JC Notes / Irene Garcia : Southwest Has Bright Chance to Top ’87 Record

L.A. Southwest has a great chance to improve last year’s 3-7 football record since the Cougars have won three games and host L.A. Harbor on Nov. 12.

Southwest is 3-3 overall, 2-3 in the Western State Conference. Remaining on the Cougars’ schedule are Ventura on Saturday, Santa Barbara, Harbor and Moorpark.

Southwest’s biggest victory was a 14-7 win over Santa Monica two weeks ago.

Last week, the unranked Cougars lost, 45-24, to undefeated Glendale, which was ranked No. 6 at the time.

Sophomore wide receiver Tim Campbell had 10 receptions for 136 yards and returned a kickoff punt for 92 yards into the end zone.

Sophomore quarterback Herman Tatum completed 18 of 37 passes for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Vaqueros. The first scoring pass was a 45-yard throw to freshman Barry Thomas and the second was to Ansel Littlejohn for 12 yards.

El Camino running back Aaron Craver is this week’s community college player of the week for all-purpose running.

The 6-foot, 215-pound sophomore from Compton High returned three kickoffs for 141 yards, including a 96-yard touchdown, in a 49-20 victory over Pasadena.

He also carried the ball six times for 56 yards and two touchdowns.

This is the latest word from Harbor Coach Chris Ferragamo after his team was shut out, 32-0, by Moorpark last week.

“Wanted: Offensive and defensive linemen.

“That’s what I’m going to have to do. I’m going to have to advertise. We just don’t have the numbers we need of offensive and defensive linemen.

“And you can add to the want ad: ‘If there’s anybody who can play football, come to Harbor and you’ll play.’ ”

Ferragamo should also mention the Seahawks’ desperate need of a quarterback since Ed Lopez underwent knee surgery last week and isn’t expected to return this season.

El Camino continues to dominate the South Coast Conference in men’s cross country. The Warriors are 4-0 after last week’s 26-29 victory over Long Beach and 18-45 win over Pasadena in a tri-meet at Long Beach.

Sophomore John Federoff finished first for the Warriors and second overall with a time of 19:58 and freshman Carlos Carbajal placed third as El Camino’s second man at 19:59.

The El Camino women are also strong contenders for the SCC title. They improved their record to 3-1 by beating Long Beach and Pasadena by default, since neither school had five runners finish.

Sophomore Chris Hamilton, coming off a hamstring injury, finished first in 18:12.

Both teams will take this week off to prepare for the conference championship meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Nov. 5.

That’s followed by the Southern California Championships at Bakersfield on Nov. 11 and the State Championship meet on Nov. 19 at Fresno.

Surprise. Surprise. El Camino men’s soccer Coach Norm Jackson never expected his team to do this well after losing several key players from last year’s state champion team.

“It’s actually quite nice,” Jackson said. “We’re still making a lot of mistakes, but we’ve given up only five goals in the conference.”

The Warriors are undefeated in the South Coast Conference. They improved their SCC record to 7-0 by shutting out Santa Monica, 5-0, on Tuesday.

Sophomore Mark Sharp and freshman Raul Haro continue to lead the attack with 13 goals apiece.

Both are expected to lead the Warriors, who are 10-2-2 overall, against Mt. Sac today at Murdock Stadium.

The women will have a much tougher task today when they play league rival Orange Coast at 3 p.m. on the Pirates’ home field.

El Camino’s (4-1 in the SCC) only loss was by 2-1 to Orange Coast (5-0 in the SCC), so the Warriors are looking for revenge.

“It’s a big one,” said Coach Bob Myers. “We’ll find out what we’re made of. It’s a traditional rivalry and we have to play them down there, which doesn’t help.”

For the last eight years, El Camino and Orange Coast have been the league’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams. The Warriors won the first five conference championships and the Pirates have won the last three.

With the help of freshman Christy Shea, who has scored five goals, and defender Maryjo Soufl, the Warriors should be in good shape. Shea is from Redondo High and Soufl, the team captain, is a transfer from Westmont College.

The SCC should be renamed the El Camino Conference because the Warriors dominate almost every fall sport. Women’s volleyball is another one.

The Warriors are undefeated in conference and improved their record to 3-0 (8-1 overall) with Wednesday’s victory over Mt. Sac.

“It’s hard to tell how good we are,” said Coach Mary McLaughlin, “because we haven’t really been pressed. Right now we’re just working to maintain a consistent momentum so that we don’t let up.”

El Camino’s toughest game in conference was against Pasadena. The Warriors won in five games thanks to the outstanding play of freshman Cindee Rutherford, who had five aces in the decisive game against the Lancers.