The High Schools : Hart, Canyon Put Seasons on Line Early

Arguably the biggest high school football game each year in the Valley area. Almost always an exciting contest. But Hart and Canyon’s traditional nonleague opener, for all its pregame hype and hoopla, means nothing.

The outcome has little, if any, impact on either team’s bid to make the playoffs. In 1983 and ‘86, Hart won Southern Section championships after losing its opener to the Cowboys. Last season, Canyon advanced to the Division II championship game after losing its opener to the Indians.

But both the Cowboys and Indians, perennial Santa Clarita Valley football powers, can consider the season a success simply by whipping the other.

Bragging rights? The community is buzzing with Hart-Canyon talk.

“I went to the store the other day and seven or eight people came up to me and said, ‘Are you going to beat Canyon?’ ” first-year Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “I just gotta tell them, ‘I don’t know.’ That’s about it. I don’t know how we stand right now.

“But the players are confident. They’re more confident than I am.”

Herrington will try to build on a recent winning streak. Hart has defeated Canyon in each of the past two years. Canyon rolled to consecutive victories from 1982-86, but Hart leads the series, 10-9.

Add Hart-Canyon: Hart senior Chad Fotheringham, who last season competed with Rob Westervelt for the starting quarterback job, will play tight end this season. Fotheringham replaces All-Valley tight end Brian Allen, now a UCLA freshman.

“That’s where I wanted to play last year, but we had Brian,” Fotheringham said. “I like it. It’s a lot of fun. And I’m still playing second string (quarterback).”

Last season, Fotheringham quit football at midseason in order to concentrate on basketball. This season, Fotheringham (6-foot-6, 215 pounds) said he will attempt to play both sports.

Both sports? What will basketball Coach Greg Herrick say to that? Interestingly, Allen decided to forgo basketball last season after Herrick expressed displeasure with Allen’s decision to pursue both sports.

“At first, I was kind of reluctant (to pursue both sports),” Fotheringham said. “But (Herrick) was really positive about it and he welcomed me back. He was good about it.”

Last add Hart-Canyon: Hart offensive lineman Doug DeGroote, who suffered a dislocated left elbow in practice, will miss Friday’s game and the game against Crespi the following week.

San Fernando shoo-in: Sometimes character and determination is measured in grit, as in how many times a 5-foot-5 player is willing to get knocked on his keister by a 6-4 behemoth. For San Fernando’s Lance Whitaker, however, resolve was first measured in sizes.

As in 17 EEEE.

Whitaker, a 6-8, 280-pound defensive lineman who played basketball the past two seasons, turned out for football this summer. But San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez says players routinely try out for other sports and most don’t last long, especially first-year players such as Whitaker. A couple of good shots in the nose, Hernandez says, and most head back to the tennis courts or from whence they came.

Yet Hernandez knew Whitaker’s athletic investment was complete when the latter shelled out more than a few bucks for equipment.

“We knew he was going to stay when he bought his shoes,” Hernandez said. “They cost a lot, about $85. They must be about size 16 1/2 or 17. When he bought those, we knew he was serious about wanting to play.”

Whitaker, who should start on the defensive line, already has posed a problem in team drills. Hernandez isn’t kidding when he says Whitaker’s stature on the team is growing. Senior quarterback Michael Wynn would agree.

“When he holds his hands up, Mike couldn’t come close to throwing over him,” Hernandez said. “That makes him nine feet tall, easy. He’s going to be very hard to defend.”

Add San Fernando: Wynn is ranked among the top seniors in the nation at his position, but finding targets for 1989 posed an early problem because his two favorite receivers from last season have graduated.

Receivers Sean Williams (43 receptions for 770 yards) and Eddie Carrillo (29 for 405) gave the Tigers a solid big-play and possession combination, respectively. Just to ensure he’d have a few aerial options this season, Wynn decided to hunt down a few replacements. He soon located David Rojas, a member of the baseball team.

“He really reminds me a lot of Eddie,” Wynn said. “He does not drop the ball, he does everything right. He runs the right routes and makes the right cuts. He does everything to a T.”

Any luck finding a replacement for Williams, a Times All-Valley and All-City selection who averaged 18 yards a catch and set school career marks in receptions (55) and yardage (990)?

“There will never be another Sean,” Wynn said.

Playing through the pain: Jeff Thomas has spent the better part of two years fighting a disease most people have never heard of.

The illness, called chronic gastrointestinal pseudo-obstruction, limits Thomas’ food intake and often leads to severe bouts of stomach pain. He has worked through the treatments and pain, and Friday night against Rio Mesa, Thomas will start at center for the Channel Islands’ football team.

“Jeff has just worked so hard,” Channel Islands Coach Joel Gershon said of Thomas, a 6-3, 220-pound senior. “He’s really excited. He brings a lot of leadership to our offensive line.”

Just what he didn’t need: L. A. Baptist tailback Colin Van Buren has been sidelined because of a “pulled groin or hamstring,” according to Coach Mark Bates. Van Buren is questionable for Friday’s opener against Cathedral.

The Knights have just 20 players on the varsity team and Van Buren is one of the team’s best athletes. Said Bates, “One injury can kill us.”

A turn for the better: When the Agoura High cross-country team’s No. 2 runner moved out of the school district in August, the Chargers’ chances of winning the Southern Section 2-A Division title were severely hampered.

Derek Kite, 10th in the 2-A championships for Agoura last year, will be wearing a Camarillo singlet this fall. But the Chargers, three-time defending Frontier League champions, added Quentin Bauer, a junior transfer from Westlake.

Bauer, 17th in the 1988 Marmonte League cross-country finals, ran 4 minutes, 30.51 seconds for 1,600 meters as a sophomore.

“I think he’s going to help us out a lot,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “I think we still have our best team ever.”

Mike Glaze and staff writers Tim Brown, Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.