Prep Notes : Rolling Hills Titans Prove Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Before Friday’s game against unbeaten Leuzinger, Rolling Hills football Coach Gary Kimbrell said: “Things are never as bad as they look or as good as they look.”

Kimbrell was referring to last week’s game against Beverly Hills, when Rolling Hills had six turnovers in a 21-14 loss. But he just as easily could have been talking about the Titans’ first quarter against Leuzinger.

Picking up where they left off against Beverly Hills, Rolling Hills lost three fumbles in the opening period Friday and Leuzinger converted them into two touchdowns and a field goal to take a 16-0 lead.

Things certainly were going bad. But not as bad as they looked.

Regrouping nicely, Rolling Hills dominated the rest of the game and rallied for a 16-16 tie on fullback Steve Archibald’s six-yard touchdown burst and tailback Robert Coulter’s two-yard conversion run with 5:51 left to play.

“After the third fumble, I started to say, ‘Oh no,’ ” Kimbrell said. “But I still felt we showed signs of moving the ball. We just had to get the opportunity.”

Rolling Hills outgained an injury-riddled Leuzinger team in total yards, 361-183, and had more first downs, 15-9. Coulter led all rushers with 253 yards on 19 carries, but his fumble that rolled out the back of the Leuzinger end zone late in the third quarter for a touchback negated an apparent scoring run and might have cost the Titans a victory.

“That was a killer,” Kimbrell said.

Rolling Hills finished with five turnovers, giving the team an atrocious total of 11 in its last two games.

Considering his team was outplayed so badly after the first quarter, Leuzinger Coach Steve Carnes considered himself fortunate to get out of Rolling Hills with a tie.

“I feel lucky, to tell you the truth,” he said. “We had some major (defensive) breakdowns and they exploited them. Rolling Hills played extremely well. Defensively they shut us down.”

Leuzinger, ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section Division II poll, is 4-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the competitive Bay League, while Rolling Hills, ranked No. 10, is 3-1-1 and 0-1-1.

Greg Schwartz made his first start at quarterback for Rolling Hills in place of injured Bill DeMucci, who sprained an ankle in practice Tuesday, and did a nice job of running the option. He scored the Titans’ first eight points on a five-yard run and two-point conversion run early in the third quarter.

“Greg is probably the best athlete we have on the team,” Kimbrell said. “He gives us a couple of more dimensions.”

Jim Rudberg also turned in a big effort for Rolling Hills. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound senior, who plays tight end and linebacker, was a catalyst on both sides of the ball. His biggest play came on defense with 8:48 left to play when he stopped Leuzinger tailback B-Jon Sample for no gain on fourth-and-one at the Rolling Hills 35, setting up the Titans’ game-tying drive.

Just call ‘em the Viking killers.

Palos Verdes, which handed Santa Monica its only Bay League loss last year, did it again Friday night by rallying for three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull out a 35-34 upset of the defending league champions at Santa Monica College.

Running back George Felactu’s two-yard touchdown run and John Miller’s extra point with 3:31 left to play capped the furious comeback for the Sea Kings, who improved to 4-1 and 1-1 in league play. Santa Monica, ranked No. 3 in the Division II poll, fell to 3-1 and 1-1.

Defensive back Mark Antrobius set up the winning touchdown by intercepting a pass and returning it 34 yards to the Viking 11-yard line with 5:07 left. It was the second interception of the game for Antrobius, who leads the South Bay with seven.

Palos Verdes quarterback Blake Anderson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, his third scoring kick return of the season.

A two-week layoff did nothing to dull Carson’s football skills, as the Colts stormed to a 52-0 non-league victory Friday afternoon at Washington in both teams’ Southern-Pacific Conference opener.

Quarterback Armin Youngblood was especially sharp, completing 10 of 15 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns. His four scoring tosses tied a school record shared by four other quarterbacks.

Youngblood completed touchdown passes of 40 and 57 yards to wide receiver Tydus Winas to help Carson (2-1) build a 23-0 lead in the first quarter. He also had two scoring throws to wide receiver Michael Ross covering 52 and 11 yards.

Junior cornerback Clayvand Thomas, who missed the Colts’ first two games because of a knee injury, made up for lost time. He intercepted two passes, returning one 50 yards for a touchdown, and he returned a fumble 53 yards for a TD.

Carson did not play last week because the team was unable to schedule an opponent.

Mary Star registered its third consecutive shutout Friday night in a 27-0 win over host Cantwell to remain in the driver’s seat for the Santa Fe League football title.

The Stars, down to 20 players because of injuries, were led defensively by linebackers Dave Bozanich and John DiLeva, lineman Mike Toscano and free safety Mike Ponce De Leon, who had one of the team’s two interceptions.

Running back Vince Orlando paced Mary Star’s offense with 115 yards rushing and one touchdown, a 20-yard run in the second quarter, on 16 carries.

The Stars improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.

“If we can go 4-0 in October, then we’ll be in good position to win the league title,” said first-year Coach Mike Marinkovich, whose team closes out the month with games against defending Santa Fe champion El Segundo next week and this year’s favorite, St. Monica, the following week.

Unfortunately for Mary Star, the team failed to escape the injury bug on Friday. Backup quarterback Anthony Racaza, who has been starting because of an injury to starter Shawn McEachern, suffered a shoulder injury and Toscano left the game with an injured ankle. Their status for next week was unknown.

“We can’t afford to lose anybody,” Marinkovich said. “We don’t have that many guys out there.”