Notebook : Easy Win No Gauge for Franklin

The Franklin High football team left only one question unanswered last week after rolling over Roosevelt, 41-7, in its opener.

“I don’t know if we’re that good or they just didn’t play as well as they can,” Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez should get a better indication of his team’s ability on Friday when the Panthers take on powerful Granada Hills.

Last season, in the first football game ever played between the two schools, Franklin upset the Highlanders, 21-14.

With senior quarterback Santiago Alvarez leading the way, the Panthers seem to have all the necessary ingredients to knock off Granada Hills again.

Alvarez completed 29 of 41 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns against Roosevelt. He scrambled from the pocket effectively and, as his statistics indicate, had little problem finding open receivers.

Split end Lamar Lovett caught six passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns and running back Benny Gallo had eight catches for 86 yards.

The Franklin defense also was impressive, intercepting four passes and recovering two fumbles. Roosevelt’s only touchdown came on a kickoff return.

Can the Panthers do the same thing to Granada Hills, a 17-14 winner last week over Westchester?

“It’s going to be a good game for us to see if we’re really that good,” Gonzalez said.

The more the merrier: Now that school is in session and the annual influx of transferring students has begun, there may be some relief in sight for the Marshall High football team.

In last week’s 14-6 season-opening loss to Garfield, Marshall used just 14 players.

“I was pleased with everything we did--we executed well,” Marshall Coach Ken Gerard said. “We just can’t have those kids playing that much. They just ran out of gas.”

About 65 players have filed out to practice since school began, so Gerard is hopeful that he will have plenty of eligible players for Friday’s game at Grant.

“We’ve been giving out all kinds of equipment,” Gerard said. “We’ll see if it makes a difference.”

Zero hour: Occidental’s 14-0 loss to Azusa Pacific last Saturday was the Tigers’ first shutout defeat since 1985, when Central College of Iowa administered a 71-0 beating in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division III playoffs.

Saturday’s loss was the first regular season shutout defeat since 1980 when the Tigers lost to Redlands, 48-0.

The last time Azusa Pacific shut out Occidental was in 1974, 3-0.

The last time Occidental (0-2) lost two games in a row was in 1982.

In passing: Occidental has surrendered four touchdowns this season--each on passes of 26 yards or more.

The Tigers have been handicapped by injuries to key players such as cornerback Ben White and safety Craig Hartley, but Tiger Coach Dale Widolff said the problem has been lapses, not personnel.

“We’re playing pretty good pass defense,” said Widolff, whose team has three interceptions. “We’re getting good pressure. It’s just the inconsistency, We’ve broken down at critical times.”

Seeing is believing: John Cicuto and his Glendale College staff got an eyeful last Saturday when they took advantage of their team’s bye and journeyed to Bakersfield to scout the defending national champion Renegades.

Bakersfield whipped Hancock, 29-6, in preparation for Saturday’s Western State Conference opener against Glendale.

“They (Bakersfield) have some very big lineman and good skill-position players,” said Cicuto, whose team lost its opener to Pasadena. “The week off has been good for us. It’s allowed us to simplify some things for our players. I think it’s going to be an excellent game.”

Glendale and Bakersfield did not play last season, but Glendale won the last two meetings between the schools in 1986 and ’87.