Contreras a Victim of Barber-ism

George Contreras is not trying to bring back the Sex Pistols, has not joined an extremist religious cult and was not in his barber’s chair when the recent earthquake hit.

The Westlake coach’s recent coiffure does register a 7.1 on the grisly scale, however.

The atrocity occurred Oct. 2, minutes after Westlake had defeated Marmonte League rival Newbury Park, 25-21. Contreras was greeted in the locker room by a scene right out of Halloween IX. Monsters, uh, players, were brandishing some heavy metal.

“It’s a little scary when you have 40 kids coming at you with scissors in their hands,” he said. “You definitely sit still.”

Contreras was honoring a pact made with his players last season. The Warriors had not defeated Newbury Park in four years. After last season’s loss, Contreras told the players that with a victory this year he’d let them have their way with his scalp.

“In a moment of weakness I made a promise to them,” Contreras said. “I didn’t realize what good memories they have.”

Or what poor barbers they are. Shear demons.

The 10th-year coach walked away from the hair-letting session without his brown curls. An arrow, a ponytail and spikes were in their place. Thankfully, both ears were left intact.

Shock therapy: Somehow Calabasas remains in good spirits despite losing to Cabrillo, 26-21, on a last-second, desperation 63-yard touchdown pass play. Maybe the Coyotes are still in shock.

“I thought our team showed character coming back in the fourth quarter,” Calabasas Coach Larry Edwards said. “We played a great game until that last play. No one did anything blatantly incorrect. It was a one-in-a-million-type play.”

Calabasas rallied from a 20-7 fourth-quarter deficit to take a 21-20 lead on Ceo Wimmer’s two-yard quarterback sneak with 13 seconds left.

With no time remaining, Cabrillo running back Don Chatman slipped past a crowd of Calabasas defenders, caught a 43-yard pass from quarterback Scott Vigil and ran the final 20 yards for the winning touchdown.

The Coyotes have a woeful 1-4 record entering Friday’s Frontier League opener against Santa Clara, but Edwards remains optimistic.

“We finished 1-3-1 in nonleague games last year,” Edwards said, “and we won the Frontier League and reached the semifinals of the playoffs.

“I think we have a chance to win league again this year, provided the Cabrillo game doesn’t destroy our confidence.”

Surprising Everett: Village Christian running back Joe Everett has been a pleasant surprise for the Crusaders. After rushing for 41 yards in the season opener, the 5-6, 150-pound junior has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the past four games, including a career-high 161 against Orange Lutheran on Saturday.

“I never expected him to carry the ball 20 times a game,” Coach Mike Plaisance said. “He’s just a little kid.”

But Everett’s diminutive size is an asset, according to Plaisance.

“He gets to the holes so quick that no one ever sees him,” he said. “He’s so small that he’s hidden. Nobody knows where he is.”

Although Everett isn’t fleet--he has 5.0 speed in the 40--he has quick feet, Plaisance said.

“His first ten yards are as quick as any back I’ve seen.”

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde: Chick Epstein, the Birmingham co-coach, swore he saw two different Birmingham teams play last week. Because of the Oct. 1 earthquake, Birmingham played Grant on Monday and Verdugo Hills on Friday.

“We were pathetic,” Epstein said of Monday’s 16-14 loss to Grant. “I haven’t seen a Birmingham team play that badly in a long time. We played so horribly that the kids wanted to atone for it on Friday.

“They were really up for it. They were really hungry for a win.”

Marcel Sellers led the 35-7 romp over Verdugo Hills, rushing for 253 yards on 26 caries and scoring 4 touchdowns. With 438 yards on 52 carries (8.4 average a carry) and 6 touchdowns in 3 games, Sellers is off to a fast start.

Despite his impressive numbers, however, the 5-6, 150-pound senior isn’t the most publicized athlete in his family.

That honor belongs to Sellers’ cousin, Chip Grant of North Hollywood, who has rushed for 823 yards on 73 carries (11.3 average) and scored 13 touchdowns this season.

Sellers and Grant nearly played in the same backfield. They both attended Birmingham as freshmen before Grant’s family moved to Studio City two years ago.

“Can you imagine them in the same backfield?” Epstein said wistfully. “Our running game would have been awesome.”

Tiger talk: San Fernando has quietly jumped to a 3-0 start this season, and a good reason is that Coach Tom Hernandez knows when to be quiet--and when not to.

When the Tigers, ranked No. 2 in the City 4-A rankings, sleepwalked their way to a scoreless tie at halftime Friday against Compton, Hernandez decided enough was enough.

“We just weren’t playing at 100%,” Hernandez said. “Maybe about 85-90%, but definitely not all-out. The kids were going through the motions.”

Hernandez’s halftime talk, whatever its tenor, must have done the trick; San Fernando stormed out of the locker room and scored 36 second-half points en route to a 36-0 win.

“You have to pick your spots about when you should raise your voice,” said the normally soft-spoken Hernandez. “I mean we can throw stuff around, too, when we have to. But sometimes the kids are just as motivated by the quiet as the loud.”

Add Tigers: San Fernando’s defense is another reason for the fast start. The Tigers have intercepted seven passes, recovered seven fumbles and allowed only 13 points.

“Even when it was 0-0 against Compton, we knew they weren’t going to score,” Hernandez said. “I just had a feeling. There was no way they were going to move the ball 60 yards on us.”

San Fernando has allowed an average of 188 yards a game.

Last add Tigers: Hernandez said a reason the team got off to a sluggish start was because the players were “uneasy” about playing at Compton, located in South Los Angeles.

How’s that? Youths from San Fernando worried about a tough neighborhood?

“Our place is a garden compared to down there,” Hernandez said. “I’ll never look at our school the same way again.”

Times staff writers Steve Elling, John Ortega and Sean Waters contributed to this notebook.