NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Escamilla Makes Most of Opportunities

St. Francis High wide receiver Pat Escamilla doesn’t often get to carry the ball on rushing plays, but he has made the most of his opportunities.

Escamilla has rushed for 164 yards in only six carries--all coming on inside-reverse counter plays. In the first game of the season against Burroughs, Escamilla carried twice and scored on 61- and 26-yard runs.

Last week against El Segundo, Escamilla ran 55 yards for a score on his only carry.

“He’s predominantly a strong safety,” St. Francis Coach Bill Garrison said. “And when we do put him in at wide receiver, it’s primarily for blocking. It’s just a freak thing, we’ve had other wide receivers run the same play and they haven’t been able to break it.

“I’m sure that whenever the other team sees No. 29 coming in from now on, they’ll be watching for him.”

Starting over: The Occidental College men’s basketball team officially opened practice this week with five players returning a team that finished 11-15 overall and 6-6 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season.

The Tigers, who open their schedule Nov. 16 at the Menlo Tournament, lost two key players in 6-foot-9 All-SCIAC center Chris Anderson and point guard Ethan Caldwell.

Forwards John Crawley and Brett Dennis, wings Jeff Muir and Everett Hill and guard Nate Thompson will be joined by several newcomers, including 6-foot-6 transfer Sandy Brown from Cal State Northridge, 6-6 freshman Blair Slattery from San Marino, and 5-7 freshman Hung Dwong from Alhambra.

Rolling along: The Glendale High football team proved that its 5-0 preseason record was no fluke when the Dynamiters ripped defending Pacific League champion Arcadia, 56-7, in its league opener last week.

Tailback Pathon Rucker gained 284 yards and scored five touchdowns to give him 1,108 yards this season.

The Dynamiters play host to Pasadena tonight before getting ready for next week’s showdown with Muir.

Streaks: Glendale’s football team wasn’t the only Dynamiter squad beating up on Arcadia last week.

The girls’ volleyball team ended one of the Southern Section’s longest win streaks when the Dynamiters defeated Arcadia, 10-15, 15-5, 15-17, 16-14, 15-9, last week.

The loss was Arcadia’s first Pacific League defeat in 10 years and ended the Apaches’ streak at 83.

Glendale (8-0, 4-0 in Pacific League play) entered the week ranked third in the Southern Section 3-A Division. Arcadia (4-3, 3-1) was ranked fifth.

Streaks Part II: The Claremont College water polo team’s 19-7 victory over Occidental on Friday extended the Stags’ SCIAC win streak to 82 matches.

Claremont has not lost a SCIAC match since 1981, when Occidental prevailed, 3-2.

Statwatch: Occidental running back Brian Madlangbayan, who missed one game with a neck injury, still leads the SCIAC in rushing with 449 yards, a 112-yard per game average.

Occidental (3-2, 2-0 in SCIAC play), had a bye last week and resumes conference play Saturday at home against Pomona-Pitzer (3-1, 2-0).

Championship run: The Occidental women’s soccer team entered the week tied with Claremont for first place in the SCIAC.

The Tigers, led by senior Jos Bergmann’s four goals, defeated Redlands, 7-0, on Saturday to improve to 4-2-2 in SCIAC play.

Back on track: Emmet Hogan and Marcial Beltran of Occidental finished 17th and 18th, respectively, at last week’s San Luis Obispo Invitational cross-country meet, helping the Tigers to an eighth-place team finish.

Hogan clocked 25 minutes 9 seconds over the five-mile course while Beltran ran 25:10.

In the women’s open race, Occidental’s Laurie Schuster finished third with in 18:11 at the 5,000-meter course. Becky Kopchik of Occidental was fifth in 18:35.

Occidental (5-0, 4-0 in SCIAC play) resumes its conference schedule Saturday against Claremont and Whittier.

Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.