NOTEBOOK : Homeless Teams Find Sports Arena Hospitable

Call it creative scheduling.

Pater Noster High basketball Coach Michael Smith, looking to fill out his team’s preseason schedule, contacted St. Genevieve Coach Scott Smith.

The two coaches agreed that a game would be great for both teams.

There was only one problem--neither school has a gym.

Pater Noster plays its home games at Cathedral, but the gym was already booked on the day the teams needed to play.

St. Genevieve plays at Woodbury College in Burbank, but that, too, was unavailable.

Nevertheless, a game was set up.

On Dec. 5 at 4 p.m., Pater Noster and St. Genevieve will tip off at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

“We talked to some people over there and they were very accommodating,” Michael Smith said. “It should be a great experience for all these kids.”

The Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks will conclude the doubleheader at 7:30.

Honor roll: Peter Tucker, an All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference lineman for Occidental College, has been awarded a $10,000 graduate scholarship by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

Tucker, who is majoring in English and Comparative Literary Studies, was one of 11 players selected from the NCAA Division I-AA, II and III levels.

Tucker has been invited to accept his award at a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on Dec. 4.

Serious business: The Glendale College football team has begun preparations for its game against Citrus on Dec. 8 in the Southern California Bowl at Glendora.

Glendale (8-2) finished the regular season with eight consecutive victories. A win over the Foothill Conference champion Owls (8-2), who have also won eight in a row and boast the top-ranked defense is the state, would give Glendale its best record since 1988 when the Vaqueros finished 10-2.

Glendale Coach John Cicuto said his team will approach the game as a challenge, not a reward.

“When we went to our first (bowl) game in 1977, it was, ‘Hey it’s an honor.’ ” Cicuto said. “We changed some of the ways we did things in practice and we lost to Saddleback.

“If anything, our players have stepped it up a gear. We become more intense as coaches to make the kids realize we’re serious.”

Awards time: Western State Conference coaches selected 11 Glendale football players to the all-conference first team, including the Vaqueros’ entire starting backfield of quarterback Marco Arcipreste and running backs Bobby Webster and Wes Bender.

Offensive linemen Mike Gardner and Travis Petersen, tight end Greg Thompson, defensive lineman Robert Dabrizi, linebacker Lolesio Takapu, defensive backs Ennis Howard and Keith Franklin and kicker Martin Boskovich were also selected to the first team.

More awards: As expected, Glendale High dominated most of the awards in the Pacific League.

Junior running back Pathon Rucker was voted back of the year, offensive tackle Albert Ocon was selected lineman of the year and Don Shoemaker was named Coach of the year by league coaches.

Glendale offensive linemen Max Ocon and Yoshi Yamasaki, running back Hector Maya, defensive end Bill Tuttle, linebacker Kyiamo Waki-Jones and defensive back Eli Enriquez were all first team.

Crescenta Valley tight end Ray Grijalva, wide receiver Brett Miller and offensive lineman John Berg were first-team selections as were Hoover center Danny Galan, wide receiver Chris Kalaleh and kicker David Broneer.

Fast finish: Marguerito Casillas of Hoover finished 19th in the boys’ Division I race Saturday in the state cross-country meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Casillas, a sophomore, ran the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes five seconds.

La Canada’s Carlene Pengra (19:20) and Sarah Dien (19:44) placed 12th and 19th in the girls’ Division III race and Froylan Sanchez (16:28) of St. Francis finished 28th in the boys’ Division III race.

Back With the Pack: Former Crescenta Valley High standout Mike Norseth has rejoined the Green Bay Packers.

The NFL team re-signed Norseth as quarterback insurance after starter Don Majkowski sustained a shoulder injury Nov. 18. Norseth, who was waived by the Packers on the final cut Sept. 3, was not activated for Green Bay’s 20-10 win over Tampa Bay Sunday.

Tomorrow the World: Occidental College will play host to the final stop of the World League of American Football’s nine-city North American player evaluation tour this Sunday.

Between 100 to 125 prospects--primarily former NFL, Canadian Football League and college players--will participate in the invitation-only session. The NFL-sponsored league is scheduled to open play March 23, with franchises in London, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Montreal and six U. S. cities.

Staff writers Kirby Lee and Steven Herbert contributed to this notebook.