THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Fotheringham Scores Well in Chance to Spell Westervelt

While Hart High quarterback Rob Westervelt was serving a one-game suspension for his involvement in an on-campus scuffle last week, tight end Chad Fotheringham was showing Coach Mike Herrington what a capable replacement he is in the pocket.

Fotheringham completed nine of 18 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns to lead Hart to a 43-8 Foothill League win over Alhambra.

“It was fun to get one chance. That’s all I needed,” Fotheringham said.

Fotheringham competed with Westervelt for the quarterback job before the 1988 season. Westervelt won out, and Fotheringham quit late in the season.

“I wasn’t going to play this year, but Coach Herrington called me and said he needed a tight end,” Fotheringham said.

The starting quarterback job still belongs to Westervelt.

“Robby will play quarterback and Chad goes back to tight end,” Herrington said. “But we’re fortunate to have Chad as a backup. He did a good job, more than we could have asked for.”

Change of venue: As it so happens in odd years, the Thousand Oaks-Westlake football game will be Westlake’s home game--at Thousand Oaks High. There is no stadium at Westlake High.

Asked whether being the visitors in Lancers Stadium--and coaching from the opposite sideline--would have an adverse effect on his team, Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards answered with a question of his own.

“Are the field dimensions the same?”

Enough said.

In 1987, the last time the two met under the same circumstances, Westlake upset eventual Coastal Conference champion Thousand Oaks, 7-6.

Getting offensive: Newbury Park has yet to score more than 21 points and only twice has scored more than 15. After the Panthers escaped with a 14-14 tie two weeks ago against Marmonte League foe Westlake, Coach George Hurley conceded that his team should have lost. And, the Panthers managed only 156 yards in last week’s 10-0 victory over Camarillo.

“Our offense is just sputtering,” Hurley said. “And you can’t play offense that poorly and hope to win the big games.”

Hurley was referring to Friday’s match-up against Channel Islands, a game that will have Division II playoff ramifications.

“We have emphasized defense so much . . . now we’re second-guessing ourselves,” he said. “We’ve come into a mental lapse the last couple of games. And that’s not good news.”

Basketball: Canyon has landed a big fish in 6-foot-10, 220-pound senior center David Wiggins, who transferred last year from L. A. Baptist.

Wiggins was named the “Most Improved Player” this summer in the Tom Asbury Pepperdine Basketball Camp, which included 20 teams from five states. Wiggins was a member of Canyon’s junior varsity last season, but he is ready to bang with the big boys, Coach Greg Hayes said.

“He’s improved incredibly,” Hayes said. “He’s really made a lot of strides. But he’s definitely in the development stage.”

Spartan blues: After starting the season with three wins, Sylmar has fallen on hard times. The Spartans lost a shocker to lowly Monroe, 18-17, two weeks ago and then dropped a 20-6 decision to Reseda.

Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman, an intense competitor--as anyone who has seen him stalk the sidelines can attest--has found little to enjoy in the past two games.

The worst of it, though, is the lack of effort.

“We’re playing without emotion and it’s bugging me,” he said. “We’re just going through the motions. Reseda and Monroe were sky-high and we had nothing.”

It was a study in contrasts after the game at Reseda. The Regents, jubilant, doused Coach Joel Schaeffer with buckets of water while screaming, “This man is the best coach in the Valley!” Fans waited outside the locker room to applaud Schaeffer, and tight end Rockey Tribble greeted his head coach outside the locker room with a warm bear hug.

No such emotion for Sylmar. Engilman and his team left the field alone and silent.

Staff writers Tim Brown, Vince Kowalick and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.