Santa Clara Is No. 1: It’s Academic

Coach Bob Shoup often bemoans the fact that Cal Lutheran’s academic standards cost the Kingsmen a lot of football talent. Wednesday, at his weekly luncheon with the media, he was at it again.

“The last five running backs at Northridge couldn’t get in here,” Shoup said. “The standards are too high. You need either a 1,000 on the SAT or a 3.0 GPA out of high school.”

Actually, Cal Lutheran’s standards of a 3.0 grade-point average or a 2.75 GPA and 1,000 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test aren’t even the highest in the Western Football Conference.

The entrance requirements at Santa Clara are a 3.0 GPA and a score of 1,000 on the SAT. The 42 Santa Clara football players to be accepted by the university this year had an average GPA of 3.49 with an average score of 1,114 on the SAT.

Breaking loose: Even though CLU quarterback Tom Bonds has thrown for 659 yards in 3 games, completing 57% of his passes, including 5 for touchdowns, Shoup said his quarterback has yet to have a “great” game. When asked if he thought Bonds would break the NCAA Division II career passing mark--he needs about 2,000 more yards--Shoup said: “If we can get him to feel confident in the rest of the offense, then he could.”

Bonds puts excessive pressure on himself. “That hurts me sometimes because I try to make too many things happen,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to breaking loose these next few weeks.”

Scouting pays off: During warm-ups before Cal State Northridge’s football game against Sonoma State on Saturday, Matador Coach Bob Burt noticed a tryout in process. Sonoma coaches were trying to find a punter. The Cossacks eventually settled on Mike Braun, their starting strong safety.

Braun’s first punt was a short one, as was his second. On the second attempt, Sonoma was called for illegal procedure, but instead of declining the penalty and taking the ball near midfield, Burt chose to let Braun have another try.

The result: The ball was snapped two feet over Braun’s outstretched arms and he had to fall on it at the 1-yard line. Richard Brown scored a touchdown for Northridge on the next play and the Matadors won the game, 13-6.

Moorpark College is 3-0 and has outscored opponents, 80-12, going into Saturday night’s game against Ventura at Larrabee Stadium. Ventura is 0-3 and has been outscored, 95-30. There is another statistic that should be considered, however: Ventura is 15-4 against Moorpark. Each of the past three Moorpark-Ventura games has been decided by three points, including Moorpark’s 10-7 victory last year.

Ventura Coach Phil Passno is hoping for a replay of 1984 when Ventura started the season 0-3, then beat Moorpark, 20-17, to start an eight-game win streak that was capped with a victory over Grossmont in the Ventura Bowl.

Dan Nagelmann has managed to do something this season that no other Moorpark quarterback was able to do last season--establish himself as the Raiders’ No. 1 quarterback.

Nagelmann played every down in Moorpark’s 28-12 win over Long Beach City. He completed 20 of 36 for 246 yards and a touchdown.

Moorpark has achieved its highest ranking ever in the JC state football poll. The Raiders are ranked No. 5 in the state this week and 17th in the nation by JC Grid-Wire. Moorpark’s previous best was No. 8. by the JC Athletic Bureau. Valley College (3-0) is ranked No. 7 in the state this week.

The honorees: Brian Smith of Valley College was selected as the defensive back of the week by the JC Athletic Bureau for his play in the Monarchs’ 38-20 win over L. A. Southwest. Smith had six unassisted tackles, an interception, deflected two passes and recovered a fumble.

Frank Madrid of Moorpark was selected the offensive player of the week in the Western State Conference after catching 8 passes for 125 yards and 1 touchdown against Long Beach.

Miller Aupiu, a linebacker at Moorpark, was selected WSC defensive player of the week. He had 14 tackles and 2 interceptions.

Valley continues to lead the state in total offense, averaging 495.3 yards a game. Tailback Dondre Bausley is the state’s leading rusher, averaging 168 yards a game. Bausley is tied with Mike Padilla of Rio Hondo for the scoring lead with 36 points.

Valley quarterback Barry Hanks, who has passed for 581 yards and completed 69.2% of his attempts, ranks fifth in completions and third in total offense.

Mike Trevathan, a freshman wide receiver at Montana, suffered a knee injury during a 41-29 upset victory over Nevada-Reno last Saturday. He will miss three or four games. Trevathan, a 1986 graduate of Thousand Oaks High, is the leading punt returner in the Division I-AA Big Sky Conference and has six receptions and two touchdowns.

Coach Marwan Ass’ad of Cal State Northridge said his team suffered a mental lapse in the Matadors’ 3-1 loss to Westmont on Saturday. The loss was the Matadors’ first of the season and kept the team from tying the school record for consecutive wins at the start of the season.

“We did not approach this game the way we approached San Diego State, Cal State L. A. or U. S. International University,” Ass’ad said. “We paid for it.”

CSUN (7-1) came back Sunday and beat Cal Lutheran, 4-0, although Ass’ad was ejected after the first red card of his career.

Joey Kirk, a senior forward, had a goal and two assists against Cal Lutheran to give him 110 points in his career--eclipsing the record 109 set by John Tronson last season.

Kirk, who has 40 goals, needs five more to tie the school record held by Jose Perez. CSUN plays host to Westminster of Utah, an NAIA school, Saturday at North Campus Stadium in the Matadors’ final nonconference game.

Despite the loss, Northridge climbed from fifth to fourth in the Division II rankings this week. The Matadors open California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play Oct. 3 at home against Cal Poly Pomona.

Keith Hernandez and Ross Boomhower are expected to help Moorpark contend for its 13th conference wrestling championship in Coach John Keever’s 19 seasons. Hernandez (118 pounds) and Boomhower (190) each placed third in the state finals last season.

Moorpark, which tied with Rio Hondo and Cypress for last year’s Western State Conference title, had its roster bolstered by the return of sophomore Eric Cortez, who redshirted last season after placing eighth in the state at 150 pounds in 1985. The Raiders will play host to El Camino in their season opener Friday.

Paul Myers of Moorpark is sitting out the cross-country season so he can train for the 3,000-meter steeplechase during track season.

Myers, the defending WSC champion in the steeplechase, ran cross-country two years ago but sat out last season after knee surgery.

“I’m not strong enough in cross-country now,” Myers said. “I feel I’m better in track.”

Staff writers Tim Brown, Gordon Monson, Mike Hiserman, Gary Klein and Ralph Nichols contributed to this notebook.