Pierce Guard Thankful for Extra Padding

Pierce College guard Charles Gietzen returned to action Saturday in the Brahmas’ 34-23 football victory over Glendale after missing a game to recuperate from a stab wound.

Gietzen, who works as a bouncer at a San Fernando Valley nightclub, was stabbed in the lower back two weeks ago while trying to break up a fight at the club. Gietzen’s assailant has yet to be apprehended.

Although not seriously injured, the 6-foot-5, 311-pound Gietzen said the knife narrowly missed his kidney and spine.

“The doctor told me, ‘You better be glad you didn’t miss any meals,’ ” said Gietzen, a sophomore from Hamilton High in West Los Angeles. “The extra padding helped.”

On Saturday, Gietzen helped Pierce running back LaShante Parker rush for 176 yards and four touchdowns as the Brahmas (4-1) won their third game in a row.

HOLDING THE LINE

George Fua, a Northridge senior who was converted from tight end to guard last week, refused to take credit for the resurgence of the Matador offensive line.

Still, the Northridge coaching staff named Fua the team’s offensive player of the week for his performance in CSUN’s 45-27 win over Santa Clara on Saturday.

“I don’t think it was because of the changes,” Fua said of the addition of himself and guard Kevin Bess to the lineup. “I just think our offense was ready to play. The chemistry was there. We had a great week of practice.”

Fua and his teammates on the offensive line prevented quarterback Marty Fisher from being sacked and provided the blocking for a season-high 282 yards rushing.

There were a couple of mistakes--on one play Fua blocked the nose guard instead of a linebacker--but for the most part, tackle Art Espino and center Skip Allum kept him apprised of the blocking schemes and formations.

“I was nervous,” Fua said. “Overall, I did OK. But there is room for improvement.”

Fua twisted an ankle in Tuesday’s practice, but he expects to play Saturday when Northridge faces host Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a 7 p.m. game.

WORDS OF INSPIRATION

Mario Hull was too pumped up to remember the speech and Ron McKinney and Cedric Ingram couldn’t single it out among the others given by the CSUN coaching staff before the Santa Clara game. But Alo Sila was so inspired by a pregame talk in which assistant Rich Gamboa challenged the Matadors to stop Santa Clara tailback Aron Wise that he played his best game of the season. Sila, the Western Football Conference defensive player of the week, made 10 tackles, six for losses totaling 19 yards, and had a fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries.

“Everybody was fired up and talking about stopping Aron Wise,” Sila said.

Wise, who needed 105 yards to break the all-time Santa Clara rushing record of 2,609 yards, was held to seven yards in 16 carries.

“I’m glad it worked,” Gamboa said. “At least one person was listening. He played a helluva game.”

Gamboa limits his fiery orations to two minutes on the advice of his former coach at Wilson High, Vic Cuccia. “You gotta cut it to no more than two minutes or you lose it,” Gamboa said.

TIME FOR PRIORITIES

In the aftermath of Martin Smith’s decision Tuesday to quit the Northridge basketball team, Coach Pete Cassidy said Wednesday that he believes Smith would have “gotten a lot of quality playing time.”

Smith had expressed concerns about playing time and improving his academic standing.

“He’s had too much stuff coming at him,” Cassidy said. “He had to narrow his priorities. He is conscientious. He is going to worry about his grades. . . . It is a very mature and responsible decision he is making.”

Smith expressed a desire to walk on next season but feared that Cassidy might not take him back. That will not be the case, Cassidy said.

“The door is always open to a guy like Martin,” Cassidy said. “I like him a lot as a person and as a player.”

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick has done two big favors for the Northridge basketball program.

First, he put the Matadors on UCLA’s nonconference home schedule for the 1992-93 season. Next, he was the guest speaker at Northridge’s basketball fund-raiser last week.

Harrick recalled that during his tenure as coach at Pepperdine, the school’s sports-information and publicity staffs took advantage of the opportunity to take pictures of the Waves playing the Bruins with Pauley Pavilion as the backdrop.

Harrick’s message was loud and clear. When it comes to putting together media guides, schedule cards and posters for Northridge’s 1993-94 season, expect UCLA to receive considerable exposure.

Tentative date for the Matadors’ game against the Bruins is Dec. 22 of next year.

STATWATCH

Three weeks ago, Ventura quarterback Matt Brimigion had the worst game of his collegiate career, completing five of 14 passes for minus-one yard and an interception in a 39-0 loss to Valley.

Since then, he has been on a tear, becoming the Western State Conference’s top-rated quarterback in the process.

Brimigion completed 23 of 40 for 296 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s 34-29 loss to L. A. Southwest.

Since the Valley debacle, Brimigion has completed 36 of 49 for 493 yards and five touchdowns with only one interception. . . .

It’s amazing what one bad game can to do a team’s statistics and standing.

Antelope Valley entered Saturday’s Foothill Conference game against East L. A. as the No. 5-ranked team in the J. C. Athletic Bureau state poll and boasting the conference’s top-rated defense (274.8 yards-a-game average).

But after being torched by Husky quarterback Santiago Alvarez for 492 yards and six touchdowns, the Marauders rank third in the conference with a 309-yards-a-game average.

Antelope Valley also fell to 20th in the poll. . . .

In his debut at tailback for Cal State Northridge, freshman Jonathan Campbell gained 24 yards in eight carries and caught one pass for nine yards. . . .

INJURY REPORT

On the night of his greatest triumph--a school and WFC record 96-yard punt return--Northridge receiver Paul Peters felt his right shoulder pop out of its socket after he made a block in the third quarter against Santa Clara.

Peters, whose shoulders have been popping out since his days at Santa Ana Valley High, put it back into the socket himself but did not return to the game because the Matadors were leading by three touchdowns.

“I lost feeling there for a second, but it was not really a problem,” Peters said. “I don’t think it could get any worse.”

Earlier in the game, Peters strained his left shoulder when he was tackled on a punt return. Although his strained shoulder forced him to miss most of Tuesday’s practice, he expects to play Saturday.

Last season, Peters suffered a broken right clavicle in the second game of the season and was redshirted. While Peters was recovering, Northridge orthopedic surgeon Lester Cohn operated on both of Peters’ rotator cuffs, inserting pins to help hold his shoulders in place.

Valley quarterback Chris Gadomski is expected to miss Saturday’s game at Bakersfield while recovering from a shoulder separation he suffered against Glendale two weeks ago.

“He’s getting better every day,” Valley Coach Jim Fenwick said. “But he won’t be ready to play Saturday.”

Gadomski, who has completed 31 of 63 for 553 yards and two touchdowns, will be replaced by former San Fernando High standout Michael Wynn.

NIGHT PREDATORS

Cal Lutheran’s defense must be nocturnal.

In the Kingsmen’s first night game, they posted their first shutout, 12-0, over Occidental on Saturday. The Kingsmen made three interceptions for 32 yards, had four sacks for 55 yards in losses and limited the Tigers to 94 yards.

John Wilson, a Kingsmen defensive back, started things by sacking quarterback Derrick Williams for a 26-yard loss.

In the second quarter, defensive back Cory Undlin intercepted a Williams pass to set up Cal Lutheran’s first touchdown. Later in the period, linebacker Kevin Evans sacked Williams for a one-yard loss. Williams left in the second quarter having completed only four of 10 for 18 yards.

Williams was highly touted entering the game, having passed for six touchdowns without an interception. Occidental Coach Dale Widolff, however, refused to put the blame solely on his quarterback.

“We’re not playing real well on offense anywhere, not just at quarterback,” Widolff said.

Williams entered the game leading the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in passing efficiency, averaging 9.24 yards each attempt.

“We took him out of the game,” said Chris Sestito, a Cal Lutheran linebacker.

Williams’ replacement, Erik Messal, didn’t fare much better. Messal was sacked by defensive lineman Tom Pellegrino for a nine-yard loss in the second quarter and then by linebacker Sal Jimenez for an 18-yard loss in the third quarter.

Sestito and Evans then intercepted Messal passes in the fourth quarter.

Ron Twersky and staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.

A look at last week’s top performers from area colleges.

PASSING

Player Att. PC Yds. TD Matt Brimigion, Ven. 40 23 296 3 Marty Washington, AV 28 13 245 2 Marty Fisher, CSUN 24 15 199 3

RUSHING

Player TC Yds TD LaShante Parker, Pierce 18 176 4 Terrance Brown, Valley 13 169 2 Cassidy O’Sullivan, CLU 33 134 1

RECEIVING

Player Rec. Yds TD Curtis Marsh, Moorpark 7 116 2 William Mills, Ventura 7 85 0 Keith West, Glendale 6 59 0