Nordhoff Brass Fuming Over Wasted Drive

The Nordhoff High girls’ volleyball team had been pointing toward a showdown with Arroyo Grande since last winter, but when the Rangers arrived in Arroyo Grande for a nonleague match Thursday, they found the top-ranked Eagles playing Paso Robles.

Nordhoff Athletic Director Jack Smith accused Arroyo Grande Athletic Director Dwight MacDonald of breaking a verbal agreement after the embarrassing scheduling conflict between Southern Section 2-A Division powers. Smith said the trip cost Nordhoff an estimated $400 in travel expenses.

MacDonald denies he broke an agreement, attributing the mix-up to miscommunication, an explanation that irks Nordhoff officials.

“Down here, a person’s word is good enough,” Smith said. “We talked to him so many times about scheduling that match, I thought it was a done deal. He told us, the last time I talked to him, ‘Send us a contract and we’ll play on that date.’ ”

MacDonald said he received the contract but did not sign it or return it.

MacDonald said he told Smith that Arroyo Grande, the defending 2-A champion, turned down the match. Arroyo Grande opposed engaging in a home-and-home series with the Rangers because of travel considerations, he said.

However, Smith said MacDonald never informed him of his intention not to schedule the match.

“It was a basic miscommunication,” MacDonald said. “From our end, it was never on the schedule. I felt bad for them, but there was nothing I could do about it.”

Nordhoff girls’ volleyball Coach Cheryl Glass, at one time the athletic director at the school, also faulted MacDonald.

“What hurt us was that he never called us back to tell us he wasn’t (scheduling the match),” she said. “It would have been fun to play them.”

The misunderstanding was not a total loss for Nordhoff. Several players stayed to scout the Eagles for a possible meeting in the playoffs.

“I hope we get the chance to play them in the playoffs,” MacDonald said.

FOLI FOILED

The struggles of Thousand Oaks senior quarterback Ernie Foli, who has completed only 13 of 33 passes for 184 yards, have left the Lancers relying solely on a powerful rushing attack that averages 299 yards a game.

“There’s no doubt that we need to improve our passing game,” offensive coordinator Paul Gomes said.

In an effort to create a more balanced attack, Gomes alternated quarterbacks Foli and sophomore Trevor Thompson in the Lancers’ 42-0 win over Agoura last week.

Thompson (6-foot-3, 170 pounds) threw for seven touchdowns in three games as quarterback of the sophomore team.

Against Agoura, he completed just one of four for 13 yards, but Gomes was impressed.

“He’s a smart kid with great huddle presence,” Gomes said. “Trevor is the star of the future. We feel it’s good to bring him up now, when he can get behind a good-sized line and work on fundamentals.”

Gomes said that although a starter has not been chosen, Thompson and Foli will alternate during Friday’s game against Newbury Park.

“It’s still up in the air, but eventually we’ll make a decision,” he said.

EARNING RESPECT

Saugus’ stunning 40-21 win over rival Hart on Friday night was the result of an aggressive Centurion defense that sacked Hart quarterback Ryan Connors three times in the first half. Then that same defense put Connors out of the game with some more hard licks.

But when Saugus Coach Jack Bowman picked up the paper to read about his team’s big win the next day, he was a tad miffed that maybe Saugus didn’t get the credit it deserved.

“I read in the papers where people say that the reason Hart lost is because Connors wasn’t in there,” Bowman said. “People forget that we were ahead, 30-0, when Connors left the game.”

Bowman, meanwhile, doesn’t want to get too excited about the win for another reason: He says there is more where that came from.

“I hope it won’t be the last,” Bowman said of his team’s second consecutive win. “Hey, this team’s gonna get better.”

WRIGHT STUFF

It took Glendale Coach Don Shoemaker two years to persuade wide receiver Mike Wright to come out for the football team. He wasn’t wasting his breath.

Wright, a senior, is a starting forward for the Dynamiters’ basketball team and is the defending Southern Section champion in the long jump. He had never played football until this season.

But one look at Wright’s 6-4, 200-pound frame and Shoemaker could picture defensive backs eating dust. Wright has caught 16 passes for 392 yards and two touchdowns, two of them 80-yard bombs.

BIG TIME

Canyon’s first half of football at Burbank left the Cowboys with a 35-3 lead and little doubt that Canyon is on the road back after an 0-1-1 start.

Even hard-to-please Coach Harry Welch admitted that he found little fault with Canyon’s performance in the early part of the 42-9 victory.

“For most of the first half, it was like, ‘Hey. This is a big-time team,’ ” Welch said. “I mean big time. The first quarter was literally no contest.”

It seems Canyon’s burial of the previously unbeaten Bulldogs even impressed some neutral observers.

Added Welch: “Some of the officials walking off the field at halftime said to me, ‘Coach, off the record, how did you guys ever lose and tie a game?’ ”

COMING BACK

After Quartz Hill’s dismal effort in a 14-9 loss to Hesperia, the Rebels bounced back strong with a 20-7 win over previously unbeaten San Gorgonio.

Part of the reason was the improved play of quarterback Jake Haro, who threw for his first touchdown of the season and had two more sure scoring passes dropped.

Coach John Albee traces Haro’s improvement to a little rap session.

“I had to rip him a little bit last week at halftime,” Albee said. “He had to relax and play more at ease like he did last year. He had to get back to having fun playing the game. And Friday night, boy, he hung in the pocket and threw some beautiful passes.”

REBUTTAL

The words of San Fernando tailback LaKarlos Townsend stung, to be sure. But the way Mike Maio looks at it, Townsend earned the right to make some noise.

After rushing for 114 yards and scoring three touchdowns in a 42-0 rout of El Camino Real last week, Townsend wondered aloud whether the Conquistadores wanted to tackle him or “go home.”

“Believe it or not, we do teach kids to tackle,” said Maio, an El Camino Real co-coach. “We just didn’t do it Friday night.”

As for Townsend, Maio admitted that the runner had every right to make the statement, despite the fact that it cut Maio’s team deeply to read it.

“I’ve got no ax to grind,” Maio said.

“When you score three touchdowns, whatever he says is right. It’s all true and he earned the right to say it.”

COACHES’ CORNER

Any coach can blow hot and cold about his own football team. But to get a real evaluation of a team’s worth, ask a rival what he thinks.

For instance, two coaches believe that the reports of Granada Hills’ demise has been greatly overstated.

“When you see two busloads of kids coming to the game, they must not be as poor as Darryl (Stroh) says they are,” Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer said of the Highlanders’ co-coach. “I think I could find some players in a group of 90 guys.”

Actually, Granada Hills has 75 players on the varsity, and while most of them are untested, they won’t be for long. So says another rival coach.

“It was nice to see them drop a hitch (pass), fumble a ball out of bounds and make the mistakes the rest of us make,” said Kennedy Coach Bob Francola, who scouted Granada Hills last week. “But they’re going to get better every week. Bet on it.”

As for Francola’s team, the favorite to win the Northwest Valley Conference title, Schaeffer says the talent is undoubtedly present for the Golden Cougars (3-1) to contend for a City 4-A Division championship.

“They are awesome physically,” Schaeffer said. ‘They are as imposing a football team as you will see.”

INJURIES

Running back Cory Bowen and wide receiver Eric Houston of Thousand Oaks are expected to return this week. Houston has not played since he sustained a knee injury during the summer. Bowen (471 yards in 39 carries) sustained a strained hamstring two weeks ago. . . .

Crespi tailback Torie Lee was held out of last Friday’s 28-14 win over Bishop Montgomery because of a badly bruised back suffered in a loss to Loyola two weeks ago. Lee, who has rushed for a team-high 276 yards in three games, is expected to play Friday against St. Bernard. . . .

Camarillo running back Fahali Campbell, who has missed two weeks because of an ankle injury, will return this week. Campbell, a senior, rushed for a school-record 282 yards in Camarillo’s season opener. . . .

Sylmar’s Tobaise Brookins, a senior tailback who sustained a sprained right ankle during the Spartans’ victory over El Camino Real two weeks ago, probably will play this week against Van Nuys. . . .

Justin Kelin, Sylmar’s punter, middle linebacker and fullback, suffered a knee injury during Canoga Park’s first series last week and is out for the season. . . .

Simi Valley kicker Steve Sabbe, who has made field goals from 44 and 49 yards, sustained a hairline fracture in his lower leg during a late hit by a Santa Maria player Sept. 27 and will be sidelined at least four weeks. Jeff Jagard will replace Sabbe. . . .

Rio Mesa tight end Jon McMullen, who missed last week’s loss to Ventura because of a bruised knee, is expected to return this week if tests disclose no further damage. . . .

Crescenta Valley tailback Jason Rountree, the Falcons’ leading rusher with 176 yards, is out for the year because of a broken ankle. . . .

El Camino Real linebacker Robert Magnusson suffered a knee injury in last week’s 42-0 loss to San Fernando and will miss at least one game. Magnusson was a key element in a Conquistadore defense that had allowed an average of 126.3 yards a game before playing San Fernando. Magnusson also was the team’s long snapper. . . .

Hart linebacker Ryan Hourigan broke a thumb in four places Friday night against Saugus and likely will miss three games. Hourigan suffered his injury trying to make a tackle in the first quarter.

“I looked at my thumb and I said, ‘Something’s not right,’ ” Hourigan said. “I popped it back in place. It popped out a couple of times during the game and I just popped it back in.”

Why not just sit out the rest of the game? Said Hourigan: “Hey, it was a tough game.”

David Coulson, Mike Glaze, Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech, Brian Murphy and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.