Warriors Need Victory Over Weak Apaches

The El Camino football team may get what it needs in Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Southwestern College of Chula Vista at Murdock Stadium. A win.

After a loss to Fullerton College and a tie to unranked Golden West, the Warriors (2-1-1, 1-1-1 in the Mission Conference) are desperately looking for a victory.

And Southwestern may be the team to hand El Camino what it desperately seeks. The Apaches (1-3) have lost to Mt. San Antonio and Golden West and last week fell 56-20 to Rancho Santiago.

The Southwestern team has an inexperienced offense that includes eight newcomers. Freshmen Anthony Rivera and Don Quinn have been sharing the quarterback duties.

While their performance has been mediocre, Southwestern’s defense has been its strong point. The Apaches have a returning all-conference safety in Melvin McFarlin and a top freshman, Cassius Wade, who adds to the secondary’s strength.

El Camino lacks strength on defense. Five of the Warriors’ starters on defense have been plagued by injuries and replaced by inexperienced freshmen. “We’ve played as hard as we could,” said El Camino Coach John Featherstone. “I know Southwestern’s defense is going to be better than Golden West’s. But our kids will never lack for effort.”

Offensively El Camino will once again suffer the loss of sophomore quarterback Frank Dolce who was sidelined last week because of a sprained ankle suffered during the Fullerton game two weeks ago.

Sophomore Scott Yessner is expected to run the El Camino offense. Last week he passed for 205 yards and a touchdown.

L.A. Harbor Coach Chris Ferragamo also has good reason to be optimistic about Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game against Compton College at Compton.

Compton (0-4, 0-3 Western State Conference) has lost to Moorpark, L.A. Southwest, San Bernardino Valley and Glendale.

The Tartars have a young team with little depth. Sophomore quarterback Damone Scott has completed only 36 of 104 passes for one touchdown and has suffered three interceptions.

Compton’s top running back is sophomore Henry LeBlanc, who has returned 10 kickoffs for 210 yards. He returned four for 185 yards in last week’s 27-9 loss to Glendale.

The Seahawks (1-4, 1-2 in the WSC) desperately need a win over Compton. Their only victory this season was by 21-13 over Pierce.

The task might be tough since quarterback Ed Lopez is not expected to play. He sprained a tendon in the thumb of his right hand during the fourth quarter of last week’s Valley College game.

So Harbor will have Grant Beachley at quarterback. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound freshman from San Pedro High connected with Michael Williams for a 17-yard touchdown in Harbor’s 30-20 loss to Valley.

Ferragamo is depending heavily on his defense to pick up some of the slack, especially since defense has been Harbor’s strength all season.

In last week’s Valley game linebacker Sam Rizzuto had 11 tackles, defensive end Kevin Johnson had 4 sacks and defensive tackle Aaron Pulliam made 6 tackles.

Harbor will also have offensive line coach Jim True back on the sideline after last week’s absence. True was suspended from last week’s game for shoving Seahawk trainer David Lew.