THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Michelson Apologizes for Berating an Official but Not for Slugging Him

Hart High basketball Coach Doug Michelson says he was retaliating when he shoved and punched official Bob Bria after his team’s 43-42 loss to Schurr on Thursday night.

Bria, who could not be reached for comment, declined to file assault charges against Michelson when the coach apologized for approaching him at game’s end, according to Michelson.

“I’m not apologizing for defending myself,” Michelson said. “As the dialogue became more heated, Mr. Bria told me that he wanted to get in the physical education office. At this point in time, after much shouting, profanity and name-calling and character assassinations by both parties, Mr. Bria put a body block on me that actually lifted me in the air.”

School administrators and other adults then broke up the scuffle, Michelson said.

Michelson said he approached Bria because the game “was allowed to become very physical. It was really a compilation of the whole evening. We shot two free throws the whole second half. Nevertheless, it doesn’t justify me berating the official.”

The Southern Section could later take action against him, said Michelson, whose third-place team (12-11 overall, 6-4 in the Foothill League) will begin playoff action on Friday.

“I’m not sure what’s next,” Michelson said. “I’m sure it’s not over.”

If Abo Velasco makes it big, he might change his first name to Able. It would be appropriate.

Is there anything this senior from Burbank can’t do?

“Well,” Velasco says, laughing, “I can’t swim that well. I sink to the bottom.”

But he helped the Burbank High basketball team float to the top Friday night in an important 71-58 victory over Burroughs.

“It was really big,” said Velasco, who is averaging about 14 points and 6 assists a game. “I remember before the game I had a stomachache, I was so nervous.”

Nothing a grand performance couldn’t cure, though, as his 19 points and 8 assists helped Burbank (16-8, 7-3) clinch at least a share of its third consecutive Foothill League title.

In football, Velasco was equally prominent. Though only 165 pounds and 5-9, he rushed for 1,046 yards and scored 76 points on 8 touchdowns, 11 extra points, a two-point conversion and 5 field goals in 5 attempts.

He’s run cross-country and will run track this season, and probably could have starred for the soccer team if the schedule didn’t conflict with basketball.

“I love soccer. I have a lot of soccer trophies from youth leagues dusting away,” he says.

Velasco, whose brother Alfredo is a kicker for UCLA, hopes to kick for some college team in the fall.

But, he says, he’ll do anything they ask.

Boys basketball teams in the Valley League have one more regular-season game this week. It’s little mystery which schools will make the playoffs, considering 16 of 19 teams qualify in the City Section 4-A division.

Fairfax, Cleveland, Taft and El Camino Real have already qualified and Reseda likely will receive an at-large berth.

Elsewhere, the playoff spots have been accounted for:

City 3-A Division: Birmingham, Granada Hills and San Fernando in the Northwest Valley League; North Hollywood, Grant and Poly in the East Valley League.

Southern Section 5-A: Alemany in the Del Rey.

Southern Section 4-A: Simi Valley, Westlake and Thousand Oaks in the Marmonte.

Southern Section 3-A: Burbank, Schurr and Hart in the Foothill; Canyon and Saugus in the Golden.

Southern Section 2-A: Agoura and Calabasas in the Frontier.

Southern Section 1-A: Montclair Prep and L.A. Baptist in the Alpha; Chaminade and Harvard in the Santa Fe; Oak Park in the Tri-Valley, the first time in the program’s history.

Let the inevitable debate begin, says Simi Valley High.

Hard to argue against--or beat--their numbers. Simi Valley arguably has the best basketball program in the Valley area.

“Some coaches in the Valley like to say who has the best program around,” says girls Coach Dave Murphy, “but we just let our records speak for themselves.”

The numbers:

The boys varsity, winner of 18 consecutive games, is 24-1, 12-0 and Marmonte League champion.

The girls varsity, winner of 25 consecutive league games, is 21-3, 12-0 and Marmonte League champion.

The boys junior varsity finished 23-0, the boys sophomore team 22-2.

The girls junior varsity finished 15-5, and twice beat Newbury Park, the Marmonte League champion.

That’s a combined 105-11 record, and Simi Valley seems to have a lock on the future. Sequoia Junior High, Simi Valley High’s main feeder school, didn’t have a loss this season to taint its record. The ninth-grade boys were 23-0, the girls 19-0.

The secret?

“One big factor is that all of these kids have had good youth coaching, and on all five teams these kids have played together for a long time,” Murphy said.

“And whenever you’re talking good teams, you’re talking good talent. We have Julie Arlotto, Paula Cooper, Kristie Sterbens. On the boys side, there’s Don (MacLean), Shawn (DeLaittre) and Butch (Hawking). They’ve played together forever.”

Or so it must seem to opponents, anyway.