ON THE PREP PATH / BARBIE LUDOVISE : University Player’s Determination Remains Loud and Clear

Manny Moscoso rushed onto the field Friday night with his University High School teammates, surrounded by the sounds of football.

Cheerleaders chanted. Fans cheered. Coaches shouted and swore. Tubas played. Horns blew.

All Moscoso heard, though, were the voices running through his head. The 17-year-old senior is hearing-impaired.

“I just try to remember all the plays,” he says. “I just try to think positive and to remember which way I should go.”

Usually Moscoso, the team’s starting center, remembers well. Friday night, he played well in the Trojans’ 24-21 loss to Santa Margarita.

Because Moscoso cannot hear the quarterback’s call, he relies on a strong nudge to signal the snap.

“I always have to remind him to tap me harder,” Moscoso says of Trojan quarterback Brian Vail.

Moscoso, who was born in Peru, lost his hearing when he was 9 months old. He was born with anoxia, a total deprivation of oxygen. Doctors did not think he would live. At nine months, as a result of the anoxia, doctors believe, Moscoso had a viral infection and a high fever, causing his deafness.

When he was 3, Moscoso and his family moved to Los Angeles. The hearing-impaired programs were better there, his mother, Rosa Moscoso, was told.

In Southern California, Moscoso never tried football until high school. As a freshman, he wrote an essay in English class about how he wanted to play first-string varsity football by his senior year.

“The teachers and coaches all said no way,” Rosa Moscoso said. “They said they didn’t want him to be disappointed.”

But Moscoso was undaunted, and with the support of his family, began working toward his goal. His younger brother, Juan, a junior defensive tackle at Mater Dei, was especially supportive, Manny said.

“Manny’s just always had a lot of guts. If he sees a challenge, he’s going to take it, and football was one of the biggest challenges,” Juan said. “He figured if he took on football, he could take on anything.”

With a set of weights in the family’s garage, and a younger brother to scrimmage with, Moscoso developed his skills, and his competitive spirit. Juan says one of his brother’s favorite practices is hitting the walls of his bedroom or hall with his forearm, something both boys enjoy.

Actually, the two compete to see who can hit the wall harder.

“My parents don’t like it, but when we put holes in the wall, we fix them,” Juan said. “Usually, we go for a wall with a strong beam in it.”

Last year, Manny played sparingly at nose guard. This is his first season on offense. Although University has had deaf players on its team before--the school has the largest hearing-impaired program in Orange County--Moscoso was its first offensive starter.

Before Moscoso earned the starting spot, though, one issue that had to be settled was communication.

All University’s hearing-impaired athletes rely on full-time interpreters who work from the sidelines.

At an afternoon practice last week, Carol Both and Dottie Large stood on either side of Coach Mark Cunningham, signing in his every word to Moscoso and Steve Mooney, a reserve wide receiver. Large, whose parents are deaf, says when athletes are at practice, in the locker room, weight room, or in games, at least one interpreter is there to help them communicate.

After four years of signing football, Both and Large say they understand the terminology, though they still carry small notebooks to jot down unfamiliar plays or phrases they need to study.

“Everything Manny needs to know, we need to know,” Large said.

Against Santa Margarita, Both stood near Cunningham or line coach Mark Takkinen, waving to Moscoso when he needed to be informed. At one point, Takkinen changed a play in mid-call, and Both waved frantically to get Moscoso’s attention again.

“Hey! Get Manny to look! Get Manny to look!” someone screamed.

Takkinen turned toward Both and screamed the play: “Minnow! Minnow! What’s the sign for Minnow!”

Trying not to panic, Both quickly signed in “minnow,” spelling out each letter by sign language.

Cunningham called a timeout, and Both signed the next play to Moscoso.

A moment later, University running back Marc Walker dived in for a touchdown. The small University crowd went nuts. The band kicked in. “University,” the announcer said, “has tied the score at 7!”

Elated, Moscoso smiled, lifted his arms, touchdown style, and rushed toward the Trojan sidelines.

Silence does not lessen his joy.

By finishing fourth Saturday at the Woodbridge Invitational, Heather Killeen, a senior cross-country runner at Valencia, proved she is back on track after two years of health problems.

Killeen, who was the county’s second-fastest finisher Saturday after Katella’s Martha Pinto, underwent surgery for the removal of ovarian cysts last summer.

For the past two years, Killeen took medication for the problem. But the medication’s side effects, among them weight gain and sluggishness, adversely affected her running ability. She is no longer taking the medication.

Now 20 pounds lighter, Killeen is training hard, feeling fit, and set on qualifying for the state championships in November.

Killeen’s time Saturday of 17 minutes 36 seconds, only two seconds slower than Pinto, trimmed more than a minute off her time from last year.

Another comeback of sorts Saturday was that of San Clemente senior Terri Smythers.

Last spring, Smythers, one of the county’s most gifted runners, decided to retire from competition. She said the pressures she placed on herself to do well led to mental and physical burnout, and that she did not see herself wanting to race again in the future.

But over the summer, Smythers changed her mind. By late August, she was training with the Triton cross-country team again.

“I’m coming back with the goal to have it be fun again,” Smythers said. “I’m just going to try to relax, enjoy it, not get too caught up in how I do.”

At the Woodbridge meet, Smythers finished 35th.

“I felt every little slope,” she said of the mostly flat course. “It just felt like my legs were lead out there.”

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing her at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626 or calling (714) 966-5847.