The Colleges : Shoup’s Karma May Be Catching--Cal Lutheran Injury Toll Mounts

Note to Cal Lutheran football players, assistant coaches and innocent passers-by: Stay clear of Coach Bob Shoup. He has been victimized by a dreadful case of bad karma.

In the past few months, Shoup’s life has been complicated by a series of mishaps, the latest of which occurred last Thursday during football practice. In short, he got run over by a couple of players.

As a result, the Kingsmen coach suffered a sprained knee and was hobbling around on crutches for a couple of days. Surprisingly, it didn’t cramp his style. In fact, he got around reasonably well.

There is a reason for that: Practice makes perfect. In June, Shoup was vacationing with his wife in a small town in Washington when he slipped off a boardwalk and sprained his ankle.

He also recently fell off a ladder and sprained his wrist trying to break the fall.

Shoup, who is beginning his 27th season at Cal Lutheran, recovered from his knee injury early this week. He has now turned his attention to a problem that has arisen during two-a-day workouts.

It seems 13 Kingsmen have left the team and another 10 have been injured. Hmmm.

Catching on: Dave Deisinger, Cal Lutheran’s 6-6, 230-pound sophomore tight end, should surpass the statistical standards he set last season. Playing behind starter Mark Jones, Deisinger had one reception for six yards.

This experience surpasses at least one other Western Football Conference tight end, however.

Rod Shinko, who likely will start for Northridge, played full time at Chabot College last season and didn’t catch a pass.

People mover: Cal State Northridge football coaches made recruiting defensive players a priority during the off-season. The Matadors were expecting the return of only two defensive starters for the 1988 season.

One enormously successful recruiting season later, defense is no longer a cause for concern. In fact, CSUN’s defensive front is so stacked that Coach Bob Burt has moved at least one standout player to offense.

Barry Voorhees, a 6-5, 295-pound transfer from Santa Barbara City College, will shift from defensive tackle to offensive guard. Voorhees is the Matadors’ strongest player and fastest lineman.

Gone but not forgotten: Tom Bonds has completed his eligibility at Cal Lutheran, but his impact on the football team will long be remembered. How much of an impact did he have on the team’s play? Here’s what Coach Bob Shoup had to say:

“When Tom Bonds was not on, if he had a bad game--and fortunately he had very few--then we were terrible. If he had a great game then, hey, we could beat a Cal Poly or a Sacramento. When he was mediocre, we were mediocre.”

That pretty much covers things.

Flashy freshmen: Junior Jim Bees and Dan Nagelmann might see most of the action at quarterback for Cal Lutheran this season, but a trio of talented freshmen--Dan Blatt, Bill Gallis and Tim Zeddies--are waiting in the wings. Shoup says the future of the Kingsmen passing attack is indeed bright.

“They all may be as good as Bonds was as freshman in that they’re bigger, stronger and have a very commanding physical presence,” the coach said.

It’s a kick: Espen Hosoien, a native of Norway, hopes to become adept as a placekicker on the Cal Lutheran football team, then move on to a more difficult position.

Hosoien, a 6-3, 231-pound freshman, is one of three kickers on the roster. Sophomore Greg Maw, who was sidelined because of a broken foot last year, and freshman Tim Lewis are also vying for the job.

Three years ago, Hosoien was a kicker at Cherry Creek High in Englewood, Colo., where he was an exchange student. The team went undefeated in 14 games and won a state championship in 1986.

Hosoien returned to Norway after graduating from Cherry Creek and has not played football since.

Blank mourned: The Valley College football team received demoralizing news last week when players learned of the death of sophomore Jeff Blank, a projected starting wide receiver from Simi Valley. Blank, 19, was killed in an automobile accident Aug. 21.

“I walked into our chalk talk with the quarterbacks and receivers that Monday and they were in tears,” Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero said. “He was close to a lot of the kids on the team.”

The Monarchs attended the funeral en masse last Wednesday. Quarterback Todd Studer, who played on the same team with Blank at Simi Valley High, delivered an eulogy.

Coaches corner: Jim Fenwick, who led Pierce College to three consecutive Southern California Conference titles from 1983-85 and later became an assistant at Northridge and Valley, is in his first season at Miami (Ohio).

Fenwick, who coaches the running backs, said he is enjoying the atmosphere that surrounds the program. Miami has served as a career stop for a number of college football’s most famous coaches, including Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the tradition,” said Fenwick, who lives down the street from former Miami and New York Jets Coach Weeb Ewbanks. “You can feel how much they care about this school.”

Bowing out: Van Austin, diving coach at Northridge for 11 years, has resigned to devote more time to private business. In his years with the Matadors, Austin tutored 16 national champions, 53 All-Americans and was Division II Diving Coach of Year in 1983, ’85 and ’86. A replacement has not been named.

The final cut: The CSUN women’s volleyball team, which started practice two weeks ago with 18 players, pared its roster to 14 by releasing Melanie Mariano, a setter from Chabot College.

Mariano, an all-state selection and co-most valuable player at Chabot, recently received the William A. Tenney Award, given annually to the top scholar-athlete graduate from Chabot, a community college in Hayward, Calif.

Harrier barrier: Darcy Arreola, Division II 1,500- and 3,000-meter champion, might redshirt during cross-country season, Northridge Coach Don Strametz said.

Arreola completed an extensive track season at the U. S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in July and Strametz is worried about her returning too quickly for cross-country. “I don’t want her coming back too early and getting sick or injured,” Strametz said. “She’s only 19 years old and she’s got a long, long career ahead of her.”

Arreola would be a top contender for this season’s Division II cross-country title. She placed fifth in 1987.

Derik Vett, who placed fifth in the men’s cross-country West regionals as a freshman last season, also may sit out because of a hip injury.

Both teams begin the season Sept. 11 at the UCLA Invitational.

The great Wynalda: If the San Diego State soccer team makes a return trip to the NCAA Division I Final Four this season, it will probably be on the shoulders of sophomore forward Eric Wynalda, a former Southern Section 4-A Division player of the year from Westlake High. Last season, Wynalda scored 11 goals and had 11 assists as the Aztecs advanced to the championship game before losing to Clemson.

San Diego State Coach Chuck Clegg said Wynalda is a good bet to make the U. S. national team.

“I have never seen an American player, who has American parents, with his skill level,” said Clegg, whose team opens its season tonight against The Master’s College. “If he can keep on an even keel he can go as far as he wants.”

The defender: John Purzycki, a former Crespi High standout on the UCLA soccer team, did not play impressively against Cal State Northridge last Saturday.

That is no reflection on Purzycki’s ability as a defender, however. It’s just that there wasn’t much of anything for the senior to do.

UCLA dominated play in shutting out the Matadors, 4-0. CSUN was outshot, 19-6.

Last season Purzycki started 15 matches and played more minutes (1,171) than he had in two previous seasons. UCLA allowed only 25 goals in 22 matches in advancing to the Division I quarterfinals.

Transfer route: Dave Walsh, the 1986 Division II West regional cross-country champion at Northridge, will compete for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Walsh left Northridge after the 1987 track season.

China syndrome: James Cleary, Northridge president, has laid the groundwork for a trip that would send CSUN’s women’s volleyball team to China to play two Chinese university teams.

Cleary toured five cities on a 19-day visit to China in June. During his trip, he reached an agreement with Chinese officials regarding an exchange program program that included a tour by the defending Division II national champion volleyball team.

Details of the proposed trip, which should take place within a year, have not been finalized, according to a school spokesman.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Gary Klein, John Ortega, Chris J. Parker and Ralph Nichols contributed to this notebook.