled twice in Loyola territory and picked up only 26 yards in the second half.
The Loyola defense was keying on White, so the Celts opted to use him as a decoy in the second half.
J.J. Lasley scored on a 40-yard run off a fake reverse to White, who was lined up at flanker. Quarterback Rob O’Byrne added a 14-yard bootleg after a fake pitch to White and fullback Jeff Kellogg racked up 115 yards on 15 carries during the game, including several blasts up the middle in the fourth quarter.
“If another coach told me we were a one-man team, I’d tell him to go ahead and stop Russell,” Coach Bill Redell said. “We have some other weapons. Loyola found that out.”
The Davis dimension: The return of Mike Davis, who scored two touchdowns last week against Cleveland on sprints around end, gives Granada Hills yet another weapon. Davis, a senior who split time at halfback with Khalid Ali last season, is also a starting linebacker. Davis missed almost three weeks with an ankle injury.
“Having Mike makes the play-calling much easier,” offensive coordinator Tom Harp said. “He set the tone last week by gaining about 25 yards on his first carry.” . . . Sean Hampton, a Times’ All-Valley running back from Sylmar, scored for the third consecutive week while playing on defense or special teams. Hampton returned a kickoff 84 yards for a score Friday, and had scored on a interception and fumble recovery in preceding games.
Fit for crowns: Crespi (Del Rey League), Canyon (Golden), Thousand Oaks (Marmonte), Hart (Foothill) and Canoga Park (Sunset) are unbeaten in league games and can clinch at least ties for league titles with wins this week. Calabasas (Frontier) has already clinched a tie.
Bell-Jeff and Harvard are unbeaten in the Santa Fe League and play Saturday night at Burroughs High. Granada Hills and Kennedy are tied for the Valley 4-A League lead, but Kennedy must play once-beaten Cleveland this week. Reseda and University are tied for first in the Pac 8 League and play next week.
Pick-and-roll to pick-offs: Safety Tim Blakeley of Newbury Park has intercepted six passes this season and returned three for touchdowns. On Friday, Blakeley made two interceptions and ran back one 29 yards for a touchdown. He also returned a punt 56 yards, caught a touchdown pass, returned two kickoffs for 54 yards and ran back three punts for 68 yards. Not bad for a basketball player who is playing organized football for the first time. “He’s just a good athlete,” Coach Ken Cook said. “If you throw the same pass pattern on him a couple times, he’ll pick it off.”
Fumblers fingered: Westlake Coach George Contreras has a stern rule with his ball carriers: Fumble the football, go to the bench. Because fullback Rob Mandel had fumbled in the previous week’s game, Noel Baker started against Camarillo. When Baker fumbled, Mandel came in. Each scored a touchdown against Camarillo. “It’s a competitive thing,” Contreras said. “I think it breeds a healthy and competitive situation.”. . . . The Harvard field goal unit rarely looks to Coach Gary Thran for direction on a fourth-and-long situation. Instead, the Saracens search for kicker Dominic Sandifer. “I let him make the decision on that,” Thran said. Sandifer has made 6 of 12 field-goal attempts, including kicks of 59, 57 and 51 yards, and has converted 24 consecutive extra points. The 59-yarder came last week in the swirling wind at Harvard and equaled the third-longest field goal in Southern Section history.
Injury report: Ron Simmons, Kennedy’s All-Valley center/nose guard, sprained a knee Friday against Simi Valley but is expected to play this week. . . . Sylmar quarterback Rick Negrete is out for the season after breaking his right arm last week. . . . Simi Valley quarterback Todd Studer broke ribs three weeks ago against Royal and didn’t play Friday against Kennedy. . . . Saugus slotback LaMark Allen’s injured left hand was heavily wrapped but he still caught 7 passes and rushed 14 times for 119 yards of total offense last week.
Canoga Park’s Jeff Myers ruined a potential touchdown drive in the third quarter against Chatsworth on Friday by throwing an interception. Even though Kurt Moeller returned 66 yards to Canoga Park’s 12-yard line before Myers tackled him, the quarterback said he used the play as a motivating factor.
“Last year in the playoffs I fumbled and a guy returned it 99 yards for a touchdown,” Myers said. “It meant a lot to run the guy down this time. I don’t think any of us were phased by the play.” Myers wasn’t. During Canoga Park’s winning drive in the game’s final minutes, Myers completed 6 of 6 passes and scored on a one-yard run. He finished 18 of 30 for 187 yards, his best performance of the season.
For the record: On the receiving end of Kesa Harding’s 62-yard touchdown pass in Friday’s Monroe-Van Nuys game was Sean Roberts. Also, accounting for Simi Valley’s three points against Kennedy was Andrew Mazzare, who kicked a 22-yard field goal.
