THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Saugus Win Lets Clark Crack Smile, Then Whip

Every season in Coach John Clark’s four years at Saugus High, the 120-mile trip home from Burroughs in Ridgecrest was made in silence: another close loss followed by another long ride through the night.

Few teams have fared well at Burroughs, where the Burros hadn’t lost since 1980, a streak covering 40 games. Saugus was just another victim in the streak until Friday night. It took three overtime periods, but Saugus recorded a 70-68 win on a pair of free throws by Jackson Clark, the coach’s son, with four seconds left in the game.

After the buzzer sounded, coach and player--father and son--danced and hugged at midcourt. Jackson, a 6-1 senior forward, had scored a season-high 14 points to give Saugus one of the biggest wins in recent school history. Saugus is 14-7 and is tied for first with Canyon in the Golden League at 5-1.

Still, the two-hour ride home was quiet. It wasn’t silent--the players celebrated--but they had little energy for a party.

“The kids were just absolutely exhausted,” John Clark said Saturday. “We suited up only nine guys and two fouled out, so a lot of guys played nearly the whole game and three overtimes. The guys were tired, but at least they were awake all the way home.”

When the team returned home, some of the players, including Jackson, went out to eat. Coach Clark quickly invoked his fatherly duties.

“As a parent I was really happy for Jack to be one of the heroes, but he stayed out later than I told him to, and when he came home I let him know about it. It was kind of weird, though. At midnight we were hugging and dancing at midcourt, and then in the middle of the night, I was chewing on him.”

But was dad proud of his son and the game-winning free throws?

“I tell you, the place was going wild when he went to the free throw line,” Clark said. “That place is a little cracker box and the fans are right on the floor. I knew he was going to make them. He just stepped up and buried those suckers. It got quiet real fast.”

Then it was time for Saugus to make some noise.

No hard feelings: Even though he is losing his best player, Chatsworth Coach Gary Shair said he bears Kendell McDaniels no ill will. McDaniels, who transferred to Chatsworth from Kennedy at the start of the school year, apparently is heading back to the Golden Cougars. If he does return to Kennedy, McDaniels will be eligible to play this season.

McDaniels stopped practicing with Chatsworth this week and missed Friday night’s 48-45 win over Canoga Park after informing Shair he was moving back to the Kennedy district.

McDaniels could not be reached for comment Saturday, but Shair said the 6-5 senior is leaving in part because of Chatsworth’s record. Chatsworth is 6-8, 2-4 in the Northwest Valley League. Kennedy is 11-5, 5-3 in the Valley League.

“I’m sure our record had something to do with it,” Shair said Saturday. “Kendell was dissatisfied that we weren’t playing better. He was head and shoulders our best player, but I wish him well. He’s a really great kid.”

In 13 games, McDaniels, who has already signed a letter of intent with St. Mary’s, averaged 16 points and 8.6 rebounds to lead the team in both categories.

A pox upon them: The three leading scorers on Louisville’s 15-2 team have much in common. Andrea Knapp, Lynn Flanagan and Tina Kohler, are seniors, tri-captains and four-year varsity starters. They also managed to reach their late teens without catching chicken pox, at least until Thursday when Knapp started showing spots.

She will miss three games this week and her status for the rematch with San Fernando Valley League rival Alemany on Feb. 9 is uncertain. While Knapp recovers at home, Louisville Coach Brian O’Hara holds his breath, waiting to see whether Flanagan and Kohler caught the disease from Knapp.

“When Andrea was contagious last week, the whole team sat in a small room at school and watched game films, so Lynn and Tina were exposed,” O’Hara said.

So far so good; both girls are showing no spots. But it may take until the end of the week to see if they’ve escaped the pox. Despite the health watch, O’Hara has managed to see bright, er, spots.

“At least this is happening in January, and it’s not like we’re going to miss the playoffs,” he said. “I know Andrea will get back to school and return in time for the playoffs. I just don’t want people getting this Feb. 20 when the playoffs start.”

Moving time?: Royal High, tired of losing seasons in football, basketball and baseball, has offered to move from the Marmonte League to the Frontier League as part of a releaguing proposal suggested at a recent Southern Section Northern Area Releaguing Committee meeting. Fellow Marmonte member Camarillo also has volunteered to switch. Only one team would move, leaving both leagues with six teams and relieving each of an odd-number configuration.

The Marmonte League consists of Camarillo, Channel Islands, Newbury Park, Royal, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Westlake. Frontier League members are Agoura, Calabasas, Nordhoff, Santa Clara and Santa Paula.

Athletic directors in each league favor the proposal because it would eliminate byes in the football season and relieve soccer and basketball teams from playing three games in certain weeks during the league seasons. But the proposal also means a drop in classification for the moving Marmonte League team.

In addition, if Royal moved, it would mean the end of a league match-up between Royal and cross-town rival Simi Valley, although the teams would still play each other.

“Even if Royal isn’t in our league, we plan to play them,” Simi Valley Athletic Director Terry Dobbins said.

Royal Athletic Director Glenn Lipman said he hopes a move would translate into more success for the school’s programs.

Royal, in the past six years, has yet to qualify for the Southern Section playoffs in basketball or baseball and only once in football. Royal was 2-8 in football in 1986 and is 1-16 in basketball this season.