NOTEBOOK : Unlikely Playoff Berth in Calabasas’ Sights

Calabasas High’s shocking 13-7 win over previously unbeaten Fillmore last Friday was more than just a triumph of spirit.

It also kept alive--are you sitting down?-- playoff hopes for the Coyotes.

All 14 football players.

Calabasas has surprised most skeptics this year by posting a respectable 3-6 record with a team that peaked at 16 players and has played the past two weeks with 14. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that one of those 14 is standout tailback Damon Riggins.

Riggins’ 149-yard effort against Fillmore put him at 1,057 yards for the season. The total represents a school record, breaking the mark of 1,054 set by Mike Webb in 1988. Riggins’ 183 carries is one shy of Webb’s record of 184. Quite a year for Riggins--and for Calabasas too.

“It was incredible,” Calabasas Coach Larry Edwards said of the Fillmore win. “It was the greatest win I’ve ever had as a coach. The kids were just delirious. And I couldn’t find enough people to hug.”

If Calabasas defeats Nordhoff tonight and Santa Paula defeats Fillmore, there will be a three-way tie for second place in the Frontier League among Calabasas, Fillmore and Santa Clara, all 2-2. The situation is further muddled considering that Calabasas has defeated Fillmore and Fillmore has defeated Santa Clara, which in turn defeated Calabasas.

Confused yet? To Edwards, it’s a sweet, sweet confusion.

“We’re not dead yet,” he said. “Shoot, we’ve risen from the dead.”

Channel blockage: The race for the final Division II playoff berth in the Channel League is a mess, at best. And it could get messier after tonight.

A four-way tie for third place is possible.

Ventura (7-1-1 overall, 5-0-1) clinched its first title since 1987 last Friday. Buena (4-5) is alone in second place with a 4-2 record and Santa Barbara (5-3-1) is third at 3-2-1. Those teams will meet tonight at Santa Barbara, with the winner clinching second place.

San Marcos, Oxnard, and Rio Mesa all have 3-3 records and have different opponents tonight. If those teams win and Buena loses, all four will have 4-3 records.

According to Rio Mesa Coach John Reardon, a four-way or three-way tie for third will force a meeting among principals from the league’s schools Saturday. They will then determine the league’s most deserving representative. Should two teams tie for third, the winner in head-to-head competition will get the nod.

Catching on: Chris Zapata was recruited for football out of physical-education class six weeks ago by Hueneme Coach George Machado. It seems Zapata showed good hands during pick-up games.

In five weeks, Zapata has vaulted from the play yard to the list of Ventura County receiving leaders: The junior made 11 receptions for 178 yards--both single-game highs in the county this season--in the Vikings’ 28-25 victory over Santa Barbara last Friday. The win snapped a 20-game Hueneme losing streak.

After making only two receptions in his first two games, Zapata has had at least 10 catches in three consecutive games. Zapata and sophomore quarterback David Andrade (1,334 yards, 11 touchdowns this year) should become one of the most feared Channel League tandems next season.

Turnaround: Contrasted with an 0-6-1 Pac-8 Conference record last year, Poly’s 4-1 record (6-2 overall) this season is truly admirable.

Second-year Coach Fred Cuccia can point to the game that made the difference--a last-minute victory over Eagle Rock the second week of the season.

“Some younger kids came of age in that game,” Cuccia said.

Quarterback Lance Garcia connected with Michael Vreeland on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds to play to lift Poly to a 28-26 win.

That victory gave the Parrots the momentum to win five of their next six games and gave Garcia the momentum to become the area’s most accurate City Section passer.

Garcia has completed 61% of his passes and averages 19.5 yards a completion--also tops among area City quarterbacks.

Among the top eight area City quarterbacks, Garcia is the only one with a better than 50% completion rate.

Life in the trenches: Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer was 23 years old when he received his first coaching assignment with the junior varsity at Cleveland High, his alma mater.

“I had a pretty good 10th-grade guard on that team named Steve Landress,” Schaeffer said.

Landress now coaches the varsity at Cleveland, and, tonight, the two Reseda schools will play for the first time since 1978, Schaeffer’s first season at Reseda High. What’s more, it will pit teacher against pupil.

“He was tenacious,” Schaeffer said of the youthful Landress. “You see a kid like him every year. He was a typical lineman.”

Landress said it wasn’t so much aggressiveness as frustration. Sorry, Schaeffer, someone else gets credit for fueling Landress’ football fire.

“I had this girl that I had been going out with for a while that I’d just broken up with,” Landress said, laughing. “I was in a pretty bad mood most of the time.”

Under wraps: Schaeffer credits his team’s success--the Regents are tied with San Fernando and Kennedy for first place in the North Valley League and have been the most consistent of the three--to its blue-collar attitude.

Or blue something.

“We don’t have any superstars,” Schaeffer said. “We’re like that plain-wrap stuff in the grocery store. We should all wear T-shirts with that blue stripe that read, Plain Wrap Football Team.”

Keeping the Spirit: Paraclete began the season 3-0, but, entering the season finale with Kern Valley has dropped six consecutive games. Five losses have come to teams ranked in the top 10 in their respective Southern Section divisions.

“We’ve had a few bad breaks, but we’re not ashamed,” first-year Coach Jim Notolli said. “The way I looked at it was that any win would be a bonus.”

Hunting pack: Despite the fact that Van Nuys (2-5, 2-3) has won just two games, the Wolves might be headed for a playoff berth. If the Wolves beat winless Canoga Park tonight, and Monroe loses one of its next two games (Birmingham and Canoga Park), Van Nuys will finish second behind Birmingham (5-2, 4-1), which can clinch the Mid-Valley title with a win against Monroe (1-5-1, 1-4) tonight.

And, if the Wolves do make it to the playoffs, look out. Running back Harold Boudreaux, ineligible for the regular season because of grades, will return to the lineup and could provide the offensive burst the Wolves have lacked this season.

“One player can make all the difference,” Coach Kenji Mochizuki said.

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