The Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : Harvard’s Season Has a Kick to It

One of the magic numbers in what could be a magical football season at North Hollywood Harvard is 64, as in 64 yards, as in the longest field goal in Southern Section history. The four-year-old record belongs to Erik Affholter of Oak Park in Agoura, but for how long? Dominic Sandifer, the best kicker in the state this year, is closing in.

Or is he?

“A 64- or 65-yard field goal seems crazy when I think about it,” Sandifer said. “I know I had a 59-yarder, and I had one of 65 in practice, but it just seems funny to me.”

But what about his coach, Gary Thran, saying that Sandifer could end up with the best laugh?

“I think a lot of other people believe in me more than I believe in myself,” Sandifer countered.

And why not. In nine games this season, Sandifer, a 5-11 senior, has connected on kicks of 59 and 57 yards, the third- and ninth-best in California history. A soccer-style kicker, he has five successful kicks of 50 yards or more in his prep career. Saturday, a 62-yard attempt fell about five yards short against Bell-Jeff of Burbank.

Thran is keeping a lookout for Sandifer’s chance to break the record, or even to better 60 yards and get the No. 2 spot in Southern Section history. He won’t get it if the time isn’t right, but this is one coach who, if only once, wouldn’t mind finding himself on the 40 or 45 with fourth down.

“If I had the opportunity, I’d certainly like for him to try for the record,” Thran said. “It’s not something that we’ll go far out of our way to do or something that may cost us a game. But if the opportunity is there, I’d certainly like to give him the chance.

“Very seldom is he off to one side or the other. He’s very consistent. If he misses a long one, it’s usually because he’s short.”

But when he makes them, he really makes them.

“The one from 57 yards (Oct. 31 against Glendale Pater Noster), that thing could have gone 10 more yards,” Thran said. “It was halfway up the goal posts.”

Harvard, which reached the Desert-Mountain Conference championship game last season, is 8-1. The Saracens conclude the Santa Fe League schedule Saturday against Chaminade of Canoga Park before heading into the playoffs, which means they could play five more games.

Center Brian Williams of Santa Monica St. Monica, one of the state’s top basketball prospects, canceled his recruiting visit to the University of Arizona last weekend after the Wildcats got an oral commitment from Mark Georgeson of Huntington Beach Marina. Williams will wait until April to sign.

“That will give things a chance to widen a bit more,” Williams said. “There are a few more visits I will make, but those schools will remain undisclosed.

“I didn’t feel comfortable (now). I want to feel comfortable with my choices and not force myself into signing early.”

His only two visits were to New Mexico and North Carolina State.

So what have you done for me lately? Coach Harry Welch and the Canyon Country Canyon football team won 46 straight games, one short of the state record, and three consecutive Northwestern Conference titles before losing Friday night to Antelope Valley, 21-20, on a missed two-point conversion with 16 seconds left. Saturday morning, Welch left his Marina del Rey home and picked up coffee and some newspapers at a convenience store in Canyon Country, where he was met by a fan.

“It was a great streak, a fabulous comeback, and we love you, Harry,” the well-wisher said. “But why did you run an option play on the two-point conversion?”

Since his team came back from a 21-0 deficit with eight minutes left in the game, Welch realizes it is the last play that will stay with him.

“It gnaws at me,” he told The Times’ John Lynch. “I thought we had won it. I thought it was a Cowboy miracle.”

The game also had a strange kickoff, one that has to rank with the most unusual ever.

The scene: Antelope Valley had just scored on Shon Grimes’ 81-yard punt return, a play Welch contended should have been called back for clipping, to take a 13-0 lead. Before the extra point, Canyon linebacker Shea Danels was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and then Welch went onto the field and picked up two of his own before some Cowboy assistants led him off.

Travis Kurtz kicked the conversion for Antelope Valley, and the three penalties were then marked off before the kickoff . . . all the way to the Canyon 15-yard line. The Antelope kicker tried to drill the ball into the Cowboy receiving team--all stationed between the five and the goal line--in hopes of getting a rebound, but got a touchback instead.

That’s one thing that did go Canyon’s way in the first half: A five-yard gain on the kickoff without a runback or penalty.

Prep Notes Yki Vallery did it again. The Hawthorne senior, who opened three of the last four games with touchdown runs of 80 yards or more, had a 57-yard scoring sprint on the first play from scrimmage last Friday against Manhattan Beach Mira Costa. That was the Cougars’ first game since the death of offensive lineman Jeff Chai, and every helmet had a No. 60 on the back in memory. According to the South Bay Daily Breeze, the evening also included an appearance by rock star Prince, who rode onto to the track in a white limousine accompanied by two police cars, addressed the crowd and handed a Hawthorne cheerleader an envelope containing the name of the Homecoming queen. . . . Tustin’s 9-7 win over Santa Ana Saddleback last Friday was the Tillers’ second victory against a team that was in the top 10 at the time, having beaten Santa Ana Foothill in the fourth week of the season. Under Coach Marijon Ancich, Tustin is 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the Sea View League and will have at least a tie for a league title for the first time since 1955. . . . Quarterback Kirk Saul of Valley High in Turkey, Tex., set a national single-game record last Friday by throwing for 589 yards. His 8 touchdown passes broke Pat Haden’s single-season mark of 42, set at La Puente Bishop Amat in 1970.

times ‘ Top 10 Through games of Nov. 8

SOUTHERN SECTION No., School, League Record 1. Bishop Amat, Angelus 9-0-0 2. El Toro, South Coast 9-0-0 3. St. John Bosco, Del Rey 9-0-0 4. Muir, Pacific 9-0-0 5. Santa Ana, Century 8-1-0 6. Crespi, Del Rey 8-1-0 7. Canyon Country Canyon, Golden 8-1-0 8. Hart, Foothill 8-1-0 9. Fontana, Citrus Belt 8-1-0 10. Los Altos, Sierra 9-0-0

CITY No., School, League Record 1. Banning, Pacific 8-0-0 2. Carson, Pacific 8-0-0 3. Grananda Hills, Valley 7-0-1 4. Kennedy, Valley 4-3-1 5. Crenshaw, Pacific 5-3-0 6. Cleveland, Valley 6-2-0 7. Dorsey, Pacific 5-3-0 8. Garfield, Freeway 7-1-0 9. Manual Arts, Crosstown 5-2-0 10. University, Pac-8 7-1-0