HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Hart’s ‘Doc’ Often Finds Patient

Hart High running back Scott Blanchard, who has rushed for 520 yards, was nicknamed Doc as a freshman after former Army standout Doc Blanchard.

“They said I run a lot like him,” Blanchard said of his freshman coaches. “The whole team and everybody calls me that.”

The name fits the senior well.

Twice this season, Blanchard has been injured severely enough to be taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Blanchard is questionable for the Indians’ second-round Division III playoff game against El Modena today because of a sprained neck sustained in Hart’s 13-10 overtime win over Los Alamitos in the first round.

“I got hit on the top of the helmet and thrown backward,” said Blanchard, who is wearing a neck brace. “It was a pretty good shot. They really got me. It’s really sore, but I hope to play.”

Earlier in the season against Quartz Hill, Blanchard was sidelined because of a deep knee bruise after being speared by a Quartz Hill defender.

Under pressure: Kicker Brady Vilensky has emerged the hero in each of the games in which Blanchard has gone down.

Vilensky, who kicked a 46-yard field goal to defeat Quartz Hill, booted a field goal of 27 yards to beat Los Alamitos in overtime.

Vilensky, who has converted 46 consecutive point-after attempts this season and made 48 of 51 as a junior, gave the Indians a 10-7 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game on a 23-yard kick, but Los Alamitos kicker Eric Wallace tied the score with 1:50 to play.

Hart won the coin flip and elected to give Los Alamitos possession first in overtime. After failing to score in three attempts, Hart lineman Brandon Best blocked Wallace’s field-goal attempt.

“We wanted to give them the ball first and see what they would do,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “We didn’t want to take any chances. We just decided to go for the field goal.”

Los Alamitos called three consecutive timeouts and Hart had to line up four times before Vilensky got a chance for the game-winning kick.

“I thought the field goal in the fourth quarter would finish them off,” Vilensky said. “When they called the timeouts, I thought it was kind of funny. I pretty much knew it was good when I kicked it.”

Weaknesses prevail: Ventura and Westlake entered the season with few weaknesses, and each was able to overcome them for the better part of the season. But in first-round losses in the Southern Section Division II playoffs Friday, weaknesses prevailed.

Ventura had its biggest offensive line in school history but lacked enough talented skill-position players. Capistrano Valley, with an abundance of talented skill-position players, handed the Cougars a 59-30 loss.

“You really can only do so much with your line,” Ventura Coach Harvey Kochel said. “After a while, your skill guys have to rise up. Going into the season, we were limited with skill players and that became very obvious Friday.”

Westlake, conversely, had some of the most talented skill-position players in Ventura County. But the Warriors fretted about their defense, which struggled throughout the season and finally collapsed over the final three games.

After an 8-0 start, Westlake allowed 43.3 points in its last three games, losing two and tying one.

“We knew we’d have to play defense, but we didn’t,” Coach Jim Benkert said.

Add Collapse: Marmonte League coaches were dumbfounded by losses by the league’s top three finishers last Friday, which led to speculation that the league’s final three weeks might have led to an emotional letdown.

Royal, Westlake and Thousand Oaks each played one another during the final three weeks in games that helped determine the league title.

“We may have knocked each other out,” Royal Coach Gene Uebelhardt said. “Those games probably took their toll on us in the playoffs.”

Recharged Chargers: A cross-country coach can expect only so much from a team. A couple of illnesses during the year combined with two league losses can slow almost any team’s momentum.

With the exception of the Agoura boys’ team.

The Chargers gave new meaning to the phrase, “Never say die” in the Southern Section Division II championships Saturday after settling for third in the competitive Marmonte League.

Agoura claimed its second divisional title in a row, 77-83, over top-ranked Camarillo last Saturday. The Chargers, ranked second behind Camarillo all season, now lead the 1990 Agoura-Camarillo series, 3-2, and will face the Scorpions again Saturday in the state meet in Fresno.

“This team stayed focused through a lot of adversity,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “I think we’ve had all our guys sick at one point throughout the season.”

Outside of league dual meets, Agoura’s closest invitational race was an 84-94 loss to Channel Islands in the Ventura County championships.

In its first year in the Marmonte League, Agoura was in contention for the league championship, but its title hopes were deflated when sophomore Ryan Wilson collapsed in the final stretch while tied for the lead with Channel Islands’ Stewart Ellington.

Wilson was Agoura’s No. 2 runner (16:06) in the Division II final at Mt. San Antonio College.

1, 2, 3 . . . kick: Like many top-notch cross-country runners, J. J. Castner of Oak Park runs the three-mile course at Mt. SAC three times a year--in the invitational, the Southern Section prelims and finals.

The Mt. SAC circuit, with its three major hills, dutifully drains a runner’s legs before the finish. But Castner seems to be just fine near the finish. In fact, he gets faster. “The three times I ran here this year I’ve had just an unreal kick,” Castner said.

The junior’s final sprint in the Southern Section Division IV final Saturday helped carry him to the individual title in a personal-best 15 minutes 48 seconds.

Castner had to come from behind to catch former Tri-Valley League rival Jorge Barajas of Fillmore with about 100 yards remaining. Barajas finished second in 15:52.

Peek-a-boo: The Hart basketball team made 154 three-point shots last season, but Coach Greg Herrick said that with the addition of Ali Peek, the Indians probably won’t even attempt 54.

Peek, a 6-foot-4, 230 pound junior center, averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds for the junior varsity last season.

“We usually average one dunk a year and only if the atmospheric conditions are right,” Herrick said. “We should be averaging one a quarter this year. Once he gets the ball inside, it’s over. That’s Mr. Peek’s neighborhood. Can you say slam?”

Noble effort: St Francis rebounded from a 1-9 season to 7-4 this season and a second-place finish in the San Fernando Valley League under second-year Coach Bill Garrison.

“The second year was a lot easier and a much more enjoyable season,” Garrison said. “Last year it was a difficult situation on both sides and I was just trying to learn names. The kids bought the program and we reaped the benefits.”

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