Palomar’s Barrick Picks Stephen F. Austin

Palomar College and former San Diego State University quarterback Scott Barrick orally committed Sunday to attend Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Tex.

Barrick returned from a visit to the campus late Saturday evening and said he was impressed by both the football program and the people. Stephen F. Austin was 12-1-1 and played in the NCAA Division I-AA football championship this season. Stephen F. Austin’s senior quarterback Todd Hammel passed for 48 touchdowns and more than 5,600 yards.

“The main thing is I have a good chance to start next year, but I’m going to have to work at it,” Barrick said. “I like their offense--they throw the ball, and the people were real friendly.”

Barrick said he will leave this week for school. The second semester started last Thursday.

He completed 284 of 504 passes for 3,624 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall and led Palomar College to a come-from-behind 21-20 victory over Ventura in the Hall of Fame Bowl at Balboa Stadium.

A 1987 graduate of Fallbrook High School, he attended San Diego State University for two seasons, redshirting in 1987 and completing 79 of 143 passes for 860 yards and two touchdowns for the Aztecs in 1988. But he quit the team before spring practice in 1988, saying his heart was no longer in football.

During his senior season at Fallbrook, he set a state single-season passing record with 3,503 yards and was named by Cal-Hi Sports magazine as the state’s offensive player of the year.

He was also considering attending Sonoma State University, UC Davis and the University of Kansas.

Arizona State has received oral commitments from two of San Diego County’s top football lineman, Orange Glen’s Troy Martz and Serra’s Jeff Kysar. Martz, an offensive lineman, also visited Oregon while choosing schools and canceled a recruiting trip to USC after deciding on ASU.

Kysar, a 6-foot-8, 280-pounder who plays both offensive and defensive line, also visited Oregon and was to visit SDSU, but put that off after choosing ASU.

SOCCER

Defender Marcelo Balboa and forward Kyle Whittemore, both of whom played soccer this past season at San Diego State, signed with the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the Western Soccer League. Balboa played with the San Diego Nomads last summer when the Nomads beat San Francisco Bay, 1-0, in the WSL championship game.

Balboa was the league MVP in 1988.

BASEBALL

The San Diego County Baseball Umpires’ Assn. will meet at 7 p.m. tonight in Crawford High School’s cafeteria. Anyone interested in umpiring high school and youth baseball can attend. For more information, call Bob Merchant at 426-0809, Bill Boyd at 721-5209 or Mike Allen at 455-0384.

MISCELLANEOUS

Lt. Napoleon McCallum will be the guest speaker at a La Mesa Lions Club meeting Tuesday at 12:10 p.m.

Lt. McCallum, assigned to the Navy Recruiting District in San Diego, will be speaking on his life at Annapolis while playing football. He was an All-American for Navy, where he set 26 school records, before going on to play for the Los Angeles Raiders and San Diego Chargers.