COLLEGE DIVISION : A Red-Letter Kind of Year for Redlands

At the start of the season, Occidental was regarded as the consensus choice to repeat as the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football champion.

Coach Mike Maynard of the University of Redlands had other ideas.

“I knew that we were going to be a real good football team,” he said. “I thought we’d be in this position.”

Redlands finds itself in the position of competing in the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in school history this week. It will be the first postseason appearance for the Bulldogs since they advanced to the second round of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics playoffs in 1976.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 3 in the West, will take an 8-1 record into their first-round game against Central of Iowa on Saturday afternoon in Pella. Central, also 8-1, is ranked No. 2.

After a 27-21 loss to San Francisco State on Oct. 6, Maynard was concerned that his team’s playoff hopes might have vanished.

“When we lost to San Francisco State, I was a little concerned because I thought they might not recognize the quality of the San Francisco State team we played,” he said. “Regardless of what their final record was, they were a pretty good Division II team at the time.”

Fortunately for Maynard, his team apparently saved its best for last this season. The Bulldogs rolled over their competition in going undefeated in the SCIAC, and the coach said the loss to San Francisco State might have provided the impetus.

“I think we came together a lot after that game,” he said. “I think that loss put the pressure on them to the extent that they knew they had to dominate in order to be noticed.”

In outscoring their conference opponents by 223-74, including a 52-14 rout of Occidental Nov. 3, the Bulldogs clinched their first SCIAC title since 1980.

It also marks the first postseason appearance for a SCIAC team since Occidental was humiliated by Central, 71-0, in the Division III playoffs in 1985. Maynard is looking at the game as an opportunity to lend credibility to Division III football on the West Coast.

“It’s a real opportunity and we have a major responsibility to more than just our own football team,” he said. “We’re representing our conference, the West Coast and more.”

Maynard says his team will have its hands full against a Central squad that will be making its seventh consecutive appearance in the Division III playoffs.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve faced in my coaching career and we’re looking forward to it,” he said.

The coach said the program that the Flying Dutchmen have developed is a model for Redlands to follow for the future.

“They are one of the teams that we expect to be like over the next seven or eight years,” he said. “They are the kind of team that we would hope to be like in the future but we would hope to be ready for them now. We expect to play a good game against them.”

The Bulldogs, who average 33.5 points, appear to have a good future in players such as sophomore quarterback Brian Harmon and junior fullback Curt Landreth.

Harmon has completed 103 of 171 passes for 1,368 yards and 15 touchdowns and led the SCIAC in passing efficiency. Landreth has rushed for 1,024 yards and 10 touchdowns to surpass the 1,000-yard plateau for the second straight season.

“We’ve been able to throw with an element of surprise and that’s because we’ve also been able to run effectively,” Maynard said.

He also credits the team’s offensive line, including guard Mike Caspino and tackle Paul Querro, in the success of the offense.

“That’s the first thing our opponents probably look at,” Maynard said. “Our line has been very effective the last two years and to get any kind of running attack I think you need that.”

He said the team’s run-oriented offense matches well with the Flying Dutchmen.

“We run the football and so do they,” Maynard said. “We’re well matched when you look at the numbers.”

Maynard is hoping that Saturday’s game is a beginning as opposed to an end for the Redlands program.

“Our ambition is not to be a flash in the pan,” he said. “We want to do this every year and try to bring in new people every year. We’re trying to build a consistent winner year in and year out and I think we’re off to a good start.”

It is understandable if Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have mixed feelings about competing in the NCAA Division II football playoffs this week.

Not that either team is unhappy about advancing into postseason play. But neither expected to be paired against the other in the first round of the 16-team playoffs.

Northridge (7-3) and San Luis Obispo (9-1) will meet in an opening-round game at 1 p.m. Saturday in San Luis Obispo. It will be the second time in the last 15 days that the Western Football Conference rivals will meet.

San Luis Obispo defeated Northridge, 6-3, in the first meeting in Northridge as the teams tied for the conference title.

Coach Lyle Setencich also doesn’t want to make too much of his team’s home-field advantage for the game. Especially not after Northridge defeated San Luis Obispo, 13-10, last year in San Luis Obispo.

“We both know each other well,” he said. “There’s not a lot of difference in our teams and it doesn’t matter where we play.”

The game will match several of the top offensive players in the conference. Northridge, making its first Division II playoff appearance in school history, has been sparked by running back Albert Fann with 918 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns and 28 receptions for 218 yards.

San Luis Obispo, which is making its first playoff appearance since it won the Division II title in 1980, has been led on offense by quarterback David Lafferty and running back Joe Fragiadakis. Lafferty is the leading passer in the WFC and Fragiadakis is the team’s top rusher and receiver.

College Division Notes

The winner of Saturday’s Division II playoff between Northridge and San Luis Obispo will meet the winner of Saturday’s game between top-ranked North Dakota State (10-0) and Northern Colorado (7-3) in the quarterfinals next week. . . . In the Division III playoffs, a Redlands victory would send the Bulldogs into a second-round game against either St. Thomas of Minnesota (7-2-1) or Wisconsin-Whitewater (10-0) next week.