The High Schools : Newbury Park Must Dig In and Dig Out

Newbury Park’s overtime loss to Simi Valley on Monday night meant that the Panthers--considered favorites for the Marmonte League title by many--are a rather dismal 0-2 in league play. And of their 4 losses overall, 3 have come against league opponents: They lost to Camarillo in the semifinals of the Thousand Oaks tournament.

In response, Coach Ken Barone broke out the cliches.

“Our backs are against the wall now,” he said. “That’s an awfully tough one to lose.

“I still think two losses will win it all, but that means we’ll have to win the rest, and that’s awfully tough to do.”

Against Simi Valley, the three-time defending league champion, Newbury Park (9-4) trailed by 18 points at halftime before rallying to send the game into overtime.

“We really dug a ditch--it wasn’t a ditch, it was the Grand Canyon--in that first half,” Barone said.

The same can be said so far of the Panthers’ league season.

Difficult to stomach: The intensity of a crucial game rarely overwhelms Mike Beckwith, but in Harvard’s 82-60 San Fernando Valley League loss to Notre Dame on Friday, the senior forward succumbed to the pressure.

With only 8 Harvard players in uniform, Beckwith played every minute and led the Saracens with 19 points and 14 rebounds. After the game, he paid for his extra effort.

“I was completely exhausted and dehydrated,” Beckwith said, “and really upset about losing to Notre Dame.”

Upset was the operative word. His stomach tied in emotional knots, Beckwith repeatedly got sick in the locker room.

“We had a team meeting and he couldn’t make it right away,” Coach Greg Hilliard said. “It was just the intensity of the game and the effort that he put out. He’s in excellent shape, but he just went beyond what he could do.”

Said Beckwith: “I was stuck in the hallway curled over. I was real surprised I lost it.”

On the rebound: Defenses are not the only thing Joe Malkinson likes of the man-to-man variety. The second-year Royal coach had a man-to-man chat with forward Russell Myers before Monday night’s game against Westlake.

Malkinson asked his 6-5 junior for more consistent play.

Although the Highlanders lost, 72-64, and fell to 1-2 in the Marmonte League, Myers responded with 24 points and 20 rebounds. The rebound total more than doubled his season’s average and tied a school record, set by Rick Allison during the 1975-76 season.

Myers accomplished the feat against a front line that at times measured 6-8, 6-6 and 6-6.

“He was real aggressive,” Malkinson said. “I think Russell’s capable of putting those numbers on the board consistently.”

Maybe you can go home: For the second consecutive season, Kennedy and Hamilton have met 3 times. Rivals last year in the defunct Valley 4-A League, the teams have met once in nonleague play and twice in tournament play.

Kennedy has won all 6 games.

Maybe Coach Yutaka Shimizu has the inside scoop--he coached at Hamilton for 20 years before moving to Kennedy in 1982.

A slower pace: Last season, Taft point guard Dedan Thomas set a school record for assists with 230 as he steered the Toreadors into the second round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs, further than any other Valley 4-A team.

However, the team that last year was blessed with a speedy lineup that included sprinter Quincy Watts, is playing at a different rate.

“We’re playing the four corners sometimes,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “Geez, I haven’t had to do that in years.”

It must stand to reason, then, that because Thomas averaged 10 assists a game in 1987-88 in Taft’s run-oriented offense, his assists undoubtedly have declined markedly this season, right? Hardly.

After 12 games, Thomas is averaging 9.9 assists, despite the change to a slower, more conservative attack and the loss of 3 starters.

“It’s been very tough on him,” Woodard said. “He’s at his very best in the running game, and we just don’t have one. We’re slow, but he’s still playing better than ever.”

Sometimes, the tortoise wins the race: Taft is 11-1 and ranked No. 2 in the Valley by The Times.

Straight shooter: Despite Taft’s record, Woodard has no illusions about the differences between the Toreadors and Cleveland (11-2), the No. 1-ranked team in the Valley.

“Cleveland is on another level altogether,” Woodard said. “They’re head and shoulders above anyone else in the Valley. They’re just loaded with great athletes. They beat Gardena by more than 50 points. And Gardena is probably as good as anyone else in the Valley.

“Last year, we were able to compete with Cleveland because we had some great athletes, guys like Quincy. But this year, besides Dedan, we don’t have anyone like that.”

How then, has Taft compiled an 11-1 record? “The secret to success is scheduling,” Woodard quipped. “We’re a great example of that.”

Break down: Woodard insists that even though Taft is slower this year, the team is blessed with better shooters.

“Last year we shot about 50%,” he said. “This year we’re shooting about 47%.”

Huh?

“Those stats don’t mean anything,” Woodard said, “because we scored so many points off the fast break. We’ve got better shooters now--we must have, we don’t score off the break at all.”

Add Woodard: Even though Cleveland annihilated Canoga Park, 126-29, Friday in a Northwest Valley Conference opener, Woodard agreed with the structure of the conference, which consists of one 4-A Division league (North Valley) and one 3-A league (West Valley).

“There really wasn’t much else the City Section could do,” Woodard said. “You want the conferences to be geographical, and to be honest with you, there are only four teams in the Valley that are 4-A caliber this year.

“Of all the 3-A Valley leagues, I feel the West Valley is the best.”

Ill winds: As if things on the hardwood haven’t been rough enough for Alemany (2-11, 0-2), Coach Rocky Moore and 5 players have contracted the flu. Moore reasons that the bug was spread by sharing a team water bottle.

The illness kept senior guard Jon Beauchemin out of Friday’s Loyola game--the first no-show of his high school career. Also afflicted were Chris Stern, Mark Danemiller, Matt Geyer and Matt Garland.

Injuries: Saugus senior guard Sean Legaux is expected to return Friday after missing 4 weeks because of a broken right wrist.

Harvard junior guard Matt Clark, the Saracens’ starting point guard, is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery this week after suffering ligament damage in his left knee 2 weeks ago.

Highland Hall’s Craig Ernst, a 6-2 junior forward, tore ligaments in his right knee Friday and is lost for the season. He will undergo arthroscopic surgery this week, an operation that threatens his baseball season, too.

Ernst, an-All Westside League selection last season in basketball and baseball, is Highland Hall’s starting catcher. He batted .450 and led the team in runs batted in with 19.

He also leads the Hawks’ basketball team in scoring, averaging 19.5 points a game.

Breaking ground: It did not take long for the Notre Dame girls’ soccer team to win its first league game. The Knights, who began the sport this season, defeated Crossroads, 2-1, on a goal by Becca Berline in a San Fernando Valley League opener Monday.

Staff writers Tim Brown, Steve Elling, Sam Farmer, John Lynch, John Ortega, and Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.