Fenwick Rises to Occasion as a Strategist

Most head football coaches plot strategy from the sidelines during games, but Jim Fenwick, Valley College’s first-year coach, has used a different approach.

He watches--and calls offensive plays--from the press box.

“I started doing it after the (season-opening) Antelope Valley game,” Fenwick said. “I felt like I missed some things being on the sidelines because I couldn’t see the whole field. Since then, I’ve stayed upstairs and it’s helped.”

Fenwick was forced to spend most of Saturday’s 34-17 loss to L. A. Southwest on the sidelines after starting quarterback Michael Wynn--who was filling in for injured Chris Gadomski--was knocked out of the game because of a knee injury. Running back Nigel Bostic took Wynn’s place.

“I had to be down there to show Nigel what to do,” Fenwick said. “We were practicing plays on the sidelines when our defense was on the field.”

A RAIDER’S RAMPAGE

Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner described Raider running back Jamal Anderson as a “nightmare to tackle” before the season. But because the 6-foot-1, 235-pound sophomore from El Camino Real High was hampered by leg injuries, it took him several games before he lived up to the billing.

Anderson was ranked 12th in the Western State Conference with 168 yards in 31 carries (5.4 yards a carry) after the first three games of the season. Since then, he has rushed for more than 100 yards in four consecutive games to move into second in the WSC rankings (698 yards in 109 carries) behind Pierce’s LaShante Parker (898 yards in 129 carries).

Anderson’s rushing totals have risen each of the past four games, from 104 yards against L. A. Southwest, to 110 versus Bakersfield, to 137 against Compton, to 179 versus L. A. Harbor.

EVENING THE SCORE

Cal State Northridge’s 2-0 victory over San Diego State in soccer Sunday might not be enough to earn a bid to the NCAA Division I playoffs, but it certainly wiped away some bad memories for a few CSUN seniors.

In becoming only the third team to defeat San Diego State this season--the others were UCLA, the defending national champion, and Santa Clara, the 1989 co-champion--CSUN (11-6-1) scored its first goal in four matches against the Aztecs. CSUN was 0-2-1 versus San Diego State the past three years.

The victory was especially sweet for seniors Bobby Reyes, Terry Davila, Ed Burns and Scott Piri.

“I told them, ‘You’ve got to score on San Diego State before you graduate,” Matador Coach Marwan Ass’ad said. “We were so emotional and ready to play.”

The victory also marked Northridge’s first significant win of the season on the road. All of the Matadors’ losses this season have come away from North Campus Stadium where they are 7-0.

Northridge has won a school-record 11 consecutive matches on its home field and hopes to extend that streak in the final two matches of the regular season. The Matadors will play host to Grand Canyon (Ariz.) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Cal State Los Angeles on Sunday at 4 p.m.

KINGSMEN’S MAIN MAN

If the Cal Lutheran men’s soccer team has a star player it is sophomore forward Willie Ruiz.

Ruiz has scored 19 goals, breaking James Tate’s 9-year-old, single-season school record of 18. Ruiz has 33 goals in his career and has a chance to add to his totals Sunday when Cal Lutheran plays UC San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Division III regionals.

Still, Ruiz isn’t the only standout on a team that concluded the regular season with a 14-4-1 record and shared the championship of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with Claremont-Mudd. Three Cal Lutheran players have reached double-digits in goals, six players have four assists or more and goalkeeper Eddie Guerricabetia has 47 saves.

THEORY OF EVOLUTION

In her first two seasons on the Northridge women’s volleyball team, Nancy Nicholls approached the game with a simple yet effective mind-set: wait for the set and spike the ball as hard as possible.

Now a junior middle hitter for the Matadors (12-11), the 6-foot Nicholls remains a dominant attacker. But what has been most pleasing to the coaching staff is that Nicholls no longer is just a hitter.

“To see the evolution of her as a volleyball player has been amazing,” Northridge assistant Mora Kanim said. “Last year she was a front-row player who wanted to hit the ball. This year she’s a well-rounded player in every sense of the word.”

Nicholls, who has played both the front and back row this season, is tied for the team lead in blocks (77), is second in digs (283) and is tied for third in service aces (30). She also has contributed 233 kills and has moved into fifth place on the CSUN career list with 679.

“She’s dramatically better than she was last year, but she can be even better,” said CSUN Coach Walt Ker, who still sees room for improvement in Nicholls’ defensive skills. “She’s really a late bloomer, in terms of volleyball.”

POSTSEASON PLANS

With a 12-11 record and only eight matches remaining in the regular season, the Northridge volleyball team probably is out of the NCAA Division I playoff picture.

But that doesn’t mean the Matadors won’t be in postseason play. Northridge still is in a position to be invited to the National Invitational volleyball championships, which are volleyball’s equivalent of the NIT in men’s basketball.

“We need to be above .500 to do that and we have a challenging schedule remaining,” said Ker, whose team will play at Arizona on Friday and at Arizona State on Saturday.

The NIVC will be played at Wright State University in Ohio.

Ron Twersky and staff writers John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.

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

PASSING

Player Att. Com. Yds. TD Matt Brimigion, Ventura 39 17 244 1 Corey Tucker, Moorpark 18 7 131 3 Marty Fisher, CSUN 19 11 130 1

RUSHING

Player TC Yds TD LaShante Parker, Pierce 30 230 2 Terrance Brown, Valley 25 188 2 Jamal Anderson, Moorpark 25 179 1

RECEIVING

Player Rec. Yds TD Cornell Ward, CSUN 7 72 0 Paul Peters, CSUN 6 102 1 Keith West, Glendale 4 42 1