The High Schools : Lost Weekend Marks Start of New Season for Many Area Teams

Maybe it bodes well for balance. After all, who would have predicted the first weekend of high school football ending with the following teams holding the following records?:

Canyon, 0-1.

Channel Islands, 0-1.

San Fernando, 0-1

Notre Dame, 0-1.

St. Francis, 0-1

Oh, and one more 0-1: Crespi.

The Celts, entering the season No. 1 in The Times Valley poll, were all but handed their helmets by Redlands, 28-6. Does Crespi Coach Bill Redell ever wish he could have that one to play over.

“I’m very obviously very upset,” Redell said Saturday after reviewing the game film. “We did not take them lightly. They were a little better than what we thought they’d be.”

This was the second opener in a row in which Crespi was shocked by Redlands. Last year, Redlands and Crespi tied, 17-17, which was something of an upset because the Celts entered the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today.

And, as he was last year, tailback Russell White was limited to paltry yardage against Redlands because of an injury. White, who received a hip pointer in last year’s game and gained only 23 yards, carried the ball just 10 times Friday night because of a sprained left ankle sustained in practice last week. He gained only 39 yards.

“We were forced out of what we wanted to do,” Redell said.

Quarterback Ron Redell also had a forgettable performance. Five of his passes were intercepted and he finished the night completing 20 of 31 attempts for 187 yards.

“In the first half,” Bill Redell said, “I thought Ron couldn’t have played much better except for two mistakes on two interceptions. In the first half we handled them, but in the second half, they started moving the ball on us.”

Redell said that White’s ankle is “touch and go,” but added that there is a “100% chance” he will play next week against Palmdale--and that Crespi will return to form.

“I think,” Redell said, “you’re going to see a different Crespi team out there.”

Add upsets: It was a much closer game than Crespi-Redlands, but the results were the same for Channel Islands: A 19-18 loss to Rio Mesa and an ankle injury for halfback John Johnson.

Johnson, second in the area to only White as a Division I running back prospect, was battling a sprained right ankle and finished with 83 yards in 10 carries.

Channel Islands was all but finished with 5:40 to play when Coach Joel Gershon opted for a two-point conversion attempt that failed when quarterback Mark Contreras’ pass fell incomplete.

But Gershon is not upset about being upset.

“I think that all of us in high school football realize that every year is a brand new year,” he said. “It’s not like the NFL. All this preseason hype is fun, but some people get carried away and start to believe it.

“We have a new team and Rio Mesa has a new team. At this point, Rio Mesa is ahead of us.”

Take that: The Marmonte League took its lumps the first week, particularly from the Channel League. Not only did Rio Mesa shock Channel Islands, but Buena stunned Westlake, 17-14, Ventura blanked Simi Valley, 28-0, and Oxnard hammered Camarillo, 41-23.

Royal was dumped by Chaminade of the San Fernando Valley League, 28-12, and Newbury Park managed a 6-6 tie against Agoura of the Frontier League.

Thousand Oaks, last season’s Coastal Conference champion, defeated Chino, 25-21, on Thursday for the only Marmonte win.

Clothes that make the team: Larry Edwards wanted his visiting Calabasas team to look good for its opener against Moorpark. Aesthetically and competitively.

Competitively, Calabasas was dressed to kill, posting a 28-0 shutout. Aesthetically, Calabasas was, well, dressed to smell.

“We had to borrow the junior varsity’s jerseys,” Edwards said. “They were all dirty and sweaty.”

Edwards had been waiting--and waiting--for the team’s new jerseys to be delivered in time for the start of the season.

“It was one of those sales snafus,” he said. “You order jerseys and they don’t come by the due date. We were given another day and they didn’t come. And then another day. Finally, we were told they would arrive by UPS the day of the game.”

And they did--at halftime.

“No one’s number corresponded with the program. I’m sure some mystery man had a lot of yardage,” Edwards said.

With a 21-0 halftime lead, the Coyotes entered the second half with the game in the bag and clean jerseys on their backs.

“The new jerseys scored only seven points,” Edwards quipped.

New man on the job: Former Poly girls’ basketball Coach Mark Erwin has been named as the boys’ basketball coach, succeeding Al Uyemura, who resigned.

Erwin, 37, Poly’s B football coach, coached the girls for one year and was junior varsity baseball coach for two years.

“I’m really just getting into high school coaching,” Erwin said. “I think one reason they gave me the position is that I’m a worker. I know absolutely nothing about the team except that we lost a lot of people from last year.”