NOTEBOOK : Torres, Bernards to Carry the Ball for Canyon After Tailback Injuries Take Toll

In what likely will prove to be the most pivotal game in the Golden League this season, Canyon High (5-0) will face Quartz Hill (3-2) without its first-string tailback.

And without its second-string tailback.

Considering that Quartz Hill has one of the area’s stingiest run defenses (272 yards in five games), those facts could loom large Friday night. But Canyon has little choice.

First-stringer David McDivitt, who gained 320 yards in Canyon’s first two games, remains sidelined with a deep thigh bruise.

And backup Mark Santos, who gamely filled McDivitt’s shoes by gaining 236 yards in 49 carries, has been told by doctors to cease playing offense after repeatedly separating his left shoulder, most recently in a 21-6 win Friday over Leuzinger. He will play strictly at defensive back.

That leaves first-string fullback Mike Torres as the tailback against Quartz Hill, and moves former linebacker Jeff Bernards to fullback. Torres has gained 202 yards in 45 carries.

But to Quartz Hill Coach John Albee, it just doesn’t matter who runs behind Canyon’s reputable line. “Geez, I think Harry (Welch, Canyon coach) could carry the ball behind that line and get a first down,” Albee said.

The move has created a domino effect throughout the roster. Taking Bernards’ place at outside linebacker will be tight end Troy Aldrich. Filling the gap left by Aldrich in the receiving corps will be “receivers by committee,” according to Welch, including Jim Zopelis and Rob Landtiser.

And the arrival of a new body--junior Billy Sivley--has caused further lineup shifting. Sivley, 6-foot-2, 218 pounds, joined the team after the season began and started last week at defensive end.

So, talented defender Brad Weaver moved to inside linebacker to form a formidable linebacking crew with Aldrich, Scott Blade and Rick Johnstad.

Got all that? Albee does.

“I think that this is the best defense Canyon has had in Harry’s tenure,” Albee said.

That front seven should be busy Friday--Quartz Hill has rushed for 1,293 yards.

Offensive woes: Newbury Park, shut out its past two games, will make a change at quarterback in an effort to solve its offensive problems.

Coach George Hurley said the Panthers likely will replace oft-injured junior Zack Sutton, a wide receiver converted to quarterback this season. Sutton has failed to finish the past three games because of injuries.

Hurley hasn’t decided upon a replacement, but said fullback Jeff Buchanan is the top contender. “We’re going to try to come up with some plan that will work,” Hurley said. “Zack is inexperienced, but is more than capable of doing the job. He just keeps getting hurt.”

Two-way starters Sean Pence, Kyle Bybee and Jason Smith will contend for the starting job.

“Tell everybody we’re having tryouts tomorrow,” Hurley said.

This loss hurts: Camarillo junior Jeremy Cochrane, a two-year starter at linebacker and the Scorpions’ defensive captain, sustained knee ligament damage during a 21-14 loss to Westlake on Friday and will miss at least four weeks, according to Coach Carl Thompson.

“It’s a very big loss for us. He ran the show,” Thompson said.

Pioneer optimism: Simi Valley might be winless in five games, but first-year Coach Stan Quina said the Pioneers showed promise during a 21-14 loss to Agoura on Friday.

“We played winning football and very well could have won the game, given a call or two,” Quina said. “Hopefully, it’s a starting point for us to build on.”

Quina also is optimistic about Simi Valley’s talent at the sophomore level, at which the Pioneers are 5-0.

“We have some good kids in the program,” Quina said. “It’s just that at the varsity level, they haven’t had many good experiences.”

Just in time: Santa Clara might be heading into Frontier League play with a 1-4 record, but the Saints also boast the league’s newest offensive weapon: sophomore Lloyd Mix.

Mix rushed for 252 yards and touchdowns on runs of 47, 62 and 89 yards in a 23-21 loss to Carpinteria. He set a Ventura County record for single-game rushing yardage by a sophomore.

“When you rush like that against Carpinteria, you know you’ve done something,” Santa Clara Coach Larry Lawrence said.

League coaches concurred.

“He’s got himself a running back,” Santa Paula Coach Mike Tsoutsouvas said. “That guy looked great.”

Mix has 344 yards rushing and five touchdowns this year.

Close call: Cleveland receiver-defensive back Robert Holguin, who felt chest pains and was hospitalized for tests after the El Camino Real game Thursday, suffered a bruised sternum and said he expects to play this week.

Holguin said that while he was walking toward the team bus moments after the game he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He dropped to one knee and a paramedic unit was called.

With Holguin lying in the middle of the parking lot, paramedics stripped away his jersey and shoulder pads. He then was transported to Humana Hospital-West Hills for X-rays.

Holguin said the bruise probably was caused when he made a tackle in the second quarter.

It wasn’t the only harrowing experience of the weekend for Cleveland Coach Steve Landress. His teen-age son Jimmy was knocked unconscious Saturday while playing in a Pop Warner game.

He’s no blockhead: San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez is trying reverse psychology on his trio of running backs, each of whom has expressed interest in carrying the ball more often.

Each player in the Tigers’ wishbone backfield--LaKarlos Townsend, Leonice Brown and Will Taylor--normally gets seven or eight carries a game.

“I told them if they want more carries, they have to block for each other,” Hernandez said. “I told them if they’d block right, we’d never have to punt and they’d each get the ball three or four more times.”

Add San Fernando: Starting at nose tackle for the Tigers is Ricky Carrillo, a 5-foot-8, 135-pound senior who has recorded 31 tackles and three quarterback sacks in four games.

“He’s probably our smallest kid,” Hernandez said. “But he’s too fast for the average high school lineman to handle. Nobody can block him.”

Carrillo was a seldom-used receiver last season before he was converted.

“We always look for a kid like that (at nose tackle),” Hernandez said. “Well, either that or a 300-pound kid who can’t move.”

Perhaps Carrillo would like to be viewed as the latter. He recently listed himself on a player identification card as 5-11, 175 pounds.

Dazed and confused: Crescenta Valley’s Jason Steinlight staggered from the locker room to the field before the Falcons’ game against Burroughs on Thursday.

However, the senior emerged as the unlikely hero in a 7-6 victory.

“He looked as pale as a ghost,” Crescenta Valley Coach Jim Beckenhauer said.

A paramedic on duty also noticed that Steinlight stumbled and almost passed out. He advised Steinlight not to play.

“I had been sick and I got too pumped up before the game,” Steinlight said. “We were waiting and all of a sudden I got dizzy.”

Steinlight, a starting tight end and defensive end and backup kicker, didn’t play in the first half but was called upon late in the third quarter to kick the go-ahead extra point after Falcon kicker Jason Rountree was sidelined by a nagging thigh injury.

“I was tempted to tell the coach to go for two points instead,” said Steinlight, who had never kicked in a varsity game. “I felt all this pressure and I didn’t want to look up after I kicked it. I just listened for the crowd.

“It was an interesting night.”

Staff writers Steve Elling, Kirby Lee, Brian Murphy and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.