NOTEBOOK : Ventura Off to Best Start Ever After 5th Victory

The Ventura College football team, ranked fourth in Southern California and seventh in the state in this week’s JC Grid Wire poll, established a school record for consecutive wins to start a season (five) with its 24-14 win over L. A. Valley last Saturday.

The next five games, however, are the most critical.

Ventura (5-0 overall, 4-0 in the Western State Conference) plays five WSC Northern Division foes that have a combined record of 16-7-2.

Ventura begins the stretch run Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in its Homecoming game against Santa Barbara (4-1, 3-1). The match-up is the latest chapter of a 25-year rivalry and The Big Game trophy, currently in Santa Barbara’s possession, is at stake.

Santa Barbara quarterback Ted Robison leads the conference in total offense with 1,181 yards. He has thrown for 1,144 yards and Santa Barbara averages a conference-best 272 passing yards.

Robison’s most-common target has been Greg Borgquist, who has 32 receptions for 491 yards to lead the conference in both categories.

Punting: Ventura punter Tim Albrent is tied for second in the conference with a 40.0-yard average. Jason Thompson of Southwest leads with a 40.2 average.

Albrent, however, will have to kick to Santa Barbara’s Byron Wade. Wade leads the conference with a 16.5 return average.

Foot-brawl: Ventura’s game with Valley was a physical contest that ended with a 10-minute brawl on the field among fans and players from both schools.

A pushing match between players began after the final horn and--with only two security guards present and the game officials sprinting for the locker room--it quickly escalated to numerous scuffles.

Some were doused with alcoholic beverages and others left with bloody lips.

“It was an unfortunate situation,” Coach Phil Passno said. “It was a pretty emotional game. But at that point, it shouldn’t have happened. The game was over.”

On the rebound: The vaunted Moorpark College defense, which had surrendered only 17 points in its first four games, nearly doubled its season total of points allowed in a 28-27 loss to Bakersfield.

The defending state champion, Bakersfield has not lost in 16 games, but Saturday Moorpark (4-1) will play host to a team that wins about as frequently as Bakersfield loses.

Harbor College finished last in the WSC last year with a 1-10 record and had won only three games in the past two years. This season, though, Harbor has a new coach, Don Weems, who has already doubled the win total from last season.

Harbor (2-3) features what Weems calls a “vertical” passing offense, but the Moorpark defense has a bunch of guys who specialize in making opponents horizontal. Moorpark linebacker Tom Briggs had four sacks against Bakersfield, and Moorpark outgained Bakersfield, 445 yards to 329.

Bakersfield won on a touchdown and two-point conversion with 5:05 remaining. Freddie Bradley rushed for 93 yards and Jayson Merrill passed for 324 yards to lead Moorpark.

Lights ... action: Channel Islands High has a bye this week but the players are suiting up anyway Friday night. The school is trying out its new stadium lights.

A barbecue at 5 p.m. and a ceremony will precede two scrimmages beginning at 7. The freshman will scrimmage the junior varsity, followed by a varsity intra-squad scrimmage.

Channel Islands, which still needs to add bleachers, will continue to play its games at Hueneme High until next season.

Changing of the guard: Because Ventura High upset Buena, 11-8, last Thursday in a Channel League water polo match, Ventura Coach Dale Hahn expected the Cougars to move past Buena in the Southern Section 2-A poll.

Last week, Buena (14-6 overall, 3-2 in the league) was third and Ventura (11-3, 4-1) was seventh.

“We had better be ahead of them,” Hahn said with a chuckle.

Not to worry. The Cougars moved up to sixth this week and Buena dropped out of the top 10. Dos Pueblos, which defeated Buena on Tuesday, is ranked fourth.

The final poll is all that’s important because the top four teams are seeded in the Southern Section playoffs. “At this point, the only value of the poll is to get into that kind of position among the top four,” Hahn said.

School record: Ventura set a school record with 25 steals in its 11-8 win over Buena.

“Twenty-five steals is unheard of,” Hahn said.

Circus Fun strikes: Circus Fun, the plastic toy figure of a devil’s head that was adopted by Ventura High’s water polo team as its mascot, made another appearance last week.

The toy is jokingly handed to each player for inspiration during time outs and floats in the pool water “to energize it.”

Jamey Pierce--a senior outside shooter who discovered the toy--made a template of the figure. After Ventura beat Buena last Thursday, the players spray-painted the figure on the shed beside the school pool and sprayed it next to last year’s scores that are already painted alongside the pool.

Ventura also added Thursday’s score to the graffiti.

Running from the pack: Ventura College cross-country runner Jaime Galindo ran an average of about 100 miles a week this summer, and now he is running away from Division I competition.

Galindo, a sophomore from Oxnard High, finished fifth with a five-mile time of 25 minutes, five seconds at the prestigious Stanford Invitational on Oct. 7. Ventura was the only junior college invited.

Galindo will attempt to win his second WSC mini-meet title this season Friday at Arroyal Verde Park in Ventura. Galindo has won the Moorpark Invitational and was second both at the Bakersfield Invitational and Santa Barbara Invitational.

According to Ventura Coach Tuck Mason, Galindo is being recruited by numerous Division I schools.

Included in that group is Arizona, which is expected to challenge powerhouse Oregon in the Pac-10 Championships.

Beltowski officially out: Oxnard College basketball player Andy Beltowski, who injured his back this summer and his playing status was questionable this season, has officially been scratched off the Condors’ roster.

Beltowski, a 6-foot-5 forward, averaged nine points and eight rebounds for last year’s 20-12 team. He and all-WSC player Randy Carter were the only returning starters. But the loss of Beltowski has left Coach Remy McCarthy with an inexperienced group.

“It is a devastating blow,” McCarthy said. “There is no way to measure his value to this team.”

Cardinals flying: The Ventura County Cardinals’ semi-pro football team is leading the High Desert League with a 6-0 record.

Ventura beat the previously-unbeaten Riverside Rams, 51-29, last Sunday as 34-year-old Oxnard High assistant coach Joe Davis was 17 of 20 passing for 323 yards and four touchdowns.

Ventura (9-0 overall) plays the Los Angeles Mustangs in a league game Sunday at Crenshaw High.