Injuries Depleting Kingsmen

Jeff Kelley, a free safety, is the third defensive starter at Cal Lutheran to be lost for the football season because of injuries. He joins cornerback Oscar Williams (torn rotator cuff) and linebacker Sean Demmon (torn knee ligament). Kelley, a junior, suffered an injury to his shoulder in CLU’s season opener at San Francisco State, then severely sprained his ankle earlier this week.

“He’ll probably be held out for the rest of the year,” Kingsmen Coach Bob Shoup said. “We’ll try for a hardship redshirt year.”

Getting even: When Lyle Setencich, the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football coach, instructed his offense to pass with a 51-23 lead and less than three minutes left, it raised some eyebrows. Asked about Setencich’s calls, Shoup said: “Maybe that’s why he’s not at Boise State anymore.”

Setencich was fired last year after leading the Division I-AA Broncos to their only losing season since 1946.

CLU’s Brent Tunnell, Kelley’s replacement at free safety against Cal Poly SLO, was named team defensive player of the game. He had 17 tackles, eight unassisted.

Failing grade: Shoup was none too pleased with the performance of his offensive line against San Luis Obispo, saying: “Overall, the line graded out at 50%. That means on any given play, three guys missed their assignments. I’d give them about an F-plus.”

Last season, Cal State Northridge had only 33 plays of 20 yards or longer (18 by pass, 15 by rush) and only four gains longer than 40 yards.

The Matadors showed the potential to become a much better big-play team in Saturday’s 45-0 victory over San Francisco State. CSUN gained 20 yards or more on six different plays--three passes and three runs--and had three plays work for more than 40 yards.

The longest was a 97-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run by freshman Albert Fann, who came within a yard of tying a school record in only his second college game. Mike Vogel ran 98 yards for a touchdown against Portland State in 1968.

Quarterback Rob Huffman implemented three of the longer plays--a 41-yard pass to Chris Moore, a 20-yard screen pass to Fann and a 23-yard run.

The others were a 41-yard pass from Sherdrick Bonner to Keith Wright and a 30-yard run by Richard Brown.

Bonner, a redshirt freshman, completed all four of his pass attempts for 68 yards and a touchdown.

In his first home game last Saturday, Fann showed Northridge fans why he was so heavily recruited. He rushed for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries against San Francisco State, including the 97-yard scoring run.

Fann (6-2, 210), from Cleveland High, was considered a blue-chip major college recruit but failed to meet Division I academic admission standards. He chose to accept a scholarship at Northridge rather than attend a junior college or redshirt at a four-year school.

He is convinced it was the right choice. “I’m very happy with my situation here,” Fann said after CSUN defeated San Francisco State. “This is my team now. I can play with these guys. If I go to a Division I school, there’s no way I play right away because they’d have me redshirting the first year. Here, I get to play right away.”

Other than Cal Lutheran’s loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last Saturday in the first Western Football Conference game of the season, WFC teams are undefeated against Division II opponents.

The only teams to beat WFC schools are from the Division I-AA Big Sky Conference.

The player strike in the National Football League has given Mike Kane, a former All-American tailback at Northridge, renewed hope of a professional career.

Kane contacted Miami scout Milt Davis on Tuesday and added that he might try other teams later this week if nothing transpired with the Dolphins.

Kane (5-10, 193) has been lifting weights and running between attending school at Northridge and working as an assistant football coach at St. Francis High.

Valley and Moorpark both moved up this week in the state rankings compiled by the JC Athletic Bureau. Valley rose two positions to ninth and Moorpark moved up four to 10th. Valley is ranked fifth in Southern California and Moorpark is sixth.

In the Southland Poll conducted by sports information directors, Valley is sixth and Moorpark is eighth. But the most noteworthy aspect is the absence of Saddleback (0-1), which failed to make the top 10 for the first time since 1975--the year the poll began.

Valley, which is averaging 586.5 yards a game, leads the state in offense. That’s 140 more yards per game than second-place Long Beach.

Dondre Bausley of Valley leads the state in rushing with 391 yards, and wide receiver James Reaves is tied for second in scoring with five touchdowns.

This is kind?: Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero was pleased with his team’s 56-16 rout of College of the Desert last week and said the damage could have been worse. Valley rolled up 689 yards in offense, eclipsing the school record of 635 set against Long Beach in 1975.

Bausley, who had two 53-yard touchdown runs, and quarterback Barry Hanks played just half the game.

“I think we were pretty kind to them really,” Ferrero said. “If we had left everyone in, our total offense easily could have been in 800s.”

Dan Nagelmann, who has started at quarterback in both games for Moorpark, might miss Saturday’s game against Long Beach because of a toe injury suffered last week against Compton. Valley running back Roman Carter, who broke two bones in his hand last week against Desert, will be lost for the season and will redshirt.

Joey Kirk has a chance this weekend to become the all-time leading soccer scorer at CSUN when the Matadors, ranked fifth in the nation, travel to Westmont on Saturday and Cal Lutheran on Sunday.

Kirk, a senior forward, has 39 career goals and 106 points. He needs four points to eclipse the record held by John Tronson last year. “I think about it, of course, but it isn’t of great importance,” Kirk said. “The main thing right now is to beat these teams this weekend. They’re going to be a lot like our conference opponents. They’re pesky and come right at you.”

Said CSUN Coach Marwan Assad: “Joey can contribute even more, but he needs others. He’s a great passer, but we haven’t used that ability yet. Right now, he’s strictly a dribbler and a scorer.”

Benny Cruz, a junior from Burbank High and Valley College, led the Cal State Los Angeles cross-country team to a second-place finish in an invitational meet at Fresno State last Saturday.

Cruz placed second behind Arizona’s Matt Guisto with a time of 30:54.4 over the 10,000-meter course. Cal State L. A., which finished behind only Arizona in the team standings, beat defending California Collegiate Athletic Assn. champion Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Division I teams Fresno State and UCLA.

Cal State L. A. is ranked fourth in Division II. Cal State Northridge is ninth.

Coach Don Strametz of Cal State Northridge said in August that the West region would be the strongest in NCAA Division II. The first coaches’ cross-country poll released earlier this week supports his claim.

Seven of the top 20 men’s teams, including three of the top nine, hail from the West region.

Five of the seven W e st Coast teams belong to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., including Cal State L. A. (4th), defending CCAA and West regional champion Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (6th), and CSUN (9th).

The Matadors placed 10th in last year’s Division II championships.

The women’s poll also is dominated by teams from the West region. San Luis Obispo, the five-time defending Division II champion, UC Davis and Northridge are ranked first, second and third.

The Lady Matadors placed second in the 1985 and ’86 Division II championships.

Cal State L. A. (8th), Seattle Pacific (11th) and Pomona (16th) also are ranked in the top 20.

Larry Lessett, 28, a former Cal State Northridge assistant and Pierce College head coach, has been hired as assistant basketball coach at Cal State Bakersfield.

Eldin Onsgard, former director of aquatics at Pierce College, has been hired as water polo coach at Cal State Los Angeles.

Anna Garcia has been a starter on the CSUN women’s volleyball team for three seasons, but Coach Walt Ker says he has never seen her play better than she has the past two weeks.

The senior outside hitter led the Lady Matadors to victory in the Cal State Dominguez Hills tournament last weekend.

Northridge had a 5-0 record in the tournament and improved its overall mark to 7-3.

The Lady Matadors will play in their third volleyball tournament in as many weekends beginning Friday at Portland State.

Debbie Ball, the top runner on the Moorpark women’s cross-country team, will miss the Raiders’ first Western State Conference meet Friday.

Ball was unable to train this week because of a virus. The Raiders play host to Santa Barbara and Oxnard in the 3 p.m. tri-meet.

“The other two teams are so weak, we have the luxury of being able to hold her out and still win,” Coach Manny Trevino said.

Trevino expects tougher competition for the Moorpark men’s team, which finished sixth in an invitational meet at Cuesta last week.

Daiva Tomkus, a sophomore middle blocker on the 4th-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team, was named Pacific-10 player of the week for her performance last week in wins over Stanford and California. Tomkus, who played at Chaminade High, had 15 kills and five service aces against Stanford. She had 10 kills and three aces against Cal.

UCLA is 6-2 overall and 2-0 in conference.

The CSUN women’s softball team, the defending Division II national champion, is holding a four-day tryout over the next two weeks in an effort to fill roster spots.

The Lady Matadors, who have all of their pitchers and catchers returning, lost all of their starting infielders except second baseman Kim Bernstein.

“We’re looking for athletes, not necessarily position players,” CSUN Coach Gary Torgeson said. “We’ll probably keep five and redshirt five others.”

On Tuesday, about 20 players went through various drills.