Chaminade’s Task Against Bell-Jeff Is to Keep Reynolds Under Wraps

Bell-Jeff tailback Phil Reynolds stands only 5-feet, 6-inches, but he worries opposing coaches with his breakaway ability.

Reynolds, who has rushed for 762 yards, scampered 82 yards for a score earlier this season against Burbank. The run was captured on film by a free-lance cameraman and later featured by sportscaster Fred Roggin on KNBC Channel 4 news.

“I think he called it his ‘Touchdown of the Week,’ ” Bell-Jeff Coach Doug Woodlief said. “The kids got a real kick out of it. It was one of those runs where a little guy gets boxed in and then breaks loose.”

Reynolds has become a breakaway threat whenever he touches the ball. Last week against Pater Noster, Reynolds had runs of 60 and 69 yards and returned a kickoff for a touchdown, only to have it nullified by a clipping penalty. Reynolds also has returned two punts for touchdowns.

“He’s pretty quick,” Woodlief said. “And he’s got good upper-body strength. You’d have to see him to believe him.”

Chaminade will get a look at Reynolds and Bell-Jeff when the teams meet Saturday night at Pierce College.

Chaminade (4-2, 3-0 in league play) will all but clinch the Santa Fe League title with a victory. But Woodlief’s Guards (5-0-1, 2-0) should provide a good test.

“If they beat us, they’re in,” Woodlief said. “They’re pretty big up front. But we’ve got some pretty fair size, too.”

Woodlief’s tailback excluded.

It might get worse: Alemany Coach Enrique Lopez called last Friday’s 21-21 tie with St. John Bosco his biggest career disappointment.

“It was the worst I ever felt and the kids felt the same way,” he said. “We took it worse than a loss.”

Alemany emerged from a difficult pre-Del Rey League schedule with a 3-1-1 record before last week’s tie with a powerful opponent. St. John Bosco reached last year’s Big Five Conference championship game.

Lopez, who believes this year’s team is his best in four years, has a sentimental attachment to his seniors, who started in the program when he did.

“These seniors won the league championship when they were freshmen and they expect to be there this year,” he said. “We’re looking at a good season and then we tied the first league game.”

Alemany, which already has played Granada Hills, Kennedy and Canyon, meets nationally ranked Loyola (No. 15) and Crespi (No. 3) in the next two weeks. The Loyola game, which was listed incorrectly on school schedules, is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Glendale High.

Tradition brewing?: When North Hollywood breezed through its pre-Pac 8 League schedule, beating Hollywood and Verdugo Hills by a combined score of 89-34, fans thought it signaled a year of Husky domination. Dissenters argued that the Huskies had yet to be tested.

The pessimists were right. North Hollywood is 0-2 in league play after being outscored, 50-24, by Sylmar and University.

Coach Fred Grimes said weak opponents didn’t prepare his team for league play. “The first two games, as easy as they were, hurt us,” he said.

Grimes’ immediate solution is to spend extra time working with the defense. His long-range solution is to schedule tougher preleague opponents, including Southern Section teams.

Notre Dame, located less than five miles from North Hollywood, is his top choice.

Said Grimes: “Notre Dame is right down the street and that would be a good game for both schools.”

Picking up the pieces: Despite last week’s stunning 7-6 loss to Westlake, Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards isn’t panicking. The Marmonte League title is still within reach, if the team wins its final three league games against Newbury Park, Simi Valley and Channel Islands.

Several league coaches said the loss might help the Lancers.

“In some ways, I think this could have been the best thing to happen to their season,” Westlake Coach George Contreras said. “They’ve been hearing so much from coaches and parents and media about what a good football team they are.”

Thousand Oaks takes a week off from league play tonight but hardly gets a break. The Lancers play host to Granada Hills, a Valley 4-A League power.

“I approach this as a very, very positive week,” Richards said. “As we look at this week, it means nothing in the Marmonte League and nothing to our future plans.”

Double duty: Tony Kerr moved into second place on Simi Valley’s career rushing list with 78 yards against Royal last Friday, but the senior’s best position might be defensive back. Kerr has 1,418 career yards, 359 behind M. J. Nelson. As a junior, Kerr was an All-Marmonte League defensive back and All-Ventura County running back. This season, Kerr is fourth among Valley-area Southern Section rushers with 772 yards and again is a force on defense.

Simi Valley Coach Dave Murphy would prefer to have Kerr on the field only half the time but cannot afford to sit him down either way.

“Before this year I would have said he’s a better defensive player,” Murphy said. “But after watching him on offense this year, I don’t know. He’s a fine player both ways.”

Desperation time: Chatsworth Coach Myron Gibford was so fed up with his team’s anemic offense (22 points in three games) that he added a new formation in Friday night’s 21-6 victory over Jordan.

Bryan Addison took snaps at the tailback position and quarterback Ty Powell moved to wide receiver.

“We were desperate,” Gibford said. “Our offense hadn’t been producing since the Cleveland game. The only way we’re going to win is to get the ball to Bryan.”

Addison, who directed Chatsworth’s option offense at quarterback last season, completed 5 of 5 passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 18 times for 107 yards and two scores.

Gibford plans to use the formation tonight in the Sunset League opener against Birmingham. “It may not have the surprise element it had Friday night,” he said, “but we’ll continue to use it.”

No go: Regardless of which team has had the ball in Grant games this year, movement has been at a minimum. Groundskeepers need not bother preparing the whole field, just the grass between the 40-yard markers.

Grant has scored 24 points in four games. Only El Camino Real has scored fewer points among Valley-area schools. Grant has averaged an area-low 89.3 yards a game in total offense. Only Moorpark (114.3) and El Camino Real (150.7) are even close in futility.

Things don’t get much more exciting when opponents have the ball. Grant has a tough defense to counterbalance its weak offense. The Lancers have allowed an average of seven points and 171 yards.

“Everybody thinks our offense is really horrible, but I think we’re just not that consistent,” Coach Bill Foster said. “We’ll get a drive going and look great, but then we’ll get down to the 20 and something happens.”

In its past two games, Grant has driven within the 25-yard line four times and failed to score each time.

Chris Parker and Times staff writers John Ortega, John Lynch and Tim Brown contributed to this notebook.