Fullerton’s Crompton Making Up Lost Time

Henry Crompton didn’t see all the work he put in over the summer to improve his soccer skills as anything extra.

He maintains this opinion despite having spent many hours after practice and on weekends with Fullerton Coach Jim Pasquale and his assistant, Augustin Loza, working hard to improve his skills.

“We plan on working with everyone on certain skills,” Pasquale said. “But not all athletes have the drive and the desire to put the time in like Henry does.”

Crompton, 20, sees his long hours of practice as a chance to catch up on lost time.

He played soccer growing up in Whittier, but during his early teen years, Crompton also got involved in some unheathly activities--alcohol and drugs.

He admitted skipping high school for the most part, except for a few days at El Paso High School in Texas and a few more at Fullerton’s Troy High School.

Instead, Crompton spent much of his time in rehabilitation clinics in California, Texas and New Jersey.

“I’ve been sober for three years now,” Crompton said. “I accept that I’m an alcoholic. I blew my chance to be able to have a few beers and have a good time. . . . But I can still have fun without it, I’ve learned that.”

After passing the test to get his high school general equivalency diploma, Crompton enrolled at Fullerton College last fall. He played soccer for the Hornets, but didn’t have many outstanding moments. He struggled mostly because he hadn’t played competitively for about five years.

After working out all spring at Fullerton, Crompton spent the summer near Salt Lake City with his older brother, Peter, who is a member of the Utah select soccer team. The team is made up of the top high school and college-age players in the state.

Henry worked out with his brother nearly every day, and some with the team.

“It was great to be with someone who was totally into soccer,” Crompton said. “We worked out all the time and I just kept getting into it more and more.”

Crompton returned to Fullerton for the fall semester and is off to a strong start. He leads the team with eights goals and has four assists.

“I know I missed a critical stage of soccer development,” Crompton said. “Now, I’m grateful for the chance I got, so I want to make the most of it.”

Perfect so far: The Golden West football, water polo and women’s volleyball teams are all undefeated this season.

The Rustler football team, under Coach Ray Shackleford, is 4-0.

The water polo and volleyball teams, both defending state champions, have picked up where they left off last season.

Golden West is 17-O in water polo under Coach Ken Hamdorf and is the top-ranked team in the state.

Al Gasparian’s volleyball team is 8-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The Rustlers, however, face one of their most difficult matches of the season Wednesday, when they play host to Orange Coast (7-2, 2-0) in an Orange Empire Conference match at 7 p.m.

Football poll: Orange Coast moved into the top spot of the weekly Southland Poll. The Pirates (4-0) replace Pasadena (4-1), which was beaten by Palomar, 26-21, Saturday.

OCC is the fifth team to top the poll this season. El Camino, Bakersfield, Moorpark and Pasadena have been No. 1 for at least a week each.

The current poll: Santa Barbara (4-0) is second, Fullerton (3-1) third, Palomar (4-1) fourth, Pasadena (4-1) fifth, Golden West (4-0) sixth, Antelope Valley (5-0) seventh, LA Southwestern (3-1) eighth, Moorpark (3-1) ninth and Santa Barbara (3-1) 10th.

Saturday’s games at 7 p.m.: Orange Coast at San Diego Southwestern (3-2); Fullerton at El Camino, and Golden West plays host to Palomar at Orange Coast.

Community College Notes

Don Watson, in his fifth season as water polo coach at OCC, got his 100th career victory with the Pirates last Tuesday in a 13-10 victory over Cypress. Watson’s current record is 104-27. . . . The OCC men’s soccer team (6-3-5 overall), which struggled early on, has been impressive in Orange Empire Conference play, where it is in first place with a 3-0-1 mark. Irvine Valley (8-1-2, 3-1) is second, Riverside (6-4-1, 2-1) third, Golden West (6-5-2, 1-1-1) fourth, Rancho Santiago (6-2-1, 1-2) and Fullerton (6-3-3, 1-2) are tied for fifth and Cypress (1-10, 0-4) is seventh.