HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Hoover Gets an Assist With Rebounding

Hoover High has lost five of its first six Pacific League basketball games and it has been easy for Coach Kirt Kohlmeier to pinpoint the Tornadoes’ weakness--rebounding.

“That’s why we’re not winning,” he said. “We’re trying to rebound and I’ve talked to the kids about getting tougher. For some reason when the shot goes up, we like to watch it go in.”

Kohlmeier has sought the advice of his father Dee, allowing him to impart his wisdom at practices to help solve the dilemma.

The elder Kohlmeier played basketball at Hanover College in Indiana and on a semi-professional team in Michigan. He played against John Wooden’s brother, Maurice, while at Milan High in Indiana, the school that was featured in the movie “Hoosiers,” and coached at Hoover in the 1950s.

“I told the guys they have to block out and use the radar that they use to sit on,” said Dee, who coaches the freshman team and also was the school’s athletic director for 37 years before retiring last June.

“I told them not to jump from side to side. I come from Indiana where everybody stands in the lane and doesn’t move.”

Add Kohlmeier:: Kirt Kohlmeier also coaches the Hoover girls’ softball team, but he likes to keep the two teams’ fund-raising activities separate.

Kohlmeier has taken the softball team to a taping of “Joker’s Wild,” a television game show and the basketball team to a taping of “Into the Night Starring Rick Dees,” a late-night talk show. The team receives a payment from the show’s producer based upon the number of people it supplies to the studio audience.

“It’s a great way to raise funds and you get to see a good show,” Kohlmeier said. “It’s a lot better than selling candy. I can only take one team at a time. I’d have a heart attack if I took both; there’s just too many bodies to control.”

Keep the faith: Faith Baptist has stumbled in Delphic League play, falling to 2-5, but that’s not the worst of it. The defending Southern Section 1-A Division champions haven’t just been beaten, they’ve been beaten up in the process.

Junior off-guard Darren Wyre left Saturday’s game against Campbell Hall in the first half because of a broken nose. Wyre, who did not return, was averaging 11.6 points a game and left with two points.

Senior forward Fernando Garcia was carried off the floor by teammates after suffering a sprained ankle in the game’s final moments. Garcia is averaging 11 points a game.

Both were starters on last season’s 1-A championship team.

Changing times: When Crespi High Coach Chris Nikchevich was playing basketball for Loyola Marymount in 1987, he knew a bunch of kids as the Lions’ ball boys. Today, those same ball boys represent three of St. Bernard’s starting five.

Nikchevich also was a counselor for most of the boys when he worked a basketball camp at the university and remembers them as good athletes.

So when the Celts upset host St. Bernard, 97-93, last week, Nikchevich knew Crespi had beaten a well-coached bunch.

“It was really fun coaching against those guys, because I know them well,” Nikchevich said.

Measuring up: Players are measured in feet and inches. El Camino Real hopes feet translate to inches for sophomore forward Markee Brown.

Brown, a 5-11 starter, is one of the best leapers in the Northwest Valley Conference, but his height may hinder his progress. Brown, however, wears a size 14 shoe.

“There’s still a chance he might grow,” Coach Mike McNulty said.

El Camino Real graduate Brent Lofton, the City Section 3-A player of the year in 1989, grew five inches between his sophomore and junior seasons.

Visiting-field advantage: Antelope Valley boys’ soccer Coach Bonnie Lloyd may want to schedule all the Antelopes’ Golden League matches next season on their opponents’ home fields.

Antelope Valley is winless in three tries on its home field but is undefeated (2-0-1) while playing league matches on the road.

“It’s frustrating that we can go to someone else’s neighborhood and do the job,” Lloyd said.

New kids: The Crescenta Valley girls’ soccer team started with nothing and has gained almost everything this season.

The Falcons received no funding from the school, so parents of the players raised money for uniforms to field a team for the first time in school history. One parent even built and donated a pair of goals.

But there is one thing the Falcons want dearly that no booster club can provide: a berth in the Southern Section playoffs.

In their inaugural season, the Falcons are 17-0 with one match remaining in the regular season. However, because they are a free-lance team with no league affiliation, the Falcons might not win an invitation to the playoffs.

The Southern Section chooses playoff entries based on overall record and strength of schedule.

“The (free-lance) schools were notified at the beginning of the year that they are eligible for playoff consideration but that there is no guarantee for anybody to get into the playoffs,” said Karen Hellyer, a Southern Section administrator.

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