THE COLLEGES : CSUN’s Fann in Running for Harlon Hill Award

Cal State Northridge tailback Albert Fann and Portland State quarterback Darren Del’Andrae have been nominated for the Harlon Hill Award, Division II football’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

Fann, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound junior, is the leading rusher in the Western Football Conference with 1,195 yards. He had a career-high 251 yards against Cal State Sacramento last week.

Del’Andrae, a former Calabasas High standout, leads the WFC in passing yardage (2,839) and has completed 189 of 325 passes for 14 touchdowns.

Johnny Bailey of Texas A&I;, the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s career rushing leader, has won the award the past two seasons and is expected to repeat.

The Harlon Hill winner will be announced Dec. 8 at a banquet in Florence, Ala., site of the Division II championship game.

Playoff plan: The Cal State Northridge soccer team will play host to either Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal State Hayward in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. West regional match at North Campus Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 18.

The Matadors won their sixth consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title by defeating Cal State Bakersfield, 2-1, on Saturday. CSUN has a bye in the first round of the playoffs, which start this weekend.

Cal State Hayward will play at San Luis Obispo in an opening-round match Friday night.

Right choice: Faced with a decision that could have won or lost the match, Marwan Ass’ad, Cal State Northridge’s soccer coach, called on sophomore Don Imamura to take a penalty shot with 23 seconds left against Cal State Bakersfield.

Imamura, a fullback, had neither attempted a penalty shot nor scored a goal this season.

“We took practice a few times in the last couple of months and he was the coolest,” Ass’ad said of Imamura. “He shoots it hard and in the corner. He’s the kind of player that’s perfect to take (penalty shots) because he’s a defender--he’s quiet so it’s very hard for the goalie to read him.”

Makes sense. But it wasn’t quite the truth.

“Hey, I’m trying to justify it,” Ass’ad added. “That’s all B.S. I chose him and it worked.”

Say what?: Ass’ad, searching for the words to explain how his team triumphed over Bakersfield on Saturday night, borrowed--and butchered--a line from Leo Durocher.

“Good guys finish first,” Ass’ad said, “and we’re the good guys.”

Oh, really? Perhaps other CCAA coaches wouldn’t agree.

Only two Northridge players--midfielder Andy Torres and sweeper Billy Durkin--made first-team all-conference in a vote of CCAA coaches. Third-place Bakersfield had four on the first team, including Arturo Jaurequi, the CCAA Player of the Year. Roadrunner Coach Simon Tobin was coach of the year for the second time since 1987, although his team has never won a championship.

Goalkeeper Mike Littman, forward Bobby Reyes, halfback Scott Piri and Imamura were Northridge selections on the second team.

Now it can be told: Don Strametz, Cal State Northridge’s cross-country coach, expressed concern last week that a foot injury might keep Darcy Arreola from running in Saturday’s West regional in McKinleyville, Calif., but the Lady Matador junior said she knew that she would compete after a Thursday workout.

“The foot barely hurt on Wednesday and it felt fine on Thursday,” said Arreola, who had torn muscle tissue in her left foot during an earlier workout. “I knew by Thursday that I was going to race. I was never really worried about it after that.”

Led by Arreola, who won the regional title with a course-record time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds over the 5,000-meter course, Northridge finished third in the team standings and qualified for the Division II championships for the sixth consecutive year.

Double talk: The Master’s and Cal Lutheran soccer players had nothing but good things to say about each other after the Mustangs’ 2-1 shoot-out victory over the Kingsmen in a National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 semifinal soccer match Tuesday.

The pleasantries were in contrast to what took place on the field. Each team played aggressive soccer.

Two players from each team were issued yellow cards and Master’s was whistled for 27 fouls and Cal Lutheran was called for 22.

“The style of play didn’t surprise me at all,” Master’s Coach Mark Schubert said. “I expected it to be very intense out there.”

Running start: Craig Ashley rushed for 481 yards in nine games to shatter the Cal Lutheran freshman rushing record. Ashley, who didn’t take a handoff until the third game, surpassed the mark of 277 yards set by Joe Stouch in 1966.

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