THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Camarillo a Difficult Opponent Because Players Know Ropes

It is difficult any time a team travels to Camarillo High for a basketball game. But it is especially difficult for Newbury Park Coach Greg Ropes, whose ties to Camarillo are as long as his family tree.

Ropes and his wife Linda graduated from Camarillo in 1966. Ropes was a three-year letterman in basketball and football and set school records in both sports. And when Camarillo Coach John Harbour took a sabbatical in 1986, Ropes replaced him as basketball coach.

Ropes’ oldest son, Brett, graduated from Camarillo and another son, Chad, played junior varsity football last fall. His daughter, Kaci, is in the seventh grade and is two years away from becoming a Scorpion.

“It’s difficult for my kids because they see their dad as a coach for the opposition,” Ropes said.

Ropes coached Camarillo when seniors Scott Foster and Rick Schnell, All-Marmonte League selections as juniors, were freshmen. After Schnell underwent an emergency appendectomy in December, Ropes sent him a get-well card.

“But I wrote at the bottom I wish he has a full recovery the day after our last game with them,” Ropes said.

Ropes maintains a good relationship with both Foster and Schnell, who have missed the majority of the season because of sickness.

“I told them that I was rooting for them, except when they play us,” said Ropes, whose team plays host to Camarillo on Wednesday.

Wide body: From the school that brought us Gary Gray and Alvin Brown--two guys who will never be known as runts--Granada Hills now features, taa daaa , Brett Washington.

Washington, selected the North Valley League football Player of the Year, is playing basketball for the Granada Hills junior varsity. And while he isn’t quite the basketball player that Gray and Brown were, he does share a problem they both encountered: finding a uniform that fits.

Gray, the City Section 3-A Division Player of the Year two seasons ago, stood 6-foot-8. Brown wasn’t as tall but was considerably bigger, waist-wise.

Washington is a 5-10, 225-pound junior, and Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson can’t find uniform trunks that fit Washington’s trunk. In a game at San Fernando on Wednesday, Washington wore a pair of pale green, non-regulation walking shorts that came to mid-thigh.

“We can’t find any that fit,” said Johnson, who last year had similar trouble trying to locate warm-up sweats big enough for the rather roundish Brown. “But the real mystery is why he wears black socks .”

Johnson figures that Washington, a football starter at linebacker and running back, is still in fall mode.

“I think he saw too much of (linebacker) Junior Seau and USC in the Rose Bowl,” Johnson said.

You make the call: Jeff Davis says he’s going out on a limb. Some, however, would maintain the first-year Canoga Park coach has gone out of his mind.

Davis, you see, says the Canoga Park guard tandem of Marcus Reed and Lindsey Dunbar is as talented as any pair in the Valley.

Well, almost.

“Marcus Reed may be the best man-to-man defender in the area,” said Davis, whose team is a surprising 8-7. “Together, the two are as quick as any pair I’ve seen.

“I’m going to go out on a limb. I say Reed and Dunbar are as good as any two guards in the Valley with the exception of Eddie Hill and Andre Chevalier (of Cleveland).”

Shoot, why stop with second best? A comparison will be made soon enough: Cleveland plays host to Canoga Park on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Sidelined: Kayheed Murray, one of Cleveland’s top reserves, has missed the past two weeks after being hospitalized because of a severe sinus infection.

Murray, a junior who transferred from Burbank last summer, has been hospitalized since New Year’s Eve, Cleveland Coach Marc Paez said. Paez said the infection, which spread to one of Murray’s eyes, apparently has subsided and that the 6-foot-5 forward is expected to be released this week and rejoin the team as early as next week.

Quotebook: Hart Coach Greg Herrick on his team’s inability to defend Burroughs guard Marnie Calderon (18 points, 11 in the third quarter) in Tuesday night’s 74-71 Foothill League loss: “Calderon went through our guards like water through a sieve. I don’t know how we could have stopped him.”

Building fences: Kennedy baseball Coach Manny Alvarado’s primary off-season goal has been achieved: The Golden Cougars will have a reachable right-field fence this season.

Without the new temporary fence, which Alvarado says “is like the cyclone fencing they use at a construction site,” a fly ball to right field was a sure out. The existing fence, which runs parallel to Woodley Avenue, is approximately 500 feet from home plate.

“Hopefully, that’ll mean no more 400-foot outs,” said Alvarado, who guided Kennedy to the 1989 City Section 4-A Division championship in his first season as coach.

The barrier should be a boon to returning All-City outfielder Garret Anderson, a left-handed hitter who slammed five home runs and drove in 31 runs last season.

Doughty Don: David Richard, a 20-year-old college student who was named to coach the Verdugo Hills baseball team last month, faces a formidable task in rebuilding the Dons’ program.

Richard succeeds Curt Yarrington, who coached the program for five years before resigning after the 1989 season.

Richard inherits a team that was 7-8 in Northeastern League play, but only one player returns from that team and last year’s junior varsity team was winless. Still, Richard is optimistic because Verdugo Hills has added an on-campus baseball field. Previously, the Dons played at Sunland Park, a mile from campus.

“We’re trying to get the facilities upgraded,” he said. “We seeded the field Wednesday and we’re trying to get a scoreboard. We’re starting from scratch, but that’s OK.”

Richard graduated from Marshall High where he played for three years for Gary Donatella, who now coaches at Sylmar. After two years at Glendale College, Richard transferred to Santa Barbara City College in the fall. He said that he will transfer to Cal State Northridge in the spring.

Bad break: Royal goalkeeper Nicki Noyes underwent surgery Monday to have two screws placed in her left hand after she jammed her thumb into the ground during warm-up drills before a match against St. Lucy’s on Dec. 29.

Noyes, a senior, will miss the remainder of the Highlanders’ soccer season but hopes to return for softball in the spring, according to soccer Coach Kevin Corley.

Once healed, Noyes’ hand will not be at full strength.

“They said if she wore a cast, there would be an 85% chance it will return to normal and 50% without the cast,” Corley said.

Although she was in pain, Noyes played the first half against St. Lucy’s in goal with a taped hand and played the field for the second 40 minutes and scored a goal.

Mike Glaze and staff writers Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick, John Lynch, Brian Murphy and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.