The High Schools : Despite Loss, Royal Exceeds Expectations

Royal High blew a chance to qualify for the Southern Section football playoffs for the first time in 5 years when the Highlanders lost to Newbury Park, 21-14, in a Marmonte League game at Simi Valley High on Friday night.

But first-year Coach Gene Uebelhardt praised his players and coaches Saturday.

“We had a great season,” Uebelhardt said. “No one expected us to go this far. No one expected us to be contending for a playoff spot this year. We took over a program that had one league win in three seasons and we won three games this season. That’s saying something.”

But the loss to Newbury Park left Royal (4-6, 3-3 in league play) in a third-place tie with the Panthers (3-6-1, 3-3) and Camarillo (4-6, 3-3), which advanced to the playoffs because of its victories over Royal and Newbury Park.

Back in the saddle: Sylmar tailback Jerome Casey was ecstatic after the Spartans’ 28-13 victory over North Hollywood on Friday for 2 reasons.

For one, the win clinched the East Valley League title for Sylmar (6-3, 5-2), and second, Casey said his right ankle, which he sprained before the first game, felt completely healed for the first time this season.

“I felt like my old self,” Casey said after gaining 154 yards in 11 carries and scoring on runs of 1 and 65 yards. “I could make the cuts when I wanted to and I could turn on the speed when I hit the holes.”

Casey appeared headed toward his first 200-yard game of the season--he gained 142 yards in 8 carries in the first half--but left the game early in the fourth quarter after briefly being knocked unconscious.

Home sweet, home: Brian Brison and Mukasa Crowe, who moved into Buzz Holcomb’s Westlake Village home 17 months ago, have returned to their respective homes in Pacoima.

Brison and Crowe, both 15, were the last of 4 Pacoima athletes to return home, withdrawing from Westlake High on Nov. 3, longtime assistant football coach Dan Murphy confirmed.

“It wasn’t anything to do with school. The vice principal said they were both doing well,” Murphy said. “From what I understand, it was more a homesickness kind of thing.”

Antiwaun Carter of Kennedy and Leonice Brown of Crespi also lived in the Holcomb household from June until September of this year.

Holcomb, an electronics salesman, lost a battle with the California Interscholastic Federation in October when his son Erik, 15, Brison and Crowe were declared ineligible for athletic competition until Feb. 1 because they were tutored during their last semester of ninth grade instead of attending regular classes.