The Colleges : CSUN Not Home Free Against CLU

Cal State Northridge is a heavy favorite to gain its seventh consecutive football victory over Cal Lutheran tonight at North Campus Stadium, but don’t be too surprised if the outmanned Kingsmen at least make it interesting.

Four of Cal Lutheran’s last six losses in the series have come by four points or less. Since 1983, the only exceptions were a 17-3 final in 1986 and a 36-14 CSUN rout the following season.

Cal Lutheran last defeated Northridge in 1982, 27-15. CSUN, which has a 9-3 edge in the series, won the next three meetings by scores of 26-23, 17-15 and 27-23. Last season’s final was 24-21. Northridge won on a 42-yard field goal by Abo Velasco with 1:40 left, but the Kingsmen outgained the Matadors, 331-325.

Add streaks: Northridge has won three in a row since opening its football season with losses to Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton, both Division I opponents.

The Matadors can equal a school record for consecutive victories by defeating Cal Lutheran tonight. Northridge has won four consecutive games in a season on five other occasions--including in each of the past three seasons. The Matadors also had four-game winning streaks in 1964 and 1981.

Add Northridge: Opponents beware: CSUN is in its comfort zone when faced with third- or fourth-down situations. The Matadors have converted 53.9% (41 of 76) third-down attempts this season. In the past four games, the success rate has improved to 59% (36 of 61). On fourth down, CSUN has converted six of seven times.

Cal Lutheran, CSUN’s opponent tonight, has a 43.1% (25 of 58) success ratio on third down and is 14 of 20 on fourth-down attempts.

Giant killers: A 2-1 win over Claremont-Mudd, the fifth-ranked team in the NCAA Division III men’s soccer poll, didn’t help Cal Lutheran (5-4) in its drive to qualify for the NAIA District 3 playoffs. It did, however, boost the Kingsmen’s confidence.

Reeling after consecutive losses to The Master’s and Azusa Pacific last week, Cal Lutheran rebounded to beat Claremont-Mudd when junior forward Larry Gidley scored on a breakaway in the second overtime period.

“We were major underdogs against them,” said Casey Pirih, a junior forward. “Since we played badly against Azusa, we wanted to prove something to ourselves by beating those guys.”

Cal Lutheran had earlier lost, 1-0, to UC San Diego, which is ranked No. 1 in Division III. The Kingsmen will play host to Biola today in a match-up between District 3 playoff contenders.

Position change: Northridge soccer Coach Marwan Ass’ad has moved Bobby Reyes from right wing to forward in an effort to bolster the Matadors’ offensive attack.

Reyes was playing his new position last Saturday when he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 overtime victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at North Campus Stadium.

“Forward is a good position for Bobby because it allows him to get into the flow of the offense on any side of the field,” Ass’ad said.

Reyes’ goal against San Luis Obispo was his first of the season, but Ass’ad is confident that many more will follow.

“He really wants the ball out there now,” Ass’ad said. “As long as he’s like that, he’s going to score goals.”

Add soccer: The Northridge soccer team has gone into overtime in its past three matches at North Campus Stadium.

The Matadors (5-2-2) tied Claremont-Mudd, 1-1, on Sept. 13; tied Westmont College, 3-3, a week later; and beat San Luis Obispo, 2-1, last Saturday.

Northridge’s next home match is Oct. 21 against Cal Poly Pomona.

Fall from grace: He rushed for 1,943 yards and 18 touchdowns and was named The Times’ Valley Back of The Year in 1988, but former Monroe High tailback Curtis Scott is not playing football this season.

Scott was expected to play first at Pierce, then at Ricks College in Rexburg, Ida., and finally, at Valley.

Monarch Coach Chuck Ferrero, however, said he hasn’t seen Scott in two weeks.

“He attended one practice and I haven’t seen him since,” Ferrero said.

Semper fi: The Marines’ motto is the Latin for “always faithful,” but something may have been lost in the translation for Mike Wilson, who quit the Moorpark College wrestling team after one meet to join the Marines.

Wilson, a 142-pound freshman who attended Simi Valley High, won his only match, 7-6, to help Moorpark defeat El Camino. Without Wilson, though, Moorpark was forced to forfeit the 142-pound class in a 22-22 tie with Golden West on Wednesday.

“When you’ve coached as long as I have, everything in the book has happened to me,” said John Keever, in his 21st year as the Moorpark coach. “Nothing surprises me when you’re dealing with young men.”

Military recruiters generally go to college campuses to enlist youngsters in ROTC and other reserve programs. Usually, the military does not encourage recruits to leave school.

“I was a little upset about it,” Keever said. “To me, a recruiter should have said, ‘You’re in school this semester, let’s wait until February.’ It was unsettling to our program, but we’ll get over it.”

Gary Klein and staff writers Mike Hiserman, John Ortega and Brendan Healey contributed to this notebook.