El Camino Football Team Even Draws Blood in the Off-Season

El Camino High School’s football team did its part for the Gulf War effort. Fifteen players and a couple of their classmates donated a pint of blood each on behalf of military personnel from Camp Pendleton who were in Saudi Arabia.

“(The Red Cross) couldn’t guarantee that the blood would be used overseas, but Camp Pendleton was going to be a site for wounded personnel to be sent and we could designate it toward that,” El Camino football Coach Herb Meyer said. “The kids had to be 17 or 18, so that limited the ones who could donate. In our particular situation, we had a meeting with the kids and this was a way for them to make a positive gesture.

“The people in Oceanside have a close association with Camp Pendleton. Even if the kids didn’t know someone personally in Saudi Arabia, they knew somebody that did. Fortunately, the war came to an end and we don’t have to worry about it.”

El Camino’s football team has a couple of assistant coaches with strong military ties. Trace Deneke is a Marine Corps reservist and Ted Tilden is a Vietnam veteran. They came up with the blood drive idea.

It was just one of the things El Camino did during the war effort. In addition to a letter-writing campaign, students sent more than 2,000 valentines to Saudi Arabia personnel.

El Camino also has a blood drive in May that annually raises more than 200 pints of blood for students and faculty who might need it.

Trivia time: San Pasqual beat El Camino, 73-70, for the San Diego Section Division II boys’ basketball championship, preventing El Camino from becoming the first school to accomplish . . . what?

America’s best home videos: San Dieguito’s basketball team went international this year, at least on one television. Sean Howard’s father, Marine Corps Maj. Michael Howard, was stationed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During that time, the school’s athletic director and basketball coach, Dave LaBorde, sent him videotapes of the Mustang games.

Howard received the videotapes until the U.S. ban on parcels. A coach in Ohio before being drafted, Howard was an assistant at San Dieguito Coach Mark Embree last year.

Howard and LaBorde stayed in touch throughout the Desert Shield portion of the Middle East operation and discussed game strategy as well as Sean’s development.

The 6-foot-4 senior forward developed well, averaging 19.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Milestones: Two high school coaches won their 300th career games during the past season.

Poway boys’ soccer coach Bob Champion said of his 300th: “It’s not that much different than the 250th win, except I’m older.”

Champion is 311-94-53.

Another coach who surpassed 300 victories is Torrey Pines basketball Coach John Farrell, who is 311-91 overall and 141-39 in six years at Torrey Pines.

“That was my goal when I first started coaching,” Farrell said. “I’ve been fortunate over 13 years to have good enough players to do that. Now that I got there, it seems like it just started.”

Timing is everything: Juan Velasco scored the game-winning goal with three minutes remaining, but Hector Castillo scored the goal that had everyone talking after San Diego’s 2-1 victory over Poway in the Division I boys’ soccer championship. Castillo made a full bicycle kick--the ball was about shoulder high--to put the Cavers ahead, 1-0.

Castillo said it was the first time in a long while he tried the maneuver because the last time he did it, he hurt his back.

“That’s the first time it’s worked for me,” Castillo said.

Losing Coach Bob Champion was asked what he thought of Castillo’s bicycle kick.

“I haven’t seen it in 19 years,” he said.

Add Poway loss: The victory by San Diego prevented Poway from winning section titles in all five winter sports. Poway won the 3-A wrestling title, the boys’ and girls’ Division I basketball titles and shared the Division I girls’ soccer title.

Butterfly wings, lightly basted: Serra boys’ basketball Coach Tom Williams went hungry a lot this season. Now that the season is over, he can again eat on a regular basis. He has avoided eating before games since he was a schoolboy.

That continued, through 32 years of coaching, including 14 years with Morse and the last 14 with Serra.

“I’m more relaxed then,” he said.”

After all these years, he still gets keyed up before a game.

“Basketball excites me as much as it did 33 years ago,” Williams said. “Some of the kids, though, they can eat burritos as they’re walking into the gym to get dressed.”

See the reflection: Some people might wonder how Dorothy Robinson coached the Lincoln girls’ basketball team to a 19-3 record. Well, it’s obvious she did it with mirrors. When plugging her players for The Times’ All-San Diego County team, she listed her five starters and their averages totaled 88 points per game. However, Lincoln averaged 73 points a game.

It must be the new math.

Trivia answer: El Camino would have been the first school to win both football and basketball section titles in back-to-back years.