IT’S GAME DAY : The Happenings on the Court Are Just Part of the Story

One of the guards is starting for the first time, and another was told 4 years ago by the coach that he would never play basketball for Escondido High School. He is, but not now--he’s on crutches. The star center will play for the University of San Diego next year, and an assistant coach is grateful to be around after a serious injury in a construction accident.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves . . .

Less than a minute remains in the junior varsity game, and tucked away in the wrestling room in the Escondido gym--next to the locker room--the Escondido boys’ basketball team is listening to Coach Mike Williams last Wednesday night before its most important game of the season. In the Avocado League, each game is that way.

Carlsbad is occupying the visitors’ locker room, and the Lancers are the kind of team Williams fears most: one with a losing record that plays a deliberate game.

Escondido is a game behind first-place El Camino and Oceanside in the Avocado standings. Escondido (10-6 overall) and San Pasqual are tied for third at 4-2. Carlsbad (7-8, 1-5) is rock bottom.

Compared with the other games Escondido has played this season, Carlsbad certainly doesn’t present the most interesting challenge. Not when compared with three games in Hawaii over Christmas vacation. And not when compared with playing rival Ramona, which beat Escondido twice last season, effectively knocking the Cougars out of a shot at the league championship.

“The kids say they’re ready,” Williams had said minutes before meeting with his team. “But I don’t know if they truly believe Carlsbad can beat them. Coaching-wise, Carlsbad is the kind of team that scares you.”

Williams is a warm, even-tempered man with an easy smile. He played basketball, baseball and football at Escondido and graduated in 1960. He is in his 18th year as the Escondido varsity basketball coach, so he has been around long enough to know what can happen when a team is overconfident.

Williams had made sure after Tuesday’s practice to emphasize this point, after reminding his players to come to school on game day wearing ties and “game eyes.”

“It’s another game,” he told them. “It’s no bigger than last Friday’s, and it’s no bigger than next Friday’s. It will be a good test for us.”

As the seconds tick away in the JV game, Williams stands before his team in the wrestling room and offers some final instructions.

“They play man-to-man, full-court pressure,” he says. “And we can’t let the point guard have the ball. We’ll start out in a man-to-man, and if we go to a triangle-and-two, we’ll go after (Calvin) Coleman and (Jeff) Jarrard. . . . Other than that, relax and have fun. Remember, there are only seven more games to go after this. Let’s make the most of it.”

The smallest crowd of the year awaits. Final exams have started.

“Very mediocre crowd,” says Don Portis, 55, who is in his 30th year of teaching at the school and is taking tickets at the gate. “Normally we get very good support from the kids, but it’s finals week, and the conscientious kids are home studying.”

“Worst crowd we’ve ever had,” Jason Hendrickson says.

Game days are the toughest for Jason Hendrickson. He sits on the bench, watching. Two knee operations in 8 months have taken their toll. Hendrickson, a senior and starting point guard, will miss his third consecutive game because of a cyst on the back of his right knee. It burst during the San Marcos game Jan. 13--after his best outing of the season. The problem occurred because he tried to come back too soon.

Too soon? Hendrickson has been trying to come back for 2 years. First, from a bad attitude, nourished by a fiery temper. Then from drugs. Now from injuries. Frustration crosses his face and settles in his eyes.

The problems became so bad that, during Hendrickson’s freshman year, Williams told him he would never play at Escondido.

“He was the type of kid who would walk along the beach just looking for his next fight,” Williams said. “You never knew what was going to happen to him.”

Nobody did. On New Year’s Eve 1986, during a 6-month span when Hendrickson was addicted to methamphetamines, he pitched a football helmet through his bedroom window.

With the help of his parents and girlfriend, he kicked the habit. He said he’s been free from drugs for 2 years.

“I felt really hurt when coach told me I’d never play here,” Hendrickson said. “I thought he was right. I’ve been through a lot more than a normal player-coach relationship with Coach Williams. Even though he told me I’d never play here, he’s always given me a fair chance--and more than one chance. He’s a real special guy to me.”

So Hendrickson sits on the bench, crutches at his side, and waits. Maybe he’ll play next week.

“I thought everything was getting better,” Hendrickson said. “I’m saying, ‘Why me?’ all the time. But my parents feel worse than I do.”

Watching is more painful than any of his operations. His senior year has arrived, and he played in just two football games. Now he’s missing some of the basketball season. Memories?

“Most of all, I’ll remember the way people treated me,” he said. “How nice they are to me. It sounds corny, but I think that people treat me extra special because they know what I’ve been through, and they know I’ve come a long way.”

It takes less than 10 seconds of game time before Williams is up off the bench. After the opening tip, Carlsbad easily gets the ball inside.

“Sag!” Williams shouts to his defense.

Carlsbad’s Paul Kaveski makes the first basket, but Escondido’s Brooks Barnhard, averaging 20.0 points and already orally committed to play at USD next year, gets the next five points. Included in the run is a layup and subsequent free throw after a slick bounce pass from senior guard Jeff Hopkins.

That’s the kind of play Hopkins needs, because he just now has moved into the starting lineup.

“He had a good game Friday against Rancho Buena Vista, and we’ve been struggling at the point guard spot,” Williams said. “I don’t think I’ve given him a fair chance this year. When you suit up 11, it’s hard to play that many. When league play starts, you settle on seven, eight or nine kids and it’s hard to give everyone a real fair chance. But when a kid comes in and plays as hard as Jeff did against Rancho Friday, you’ve got to give him another look.”

Hopkins, 5-feet 11-inches and 165-pounds, was on the varsity as a junior but rarely played. He also was the varsity football quarterback this fall, starting all 10 games.

“I’m nervous,” he said before the game. “In football, I had a fear of getting hurt because I felt I wasn’t big enough. But this is a new experience. I haven’t started before (in basketball).”

Today was a big day for Hopkins. He had two finals--English and civics--as well as the basketball game. After his exams (“I did all right”) he spent the afternoon doing some biology homework in an effort to keep his mind at ease.

Carlsbad’s Kaveski misses everything on a 15-foot jumper. On the other end, senior forward Curt Vurpillat gets the ball inside and puts Escondido ahead, 7-2.

Meanwhile, Mark Manning, a 6-1 senior transfer from El Camino, sits on the bench. Hopkins has replaced him in the starting lineup, but Manning is taking it well.

“I wasn’t upset when I heard,” Manning said. “I played junior varsity last year (at El Camino) and never had visions of being a starter. But I moved here and worked hard. I got my name in the paper for the first time, and my best friend (El Camino’s Todd Swanson) and I had our picture in the paper.”

Not only that, Manning has his name on the Escondido basketball roster hanging on a wall in the gym.

“I’m recognized as an important player on a good team,” he said. “And that’s a great feeling.”

The score at the end of the first quarter is 15-7. Escondido is moving the ball well, and that’s what Williams focuses on in the huddle.

“Keep moving the ball around,” he says. “Get the ball inside. Don’t settle for the outside shot. Play up to our level; don’t play down.”

Manning starts the quarter in place of Hopkins, and Escondido falls back into a zone defense. Maybe it’s the small crowd, maybe it’s Carlsbad’s deliberate tempo--something is making Escondido sluggish. The Cougars get lazy on defense, and smaller Carlsbad starts beating them to the boards. The teams trade baskets, and 5 1/2 minutes before halftime, Williams changes back to a man-to-man. With 5:24 left and Escondido ahead, 19-11, Carlsbad misses a shot, but Mark Tague slips inside uncontested for the rebound and a layup: 19-13. Williams signals for a timeout. He has seen enough.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he shouts in the huddle. “If we keep giving the defensive boards away, another five guys are going to go in. This is ridiculous. You’ve let them in the game, and we don’t want to do that with a team that takes the air out of the ball.”

A minute later, the score 21-16, Barnhard sets up under the Carlsbad basket and takes a charge.

In the stands, halfway up and toward midcourt, Norm and Sally Barnhard are watching their son, Brooks.

“Carlsbad is really patient,” Norm Barnhard remarks. “They’re doing what they have to do.”

He is the assistant principal and student government adviser at neighboring Orange Glen High School, the district in which the Barnhards live.

“I didn’t want Brooks to go to the school where I was assistant principal,” Norm explained.

On the court, Carlsbad is staying close. It’s 23-18 when Barnhard blocks a shot and turns it into a fast break and Robert Chavez layup. 25-18.

“Whenever Brooks fouls or misses, my stomach turns,” Sally Barnhard says. “It’s your child, and you would like the best for him. But you also feel that way for the other kids.”

While the Barnhards are interested in Brooks and the team, not much coaching goes on when the games end and the family goes home.

“He has enough people coaching him,” Norm says. “As his mom and dad, we try to make sure his behavior is proper and let the coach coach. If he does something on the court that we as his parents feel is not appropriate, then we’ll talk.”

That rarely happens.

Says Sally Barnhard: “We always tell him he had a good game, whether he did or not.”

The first half ends with Escondido leading, 25-21. After a fast start, the Cougars look bored. Williams is not a happy coach.

“I’m telling you, you can’t let this team stay with you,” he tells the team. “If they’re in it in the last 5 or 6 minutes, a 3-point shot can lose it for us. There’s no enthusiasm out there. You’re not playing the way you’re capable of playing.

“These guys are averaging 44 or 45 points a game. Don’t give them their average. This team is capable of beating us.”

The Cougars return to the floor, and Williams and assistant Charlie Heintschel, who was All-Avocado League under Williams and graduated in 1984, remain in the locker room a few more minutes.

“They’re too patient for us to play zone,” Heintschel says. Escondido will play man-to-man most of the second half.

For a few terrifying minutes on Sept. 3, Charlie Heintschel didn’t know if he was going to live, much less coach.

Heintschel was going to coach the Escondido junior varsity team this winter. But 5 months ago, while working for his dad’s plastering business, he fell off a beam and plunged 30 feet to the ground. Bones in both ankles were crushed, and a wrist was broken.

Doctors said he wouldn’t be able to walk for 2 years. He was in a wheelchair when practice began this fall. Unbelieveably, 3 months later, he was on crutches. Tonight, he’s walking with the help of a cane.

The memory of fall remains etched in his mind. While dropping 30 feet head-first, he says, his will to live was never stronger.

“I knew I had to get my feet down,” he said. “After that, I thought I wasn’t going to make it.”

But years of high jumping--since the third grade--paid off. Cat-like, Heintschel was able to maneuver and twist until he landed on his feet. And stayed alive.

The second half begins with Barnhard drawing a foul inside. He makes both free throws, and Escondido leads, 27-21. Chris Heintschel, Charlie’s brother and the sixth of six Heintschel brothers to attend Escondido, scores seven consecutive points on a couple of field goals and a 3-pointer to make it 34-23.

Williams orders a halfcourt zone trap defense, and some spunk, absent earlier, arrives. After Heintschel’s seven points, Barnhard scores the next five, and it’s 39-25. Barnhard and Heintschel have scored all of Escondido’s 14 second-half points--just as they pictured on steamy days last summer.

Barnhard and Heintschel could be found in the Escondido gym 6 days a week, shooting baskets for 2 or 3 hours a day.

And this fall, the two met at 5:30 a.m. before school 4 days a week to work on their games. Basketball was that important. Both wanted college careers.

On Nov. 9, Barnhard announced he would attend the University of San Diego. At practice the day before the Carlsbad game, Heintschel was afraid his basketball-playing days are numbered.

“I’m not playing at the level I expected or other people expected,” said Heintschel, 6-3, 170. “Maybe I’m pressuring myself too much. My whole life, since my freshman year, was geared toward getting a basketball scholarship. I know that’s out now. I thought about walking on somewhere next year, but I don’t even know about that now.

“So now I’m just playing for fun. But I don’t know if I’m ready for this to be my last year of basketball.”

Barnhard was hearing from schools throughout the Western Athletic Conference and West Coast Athletic Conference throughout the fall. Then he picked USD.

“Now I don’t have to schedule my homework around phone calls from recruiters,” said Barnhard, 6-8, 215 and a 3.2 student. “It was tough--they were bothering my homework. If I was on the phone with a recruiter and said I had a lot of homework to do, mom thought I was being rude. So I had to talk to them. For some reason, recruiters like to talk a lot.”

Says Sally Barnhard: “I just think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I knew it was only for a certain amount of time, and I wanted Brooks to handle it gracefully. It wasn’t that bad. The coaches were nice.”

The phone quit ringing with Barnhard’s Nov. 9 announcement.

There’s 3:14 left in the third quarter, and Escondido has increased its lead to 41-27. But when referee Mark Hunt calls a blocking foul on Jeff Hopkins, the Escondido assistants are up to protest before you can say “charge.”

Williams raises his hands to quiet the assistants and simply says, “Good job, Jeff.” It’s a quiet way of backing up his player and, at the same time, letting the official know he disagrees with the call.

The night’s officials are Hunt, a 41-year-old computer systems designer, and Rick Varrios. Varrios, 36, graduated from San Marcos High School in 1970 before moving on to Palomar Junior College and then the University of Wisconsin, where he was the kicker on the football team. He works as a delivery man for Old Country Bakery.

On a typical night, Varrios, a member of the North County Officials Assn., works two games and makes $61: $35 for the varsity game and $26 for the junior varsity. He said he averages about three nights of work a week.

For this, like all other officials in the association, he endures classes that run once a week from November through January, as well as tests on rules, on-floor clinics and evaluations by his superiors. The best he can hope for is to go through a game unnoticed.

“You want to be invisible,” Varrios said.

Trouble is, officials are rarely invisible. Cindy Varrios, Rick’s wife, learned that last year when she watched him work a La Jolla Country Day-Bishop’s playoff game. It was the first and last game Cindy has attended.

“She tried to sit up in a corner, away from everyone,” Rick said. “But some guys were still ripping me pretty good. Finally, my wife got fed up and told them, ‘That guy you’re yelling at is my husband.’ ”

Varrios puts up with it.

“I like being around the game,” he said. “The coaches, the players . . . I’ve had some tense moments, but I’ve yet to have any real problems.

“One way or another, you’re going to be on someone’s good list and bad list each night. You have to know when to draw the line. I don’t T (call technical fouls on) too many people. When I do, they usually deserve it. I don’t pay attention to the sidelines too much unless someone is verbally attacking me or my partner.”

Tonight’s game is progressing smoothly for Hunt and Varrios. And, despite finals, the Escondido basketball team is finally playing as if it has no distractions. Escondido increases its lead to 45-30 with 1:45 to play in the third quarter. Everyone connected with Escondido is smiling, including Melissa Johnson.

Johnson, a senior cheerleader, is watching her favorite sport.

“You can see what’s going on,” she says. “In football, you’re behind the players on the sidelines and can’t see. In basketball, you can direct crowd cheers. And it’s louder.”

On game days, each Escondido cheerleader does something special for one of the players. Johnson’s assignment is Chris Heintschel. This day, she gave him a squirt bottle filled with orange juice, and painted it orange and black (Escondido colors).

It’s already been a long day for Melissa Johnson. The cheerleaders practice at 6:30 a.m. 5 days a week--including game days and final exam days. After practice this morning, she took two finals and then went shopping.

Escondido is ahead, 45-34, as the fourth quarter begins, and Williams begins to empty his bench.

“This is the way all games should be,” Dana Williams says. “Us ahead by 20 with a minute left.”

Dana Williams works the bleachers almost as hard as Mike, her husband, works the bench. She grimaces, clenches her teeth and squeezes her hands. She and Mike, a couple of redheads, were married 24 years ago on Dec. 20.

“Good timing for a basketball coach, huh?” Dana asks. “Almost every year, we celebrate our anniversary by going out to dinner and then to the championship of some basketball tournament. And if we’re in the championship, there’s no dinner.

“After 18 years, I share his joy and try to stay quiet when he loses. It’s fun to win on a Friday, though, as opposed to a Wednesday, because you have the weekend to enjoy it.”

From the bench, Williams sends Keith Cephas, Scott Pearcy, Tyler Sommer and Tory Peterson into the game.

Carlsbad’s Mark Reichner hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it’s too late. Escondido wins, 60-38. As Williams requested at halftime, Escondido holds Carlsbad under 44 points. Jeff Hopkins doesn’t score, but he plays well in his first start. Brooks Barnhard finishes with 24 points, and Chris Heintschel adds 15--11 in the second half.

The team files into the locker room.

“It was just another game we had to win,” Williams says. “Remember: it’s no bigger than next Friday, or the Friday after that. They’re all the same.”

It’s 9:30 p.m., and other than one man, the Escondido gym is deserted. The game ended an hour ago, but Rocky Villarreal is working. He’s in his third year as custodian at the school, and during that time he’s gotten to know most of the students.

“The ones who are juniors now were freshmen when I came here, so I look at them as being my favorites,” Villarreal says.

Originally from Texas, Villarreal, 46, moved to San Marcos 3 years ago. He works from 2:30 p.m. until 10:30.

Right now, he’s sweeping. This summer, he re-finished the floor and painted the walls.

“The building is 30 years old, but we try our best to keep it going,” he said. “I’m sort of proud of it. We’re constantly trying to keep it as clean as possible.”

Despite having to clean up, Villarreal said the crowd size doesn’t bother him.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I just want to see the boys win. It makes me feel a lot better, so I can work a lot better.”