O.C. Bowl Will Be Doubleheader

The Orange County Bowl committee, which was reluctant to schedule a doubleheader, reversed its position today and invited Riverside College and Pasadena to play in an afternoon football game Dec. 1 at Orange Coast. Both teams have 7-3 records.

Orange Coast (8-2) and El Camino (8-2) meet at 7 p.m. in the second game of the doubleheader.

The committee switched to a doubleheader format in 1987 and had continued it the last two years.

But this year there was no obvious matchup for a second contest and game manager Keith Calkins said last week that he would schedule only one game.

But because neither Riverside nor Pasadena received bowl bids, Calkins opted for a second game, but not without a financial promise from each college.

Each college has agreed to sell at least 400 $5 tickets.

When Golden West and Cuesta went to sudden death Saturday in the finals of the state water polo tournament, Assistant Coach Tom Hermstad was confident about the Rustlers’ chances.

Hermstad had coached Golden West to seven titles between 1976 and 1985 before he stepped down to assistant and became athletic director as well.

Golden West won the championship in sudden death in 1976, 1980 and 1982. The Rustlers won in overtime in 1981. Golden West missed a chance for another title in 1984 when the Rustlers went undefeated but the state tournament was scrapped as a cost-cutting measure. Instead, Golden West settled for the Southern California title.

This year’s title was the second consecutive for Coach Ken Hamdorf, who has taken the Rustlers to the championship match four years in a row. Hamdorf’s teams lost to Long Beach in 1987 and 1988, and beat Cuesta last season.

After the match Saturday, Hamdorf, dripping wet after being tossed in the pool by his jubilant players, was quick to point out that he has a lot of help.

“It’s really a team effort by all the coaches,” he said. “Don (Mahaffey) does an outstanding job with the offense, and Tom (Hermstad) does a great job with our counterattack. I coach the defense and they played well also.”

Golden West’s Edvard Van Luijn had five goals in the final game to finish with 100 for the season. His final goal tied it, 12-12, with 33 seconds left in overtime and led to sudden death, during which Dave Johnson fired home the title-winner.

Golden West (19-3), the top-seeded team in Southern California, plays host to No. 16 Palomar (7-9) at 7 tonight in the opening round of the Southern California women’s volleyball playoffs.

The winner will play the winner of the game between No. 9 Long Beach (10-5) and No. 8 Southwestern (13-3) in the second round Nov. 27. The winners of the second-round matches earn berths in the state tournament Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 at Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria.

Orange Coast (12-5), the No. 11 seeded team, plays at No. 6 Cuesta (19-5) at 7 tonight.

The community college career of Rancho Santiago running back Estrus Crayton came to an end Saturday when the Dons lost to Saddleback, 43-40, in the final game of the season.

Crayton finished the season leading Orange County backs with 1,112 yards rushing. He had 2,452 career rushing yards, the third highest total in Orange County community college history.