HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Granada Hills Back Not Quite Fit for Rushing Record

While playing last season on the junior varsity basketball team at Granada Hills High, Brett Washington stood out from the rest of the team. It seems the school was unable to locate a pair of shorts large enough to fit Washington, now a 6-foot, 235-pound senior.

So . . . Washington wore walking shorts.

He has now experienced the other end of the sartorial spectrum. In Granada Hills’ 26-10 victory over Lynwood last week, Washington said his baggy uniform pants slowed him on a breakaway run of 89 yards.

His sprint, which started at the Highlander one-yard line and broke open a 19-10 game, ended prematurely when he was dragged down at the Lynwood 10.

“He said his knee pads were sliding down to his ankles,” Granada Hills co-Coach Tom Harp said, only half-kidding. “He said he wasn’t getting the flexibility he needed at the knees.”

So far and yet so close. The 89-yard jaunt tied a school record for longest run from the line of scrimmage, set by Kurt Schumacher against Bell in 1974. And if anybody is wondering who wears the pants at Granada Hills, well, don’t expect Washington to experience a similar problem in Saturday’s showdown with Dorsey.

“If (pants) are the difference between a 90-yard run and a 100-yarder,” Harp said, “then we’ll find him what he wants.”

Read it and weep: Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer likes to stay on top of the local prep scene, reading as much as he can about the best teams and players in the Southland. His desk and office walls, for instance, are cluttered with yellowed photographs and news clippings.

But it has become increasingly difficult for Schaeffer to find anything dealing with his own team, which this season was moved from the 3-A Division Valley Pac-8 Conference to the 4-A Northwest Valley Conference.

Schaeffer said that upon inspecting a recent City Section overview in Cal-Hi Sports, not a word was written about the Regents, who might have difficulty at the 4-A level.

“There was something in there about every other team in the conference,” he said. “But nothing about us. Not a word. That hurts.”

Starr brights: San Fernando assistant Troy Starr refers to the group as the “Super Sophs” and says they will provide a foundation that will form the core of the team for two more seasons.

“It’s a great group of kids,” said Starr, San Fernando’s defensive coordinator. “And there isn’t a (troublemaker) in the whole group. These guys will be around for a while.”

As many as five 10th-graders were on the field defensively in San Fernando’s 23-0 defeat of Fremont last week. Leading the way was Amon Flanagan, a 5-10, 175-pound sophomore who played at outside linebacker and recorded two sacks of All-City quarterback Quincy Guy. Flanagan had six tackles overall.

Sophomores Johnnie Brown, Shannon Gallien, Anthony Murray and Mike Anderson also played defensively, Starr said.

Quotebook: Kennedy Coach Bob Francola, on linebacker Bobby Rodgers’ 82-yard wrong-way interception return that resulted in a safety and Narbonne’s only points in a 36-2 Kennedy victory: “It didn’t really bother me until I watched the film and saw there were three of our guys out front blocking for him.”

No sophomore jinx: Margarito Casillas of Hoover prefers racing with the big boys. The Tornado sophomore pleaded with cross-country Coach Greg Switzer to run in the senior race at the Woodbridge Invitational on Saturday in Irvine.

“I wanted him to run in the sophomore race but he insisted he run in the senior race,” Switzer said.

Casillas got his wish--and made his mark. He toured the three-mile circuit at Woodbridge High in 15:43--a personal best--and placed 11th out of 126 finishers. Eddie Salinas of Santa Ana Saddleback won in 15:15.

“He’s very aware of what it takes to be successful,” said Switzer, adding that a freshman season with 1990 Hoover graduates Eliazar Herrera (UCLA) and Creighton Harris (Wisconsin) inspired Casillas to continue running.

Now he might be a favorite for the Pacific League title. As a freshman he timed 17:08 at Mt. San Antonio College, the venue of the Southern Section championships, and 9:51 for 3,200 meters in track.

Outside shooter: More than two years ago as an eighth-grader, David Ulloa was heavily recruited by Switzer, but Ulloa opted to play basketball at the school instead.

“He avoided me like the plague,” Switzer said.

This summer, though, Ulloa, a junior and a starting guard for the Tornadoes, “chose to broaden his athletic background,” Switzer said. “He just showed up and said he wanted to run cross-country.”

In his first race, the Woodbridge Invitational, Switzer instructed his newest protege: “I told him to go out there and relax and finish. You’re going to experience a whole different world of pain from basketball.”

Ulloa, however, took exception to the advice.

“He said to me, ‘You don’t think I can do this?’ ” Switzer recalled. “He pointed his finger at me and told me, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong. I’m going to win.’ ”

Ulloa timed 16:00 but finished fourth in the junior race. Terrel Reyes of Lakewood won in 15:09.

Underestimated dept.: Westlake cross-country runner Jeannie Rothman set a modest preseason goal for herself: crack the 18-minute barrier on a three-mile course.

In the Woodbridge Invitational on Saturday, Rothman, a senior, made 18 minutes look like her warmup pace as she shattered her own expectations, running 17:23 to finish second to Agoura’s Deena Drossin (17:04).

Cross-country shuffle: Casey Jones, who coached Quartz Hill to a third-place finish in the Golden League last year, hopes the addition of two transfers will help the Rebels contend with two-time defending champion Canyon for the league title.

Joe Bedortha, a sophomore from league-rival Palmdale, finished seventh in the league finals last year as a freshman and timed 15:56 for three miles in the summer. Senior Clark Goodrich, from Camarillo, was the No. 8 runner for the 1989 state Division I champion Scorpions.

“They’re going to fit right into our scoring five,” said Jones, noting that the Rebels’ Sept. 29 meeting with Canyon, Palmdale and Saugus at College of the Canyons could determine the league title.

Reviving the spirit: Paraclete, which won only two football games last season and was 0-5 in Desert-Inyo (Large) League play, has outscored its opponents in two games, 52-0.

“(The program) just needed somebody to come in and bring it together,” said first-year Coach Jim Nottoli, an All-Southern Section wide receiver at Paraclete in 1981 who was hired a month before the season began.

“It has sort of lost the school spirit over the past years. We’re trying to get the student body back and involved. Last week was probably the biggest student turnout we’ve had at a home game since when I was player.”

Still struggling: Antelope Valley won the Southern Section Coastal Conference championship in 1988 and had made nine consecutive playoff appearances in the 1980s until last year.

But the Antelopes have won only three of their past 12 games, including an 0-2 start this season. “The bottom fell out athletic-wise when our (1988) senior class graduated,” Coach Brent Newcomb said. “We’re counting on some younger players. Our whole defense is underclassmen.”

The loss of three starters to injuries also has hurt the Antelopes. Lineman Dan Dinsmore and sophomore fullback Ryan Braddick are sidelined with knee injuries and junior quarterback Mike Fossati has a separated shoulder.

A tough preseason schedule makes Newcomb’s job even tougher. In the next three weeks the Antelopes will face Division I powers Redlands and Loyola and Division II power El Toro. All three are ranked in the top 10 in their respective divisions.

Dedication: Westlake’s defensive unit has dedicated the season to Dave Weisman, a starting linebacker in 1989 who is sitting out this season because of a back injury sustained in an automobile accident over the summer.

“He had worked so hard (last season), we felt we owed it to him,” linebacker Vince Bruno said.

Westlake players have scribbled Weisman’s number (51) on pads, and receiver Erik Holcomb wears Weisman’s practice jersey during workouts.

“I’m honored,” Weisman said. “It’s hard to accept not being able to play. I did my best and it’s hard to take.”

Mike Glaze and staff writers Steve Elling, Kirby Lee, Paige A. Leech and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.