The Colleges : Sartoris Stays Above Sideline Shenanigans When Glendale Plays

Don’t look for Jim Sartoris to be grabbing players’ face masks or spewing obscenities at officials from the sidelines.

In fact, don’t look for Sartoris on the sidelines at all when his Glendale College football team is playing.

Last Saturday, while his team was beating Valley--and improving to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Western State Conference--Sartoris was in his usual position: the press box.

“I’ve done that for the last five or six years,” said Sartoris, the Vaqueros’ coach. “It’s my responsibility at the game to decide on offensive plays. I do a better job of seeing things from up there.

“I have great confidence in my coaching staff as far as handling what’s going on on the field. I don’t think we’re losing anything.”

The record bears Sartoris out. Glendale has won or shared 5 of the past 6 Western State Conference titles and has won 11 consecutive games spanning the past 2 seasons.

“When you’re up above in the press box you’re away from the emotion of the game, which in one aspect is better because you can get caught up in the emotion,” said Sartoris, who has coached the Vaqueros for 17 years. “The down side is that you do lose that emotion. It’s exciting to be down there getting into it with the players, but I just feel I do a better job upstairs.”

Diamond in the rough: Gold chains, earrings and other decorative jewelry have become staple accessories for many college football players.

But New Mexico quarterback Jeremy Leach unveiled something new when he showed up at practice last Wednesday wearing a hospital bracelet.

The identification tag was a souvenir from Leach’s 1 1/2-day hospitalization because of an inflamed appendix.

Leach, a freshman from Granada Hills who had started the Lobos’ previous 6 games, did not start last Saturday in the Lobos’ 55-7 loss to Wyoming but entered the game in the second quarter and completed 1 of 4 passes for 17 yards. This season, Leach has completed 116 of 218 for 1,467 yards and 8 touchdowns. He has thrown 8 interceptions.

Leach, the only true freshman in NCAA Division I-A to start at quarterback, will be back in the lineup Saturday against Texas El Paso. New Mexico is 1-6.

Downhill linebacker: Peter Andersons is patrolling the line of scrimmage and helping linemen fill the gaps this season as a linebacker for the Division III Middlebury (Vt.) College football team.

After the season, Andersons will be traversing the slopes of the Middlebury Snow Bowl, helping injured skiers down the mountain as part of the ski patrol.

“I took some classes last year, went every Sunday to a first aid class and was 1 of 10 people chosen based on that and skiing ability,” Andersons said.

“The football here is surprisingly good. It’s very spirited. It’s not so much a bunch of superstars.”

Andersons was a 4-sport standout at Harvard High. He was All-Southern Section in football and volleyball, played basketball and was one of the top club rugby players in Southern California.

At Middlebury, a 188-year-old school located about an hour from Lake Placid, N.Y., Andersons has given up basketball and volleyball, but he has found time to participate in some informal rugby matches.

“I’ve been pretty busy with school and football,” he said.

Bowl bound?: Despite losses to Moorpark and Glendale, the Valley College football team still has a shot at a postseason bowl.

Valley plays in the Southern Division of the 12-team Western State Conference, which begins inter-division play this week. Winners of the Northern and Southern divisions are scheduled to meet in a bowl game at the end of the season. Conference members, however, have the option to accept invitations to other bowls.

Bakersfield (5-0 overall, 4-0 in conference play), which does not have to play either Moorpark or WSC co-champion Glendale, appears to be the favorite in the Southern Division. Valley plays the Renegades in the season finale at Bakersfield.

If Valley can avoid self-destruction against Compton, West L. A., Pierce and Santa Monica, the Monarchs will have the showdown for which they have been waiting.

“That’s exactly the way we want it,” Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero said. “We want to go up there in front of a packed house and lay it on the line.”

Down and still out: Larry Roberts, a sophomore fullback for Moorpark, is expected to miss his second game because of a separated right shoulder.

Roberts, who leads the Western State Conference in rushing with 539 yards in 79 carries, will not be in the lineup for Saturday’s game against L.A. Harbor. He is expected to return against Santa Barbara on Oct. 29.

Returning to form: Will James, a 1987 NCAA Division II track All-American for Cal State Northridge in the 1,500 meters, made an impressive return to the cross-country scene at the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational on Saturday.

Competing for the Running Experience Track Club, James placed 16th with a time of 25 minutes, 16 seconds over the 5-mile course.

“He looked good,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “It was nice to see him racing again.”

James redshirted last track season because of a foot injury suffered at last year’s NCAA Division II cross-country championships in Evansville, Ind.

Carol Keller, a Division II 3,000-meter champion at Northridge in 1981, placed second in the women’s race. Keller, also a member of the Running Experience club, clocked 17:29 over the 5,000-meter course.

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