Fall Notebook : At Any Speed, Young Quite a College Catch

Santa Clara High Coach Steve Dann knows receiver Matt Young can catch the ball in a crowd of defenders. Dann, however, worries that Young might not have the speed to out-distance others for a Division I scholarship.

Going into last week’s games, Young led the CIF Southern Section in receiving with 35 receptions for 553 yards. He added to his total with 5 catches for 124 yards, including touchdowns of 70 and 28 yards, in a 16-3 victory over Agoura.

You would think that with those credentials, Young would have college coaches chasing after him with an indelible ink pen and a letter-of-intent form. Maybe they’re afraid they would catch him too quickly. Young runs the 40 in 4.7 seconds and Division I schools look for receivers with 4.5 speed or better.

“He’s not fast enough for a school like UCLA to be interested in him,” Dann said. “They’re looking for players who can walk off the field and win a track meet. But anything is possible. Look at (USC receiver) Erik Affholter. He didn’t have 4.5 speed in high school.”

Dann said Young is getting inquiries from Portland State and other schools in the Division II Western Football Conference.

“I think he’ll receive a scholarship from a Division I-AA or Division II school,” Dann said. “We’ll send films to Cal State Long Beach and Nevada-Las Vegas. Once they see the films, they’ll be interested in him.”

Straight shooter: Dann noticed that defenders have a habit of looking back whenever a quarterback throws a long looping pass. So Dann had quarterback Tim Gutierrez practiced throwing line drive long bombs.

Young caught one of the Gutierrez’s new, improved passes to start a 70-yard touchdown play in the second quarter to Santa Clara give a 7-3 lead.

“The key to the play was Gutierrez throwing the ball in a straight line,” Dann said. “Matt had two or three steps on the defender. The guy looked back the same time Young caught the ball over his shoulder.”

Less than special: Two county players were injured last week while performing on special teams. Junior David May of Fillmore suffered a ruptured spleen against Oak Park and Chris Borchard of St. Bonaventure twisted muscles in his neck. Both incidents occured on punts.

Back in action: Moorpark College fullback Larry Roberts is expected to miss his second game after sitting out last week with a separated right shoulder.

The Raiders, who have outscored their last 2 opponents, 132-10, play at L. A. Harbor on Saturday in their final night game of the season.

Moorpark apparently didn’t miss Roberts, the Western State Conference’s leading rusher, last week. The Raiders rolled up 309 total yards en route to a 73-0 victory over West Los Angeles. The point total is a school record.

Running back John Brown scored 3 touchdowns and rushed for a game-high 70 yards to lead the Raiders.

Moorpark leads the WSC in team rushing with 1,335 yards.

Judgment day: Camarillo will put its undefeated record on the line at the Mt. San Antonio College cross-country invitational in Walnut on Saturday.

The No. 1-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A Division poll, the Scorpions will be matched against several outstanding teams in the boys’ team sweepstakes race, including Poway of San Diego, the No. 1-ranked team in the state Division I poll; Christian Brothers Academy, the No. 1-ranked team in New Jersey; Upland, the No. 1-ranked team in the Southern Section 3-A; and Agoura, the No. 1-ranked team in the Southern Section 2-A.

Led by Shawn Goetzinger, Camarillo moved to the top of the 4-A poll 2 weeks ago when the Scorpions won the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif.

Staff writer John Ortega contributed to this notebook.