COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Bledsoe Not Two-Timing CSUN After All

Sometimes you can’t tell the players with a program.

When Northern Arizona played host to Cal State Northridge on Saturday, there was some question about which team Doug Bledsoe was supposed to play for.

The Northern Arizona media guide lists Doug Bledsoe, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker, as a member of the Lumberjacks. The Northridge media guide lists a Doug Bledsoe, same height, weight and position, on the Matador roster.

It’s the same person.

Bledsoe accepted a scholarship offer from Northern Arizona in the spring, but failed to earn an associate of arts degree from Glendale College, making him ineligible at the NCAA Division I level. Northridge, which has a Division II football program and recruits by a different set of rules, was able to pick him up.

According to the Lumberjack media guide, Northern Arizona’s Bledsoe had 100 tackles for Glendale last season, including 18 for losses and seven quarterback sacks. However the Northridge Bledsoe had only 75 tackles with five sacks.

Maybe one needs better stats to go Division I.

Small world: Before last Saturday’s 37-3 loss to Northern Arizona, Northridge last played the Lumberjacks in football in 1984.

Northern Arizona won that game too, 26-10. The Lumberjack coach at the time: Joe Harper, who will debut as Cal Lutheran’s coach Saturday at Azusa Pacific.

Authentic student-athlete: The morning after suffering a broken leg for the second consecutive year, Northridge soccer player Teddy Davila was in no shape to attend the first day of classes. A dedicated student, Davila didn’t want to miss anything, so he sent his stepmother, Debbie Davila, to his anthropology and religious studies classes Tuesday to take notes.

A day later, Davila put aside his discomfort and attended his sociology and macroeconomics classes with the help of his chauffeur--er, mother--Natalie Davila-Kremer.

A wing and a prayer: Scott Piri, the Northridge soccer team’s top returning scorer, will be moved from midfield to wing, and he couldn’t be happier.

“I think it enables me to utilize my skills, my one-on-one play,” said Piri, who switched positions last spring. “In the middle it is packed. There are a lot of 50-50 balls (which lead to collisions as opposing players race to reach them first). My game is more finesse.”

At 5-7 and 135 pounds, Piri is not physically suited for the midfield.

“I do get pushed around in the middle,” Piri said. “But playing there helped me improve my physical game. I do win more 50-50 balls now.”

Sure bet: Pierce defeated East Los Angeles, 40-39, last football season and the only thing certain about Saturday’s rematch is that the winner will be a school at which Bob Enger has coached.

Enger, head coach at East L.A. from 1967-69 and its defensive coordinator from 1971-73, led the Huskies to the state championship game in 1968. He also coached at Cal State Los Angeles and at several high schools before taking over at Pierce in 1988.

“There’s always a lot of deep emotional attraction for East L.A.,” said Enger, who taught at the school for 24 years and was also a student there. “They’re just like any other team that I want to beat. But it’s a little different with East L.A. I feel a little bad when I do beat them.”

The good-hands people: Wide receiver Mike Trevathan is being hyped as an All-American candidate at Montana. While that might seem to be overkill, considering that Trevathan received only honorable mention on the All-Big Sky Conference team last season, few could argue about his value to the team.

Trevathan, 6-1 and 185 pounds, had 46 receptions last season for 710 yards and two touchdowns. On Saturday, when Montana upset Oregon State, 22-15, Trevathan scored the game’s first touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Grady Bennett. He finished with four catches for 68 yards.

And who was Montana’s leading rusher? Marc Monestime, a teammate of Trevathan’s at Thousand Oaks High.

Monestime carried 19 times for 68 yards.

Backhanded greeting: The following sign welcomes visiting football teams to Northern Arizona’s Walkup Skydome:

“Welcome to Flagstaff, Arizona

Elevation 7,000 feet

Catch Your Breath!”

In memoriam: On the back of Northridge football helmets there is a black circle with the letter “T” printed in white. It is a tribute to Tommie Gray, a part-time starter at nose tackle for the Matadors last season. Gray, 21, died Dec. 15 of a heart ailment.

Matadors in red: Walt Ker, coach of the Northridge women’s volleyball team, is redshirting freshmen Jill Bussard of Canyon High, Stephanie Inouye of Santa Monica High and Debbie Bueche of Thousand Oaks.

Molly McLaughlin, an outside hitter from Santa Barbara, is the only freshman who will not be redshirted. In a victory Friday over Arizona State, McLaughlin played sparingly but managed a kill on her initial spike attempt.

Ker considered redshirting sophomore Alison Wool, the setter from Sunnyvale who lost her starting position to Welch, then ruled out that possibility.

“Ali is a very skilled player,” Ker said. “She could step in and play anytime.”

One down and out: The NAIA has ruled transfer kicker Sam Cooper ineligible this season at Cal Lutheran because he took part in one play--a kickoff--last year at Carnegie-Mellon, Cal Lutheran Coach Joe Harper said.

Cooper is appealing the ruling.

Uncle Sam wanted them: Rich Hill, the Cal Lutheran baseball coach, had put together a strong lineup for his Chatham, Mass., team in the Cape Cod summer baseball league. But four of his recruits wound up playing for Team USA instead. No other Cape Cod team lost as many players.

Two of Hill’s other players signed professional contracts, and his depleted squad stumbled to a 17-24-2 record.

The experience left Hill wondering if he had done too good a job of recruiting.

“We recruited the right guys, but we got hit hard,” Hill said.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz, Brendan Healey and Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.

TREVATHAN AT MONTANA

Year Rec Yards TDs 1987 10 168 2 1988 8 85 0 1989 46 710 2 1990 4 68 1 Totals 68 1031 5

CSUN OPENERS VS. BIG SKY SCHOOLS

YEAR OPPONENT SITE RESULT 1990 No. Arizona Road Loss, 37-3 1987 Boise State Road Loss, 30-0 1985 Nevada-Reno Road Loss, 56-12 1984 No. Arizona Road Loss, 26-10