Rap Group Adds to Spirit at Glendale

Glendale, they’re serious about this game

Gonna prove to CV they’re goin’ down in shame

Crescenta Valley’s gonna lose by a long shot

But let me tell ya, that’s a problem they got.

Hammer, it’s not. But school spirit has gone MTV this season at Glendale High.

They call themselves NBK (Nothin’ But Kaos), and while the school’s football team has rolled to an 8-1 record and clinched at least a tie for its second consecutive Pacific League title, young rappers Victor Amezcua, Peyton Williams and Darrell Sequeira have rocked the Glendale High grandstands with cheers that are a far cry from Dee-fense! Dee-fense!

Said Amezcua: “We’re just rapping and telling the truth and showing school spirit.”

And perhaps--the trio readily concedes--hoping to be signed to a recording contract and soon rapping on CD.

But for now, Amezcua and Sequeira--both Glendale juniors and music students--and Williams, a 1991 Hoover graduate, devote their efforts toward writing original raps to perform on Friday nights with the support of a drummer and bassist.

“People like us. They give us positive feedback,” Sequeira said. “You can rap all you want to, but it’s no use to you if no one hears you.”

After dabbling in writing lyrics for the past eight months, the trio approached school administrators for permission to spruce up the team’s traditional sideline support.

With rap music known for its often provocative overtones, the request was viewed suspiciously by school officials. As it stands, all lyrics must be approved by the school’s activities director, assistant principal and principal.

But all material is confined to the game at hand and the trio never gives the opposition, well, too much of a bad rap.

“They’re a real nice group of kids and I appreciate them,” Assistant Principal William Wild said. “They have a lot of freedom with their lyrics, as long as they reflect school spirit.”

A FIRST

Never has a girl played on the Canyon football team. Or, more accurately, never had a girl played for the Cowboys until Nov. 1.

As Canyon cruised to a 48-0 win over Palmdale, Coach Harry Welch sent in third-string defensive end Cesarae Marlowe, a 5-foot-7, 145-pound junior who became the first Cowgirl to play Cowboy football.

Marlowe played for six downs at the end of the game, according to Welch, and “may have” assisted in a tackle. She also got into a brief altercation with a Palmdale lineman before big Chuck Osborne came to her rescue.

“(Osborne) said, ‘Hey, that’s a girl you’re talking to,’ ” Welch said with a laugh. “And Cesarae said, ‘Oh, God, Chuck, would you shut up?’ ”

Said Welch: “She’s not a softy.”

MISSING TAPES

What good is a film festival among football coaches without any previews of coming attractions?

Ask Hart Coach Mike Herrington, who has been forced to prepare with limited footage of some Foothill League foes.

League rules mandate that coaches exchange videotape of at least two games the week before they are scheduled to play. However, when Herrington sent an assistant to Burroughs--Hart’s opponent Friday night--he returned with only one videocassette.

“The thing is, this happened with Burbank too,” Herrington said. “They didn’t return our calls until it was too late in the week to exchange films.”

Burroughs Coach Marty Garrison said the mishap was simply a case of misplaced videotapes. “I definitely wasn’t trying to hide it from him,” Garrison said. “I told (the assistant) to have him call me and I’d get it to them.”

TOAST OF THE TOWN

Burroughs will honor former quarterback Tom Tunnicliffe before Friday night’s home game.

Tunnicliffe, a 1980 graduate, passed for 2,353 yards--still a school record--and 22 touchdowns in 1979 while leading the Indians to a Foothill League championship and into the Southern Section 3-A Division quarterfinals.

Later, he played at Arizona, where he still holds school career passing records for completions (574) and passing yardage (7,618). Tunnicliffe was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in September.

Tunnicliffe, 29, is a resident of Burbank and president of a local development company owned by his father. His jersey, No. 5, will be retired during pregame ceremonies.

“Everyone’s going to give him a plaque,” said Garrison, who also is Burroughs’ athletic director. “He’s going to get a plaque from the booster club, a plaque from the athletic department, a plaque from the City Council. . . . He’ll be plaqued out.”

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Kennedy tailback Elijah Raphael served as the backup the past two seasons to former Golden Cougar standout Ontiwaun Carter, who now plays at Arizona and has rolled up consecutive 100-yard rushing efforts.

Raphael, a senior, waited his turn before inheriting the position. Now he is poised to erase Carter from the school record book.

With at least two games remaining, Raphael has rushed for 1,346 yards to lead area City Section ballcarriers and he is within range of Carter’s career-high mark of 1,563 yards set in 1988. Carter’s total is believed to be the school single-season record.

On the other side of the wait-and-see fence is Kennedy sophomore Donte Scarbrough, who is impatiently waiting in the wings for Raphael’s career to run its course. Scarbrough was given a rare opportunity to play last week when Raphael came down with the flu.

Raphael, after all, has carried the ball an area-high 217 times, so Scarbrough’s game exposure has been rather limited.

“Raphael came in on Friday looking like something the cat dragged in,” Kennedy Coach Bob Francola said. “We kind of protected him in the game and limited his carries.”

Scarbrough is a cat--or a Golden Cougar--that might bear watching. He dragged Reseda’s defense around for 130 rushing yards in 25 carries last week and Raphael rushed for 191 yards in 22 attempts to lead Kennedy to a surprisingly easy 35-7 victory.

Records could continue to fall because Scarbrough stands poised to run down Raphael and Carter next fall.

“He will be the tailback next year,” Francola said of Scarbrough. “It was just a preview.”

CHOICE WORDS

Although Royal leads the Marmonte League with an .850 winning percentage in the 1990s, Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards, whose teams have won five league titles in his eight seasons, stopped short of handing over the mantle after Royal’s 28-13 defeat of the Lancers on Friday.

Royal Coach Gene Uebelhardt said Thousand Oaks’ successful program was one that every other Ventura County team admired. “When we took over this program four years ago, we wanted to be like Thousand Oaks some day,” Uebelhardt said.

When asked whether Royal’s victory brought the Highlanders to the Lancers’ level, Uebelhardt said, “We took a big step, but we’re still trying to be like Thousand Oaks.”

That comment infuriated Richards.

“Well, they won tonight! Isn’t that what the scoreboard said?” he snapped. “But I think programs are based over several years.”

FAMILY TIES

L.A. Baptist has posted a 6-3 record thus far and most likely will be the Alpha League’s top-seeded team this week. Much of the success is attributable to the play of quarterback Dane Brown.

Brown, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior, has passed for 944 yards and six touchdowns and has rushed for 344 yards and seven touchdowns. That’s the good news.

The bad news for L.A. Baptist is that Brown might miss the Knights’ run for a Division X championship because of a fractured metacarpal in his right index finger. Coach Mark Bates said that Brown is out “indefinitely.”

Sophomore Zack Hernandez played quarterback in last Saturday’s 35-18 win over Marshall Fundamental but did not attempt a pass. Instead, he ran the wishbone proficiently, gaining 180 yards in 18 carries. He also caught a touchdown pass on a trick play, and his twin Matt gained 66 yards in 12 carries.

The Hernandez twins are nephews of San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez, a noted fan of the wishbone and option offense, leading Bates to wonder about offensive bloodlines.

“I guess it runs in the family,” he said.

KNOCK-KNEED

When Sylmar linebacker-tight end George Brazil was on the ground clutching his right knee early in the third quarter of the Spartans’ 47-20 victory over Poly two weeks ago, the scene looked all too familiar to Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman.

Brazil, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior, is the fourth Spartan to suffer a serious knee injury this year.

“In my 17 years (of coaching), this is the worst ever,” Engilman said of the multiple knee injuries.

All four players--Justin Kelin, Martin Duran, Kashawn Ivezzy and Brazil--are juniors and all are out for the season.

Kelin, a fullback-linebacker and punter, sustained ligament damage in the third game. Less than a week later, Duran, a linebacker and backup fullback, sustained torn cartilage. Ivezzy’s injury, a cracked patella, followed shortly thereafter.

To make matters worse for Brazil, he suffered a broken wrist on a 72-yard pass reception when he was tackled on the second play of the game, but he didn’t mention it to anyone at the time.

HITTING THE BOOKS

On the volleyball court, the Canyon girls’ team, ranked No. 4 in the Southern Section, has clinched its eighth consecutive Golden League championship. In the classroom, the squad has been just as successful.

Three of Canyon’s starters carry 4.0 or better grade-point-averages and several other players are just below that level, giving the team a chance to win a Southern Section academic championship. “One thing we really stress is academics,” Coach Linda Johnston said. “If a player has a major test, they can tell me and leave practice early to study.”

Canyon’s academic star, senior outside hitter Juli Mosier, is also one of the team’s standouts on the court. Mosier, an honor student with a 4.5 GPA and one of the team’s leading hitters, is drawing interest from Ivy League schools Yale and Columbia.

Senior setter Melysa Wilcox runs the attack and junior back-row specialist Keri Lemasters keys the defense with her fine passing. Each carries a 4.0 GPA.

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