Holly Handles Ball, Bumps as Harvard’s Designated-Runner

Marty Holly can be compared to a Timex wristwatch. Time and time again--26 times last week against Bell-Jeff--Holly carries the ball in Harvard’s single-wing offense. And time and again Holly takes a licking.

But he’s not kicking.

“I like it,” Holly said. “I take a beating, but I’m used to it. It’s just smash-face into the line. Every hit is about the same. They blend together.”

Holly, a junior tailback, has been taking the long snap and sinking his 5-11, 187-pound body into the line on nearly every down this season. By now, one would expect to see John Cameron Swayze proudly standing over Holly every time an official blows his whistle.

“He gets beaten up pretty good,” Harvard Coach Gary Thran said. “A couple of times he’s had to come out because of exhaustion. You get hit that often and it takes its toll.”

Said Holly: “It appears that I’m running the ball every play, but there’s actually a mix. I’ll run four or five times and then there will be a two-play break.”

When Thran decided to implement the old-fashioned single-wing, he said Holly would carry the ball 90% of the time. With 194 carries and 94 passes, Holly has handled the ball on 62% of Harvard’s plays, but no other Saracen has carried the ball even half as many times as Holly, who leads the team with 1,169 yards rushing.

“I’m not a finesse runner,” Holly said. “I prefer up-the-middle running and not trying to break to the outside.”

Against Bell-Jeff, Holly’s straight-ahead style accounted for 225 yards and three touchdowns as Harvard clinched the Santa Fe League’s third playoff berth with a 23-12 win.

Tonight in the first round of the playoffs, Thran’s simple, Holly-coming-at-you offense meets the Desert-Mountain Conference’s No. 1 ranked team, Sunkist League champion Bloomington (10-0). Bloomington allowed only 46 total yards in a 21-0 win last week over Notre Dame of Riverside.

“It’s going to be hard,” Thran said. “We think we can move the ball on them. We’re going to keep it on the ground.”

That suits Holly fine.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “I trust myself more with the ball than I do with other people. I like to be in control.”

Barrett watch: This was the season that Burroughs quarterback Jeff Barrett was supposed to sling the football for extremely large amounts of yardage. Barrett, Burroughs’ career passing leader with 5,516 yards, passed for a school-record 2,766 yards last season while attracting the attention of scouts from USC and Syracuse.

Barrett has completed 106 of 181 passes for 1,598 yards and 15 touchdowns and ranks second to Darren Renfro of Hart among Valley-area Southern Section quarterbacks. But the left-handed quarterback hasn’t been passing as well as he did last year. After 10 games last season, Barrett had completed 118 of 187 passes for 2,074 yards.

Why the plunge?

“The coaches want us to be more balanced,” Barrett said. “I’m mainly throwing quick outs and shorts.”

Burroughs receivers Brian Kaloustian and Pat Lynch, who combined for 107 catches last season, both graduated, leaving Barrett with an inexperienced group of receivers. Tight end Jason Teitel, also a starter from last season, leads Burroughs with 35 receptions. Barrett said the loss of Kaloustian and Lynch has been hard to overcome.

“Last year, I knew exactly when they were going to cut and where they were going to be,” he said. “This year, we’re out there every day for an hour after practice going over patterns. I throw each pattern 100 times a day. I’ve never worked harder in my life.”

Roughed up Cowboys: Canyon emerged from its game against Palmdale as Golden League champion. But the price of victory was high for the Cowboys.

Tailback Chris Peery, who has rushed for 1,222 yards and 15 touchdowns, suffered a sprained right ankle when he was forced out of bounds after a 65-yard pass reception.

Coach Harry Welch said Peery’s chances are “slim and none” of playing in the Cowboys’ playoff opener against North Torrance tonight at Canyon.

“We’ll warm him up before the game and if the game is on the line we could play him,” Welch said.

Other banged-up Cowboys include linebacker Kevin Doss (dislocated elbow), wide receiver Clint Beauer (possible broken nose) and nose tackle Eric Hanes (sprained ankle).

Hot foot: When Chaminade placekicker Chris Noonan missed an extra-point attempt against Pater Noster on Saturday, it was the first time in 28 attempts that the 6-2, 185-pound senior failed to split the uprights after a touchdown.

Noonan, who also plays wide receiver, has made 10 of 13 field goals--including a school-record 54-yarder--and scored four touchdowns to account for 81 points. He also has narrowly missed field-goal attempts from 63 and 64 yards.

Ragging rights: Both coaches learned long ago that records don’t mean much. Their teams could be 0-for-the season and the game between Kennedy and Granada Hills--cross-town rivals in the Valley 4-A League--still would be for neighborhood bragging rights.

“There have been a lot of years where one team was clearly better than the other,” Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh said. “But it always seems to be a close game.”

Last season, the teams tied, 7-7, and shared the league title with identical records of 3-0-1. This season, Granada Hills (5-3 overall) already has clinched the championship with a 3-0 mark. Kennedy has struggled to an 0-2-1 league record (1-5-1 overall) but nearly upset San Fernando last week, 8-7.

“It’s still Kennedy and Granada Hills,” Kennedy Coach Bob Francola said. “If we win, we can still make the playoffs. Overall, the season has been a disaster, but we have a lot of talented kids out there. Last week we played well. Maybe we’ll surprise Granada, too.

“It’s been known to happen.”

Add Valley 4-A: San Fernando not only has the Thanksgiving weekend off, as do all City Section teams, but tonight as well. The Tigers have a bye and will not play again until the City playoffs open Dec. 4, which is 20 days after the team’s 8-7 win over Kennedy.

Coach Tom Hernandez is taking the time to iron out some rough spots and to let the team rest.

“It ended up working out real well for us,” Hernandez said. “We spent a lot of time this week working on things we can’t really give as much time to when we’re preparing for a specific opponent. Special teams, basic blocking, the tackling sled, things like that.”

The time off will allow senior receiver Tommy Howard, who sprained his left ankle in the Tigers’ 35-20 loss to Granada Hills two weeks ago, time to recover. Howard is fourth among Valley City receivers with 32 receptions and has scored seven touchdowns.

Hernandez said senior linebacker Robert Garcia, who started last season but was academically ineligible this season, is expected to become eligible Monday.

When the playoffs begin, San Fernando probably will play the winner of tonight’s game between Dorsey and Gardena, which Hernandez will scout. The Tigers defeated Dorsey, 32-6, in the second game of the season.

San Fernando will conduct an intrasquad scrimmage this afternoon. “We still have to get some contact in,” Hernandez said.

Bailey returns: Montclair Prep received a boost last week when Jason Bailey returned after a layoff because of a broken right ankle and played in the team’s 22-19 Alpha League win over Marshall Fundamental.

“The team has really responded well to Jason’s return,” Coach Pat Blackburn said. “He’s the leader of this team.”

Although Bailey, a 6-2, 205-pound linebacker and offensive tackle, played sparingly on defense Friday, Blackburn said he’ll start at both positions when Montclair Prep (6-4) opens the Inland Conference playoffs against Boron on Saturday night at Pierce College.

“He’s 90 to 95% healthy,” Blackburn said. “He’ll go both ways.”

Bailey, who was also the punter, broke his ankle in the fifth game of the season against Palmdale when he was forced to run after fielding a bad snap.

“I’m glad to be back,” Bailey said. “The ankle is still weak and I can’t run as fast as before, but I’m confident I can play well.”

Will he punt again?

“No way,” he said with a laugh. “That position is just too dangerous.”

Staff writers Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.