Bowl Bulletin Omits Glendale as a Candidate

If Glendale football Coach John Cicuto is looking for ammunition to motivate his team for Saturday’s Western State Conference game at Moorpark, he should read this week’s California Community College Football Bowl Bulletin.

The bulletin lists 26 teams in the state that are considered as possible participants in the 10 postseason bowl games sanctioned by the Commission on Athletics (COA).

Glendale, the defending Northern Division champion, is not among them, even though the Vaqueros (3-5, 3-4 in the WSC, 3-0 in Northern Division play) could win their second consecutive division title with victories over Moorpark and Santa Barbara City in the final two games of the season.

If Glendale wins those games, it will be the Northern Division representative in the Western State Bowl on Dec. 7.

GRUDGE MATCH

Cal Lutheran is new to the NCAA Division III, but the men’s and women’s soccer teams appear to have found a natural rival. Both teams were eliminated from playoff contention by UC San Diego on Sunday.

The Cal Lutheran men’s team was knocked off, 3-2, and the women’s team fell, 2-0, at UC San Diego.

Afterward, George Kuntz, coach of both Cal Lutheran teams, made a prediction. Or maybe it was a promise. “We’ll be back,” he said.

The men’s team’s loss was particularly disheartening. “It was one of those games where whoever got the last goal was going to win,” Kuntz said.

Cal Lutheran led, 1-0, on a goal by Willie Ruiz, and the score was tied, 2-2, until UC San Diego scored the winning goal with about 10 minutes left. The Kingsmen ended the season with a 14-5-1 record.

In the women’s match, UC San Diego succeeded in taking out two of Cal Lutheran’s top players.

Rachel Wackerman, the Regals’ top scorer, was neutralized by a hounding San Diego defense. The Toreros were responsible for the only two shutouts suffered by Cal Lutheran this season.

Forward Vanessa Martin, the Regals’ inspirational leader, was removed on a stretcher after sustaining a concussion early in the match. Her loss “kind of deflated us,” Kuntz said.

The Regals finished with a 17-4 record.

UPHILL CLIMB

A series of illnesses and a late start on intensive training last summer have hampered Glendale’s Hugo Allan Garcia this cross-country season.

The defending state champion has won only one of five races and he finished 13th in the Southern California championships at San Diego’s Morley Field on Saturday.

Garcia timed 20 minutes 9.4 seconds over the four-mile course, but he was well behind Riverside’s Passmore Furusa, who won in 19:23.1.

Garcia appeared to be rounding into form after winning the Western State Conference finals Oct. 29, but he came down with a cold before the Southern California regional and was Glendale’s No. 3 runner on Saturday behind Robert Nelson (eighth in 20:03.6) and Obed Aguirre (ninth in 20:04.2).

“I think he’ll be ready to go next week,” Nelson said of Garcia after Saturday’s race. “He was sick earlier this week and it showed today.”

KEEPING TRACK

Last Saturday’s meet was called the Southern California junior college cross-country championships, yet the men’s race had a definite international flavor.

The first four finishers, Riverside’s Furusa, Muchaipwa Mazano, Gray Mavhera and Melford Homela are from Zimbabwe, and the fifth-place finisher, Gabino Toledo of San Diego Mesa, hails from Mexico.

UP IN THE AIR

The Glendale men’s and women’s cross-country teams will be flying to Saturday’s state championships at Sierra College in Rocklin instead of making the 400-mile drive.

For this team members can thank Coach Ed Lopez.

Long before last Saturday’s Southern California regional finals--the qualifying race for the state meet--Lopez persuaded Jim Sartoris, Glendale’s athletic director, to purchase non-refundable airline tickets.

“I told him that both teams had a good opportunity to go and that the kids would have to miss an extra day of school if we drove,” Lopez said. “If we waited to see if we made it, the tickets would have been too expensive. (Sartoris) believed in us and it was a chance we had to take.”

The plan almost backfired. Glendale was the fifth and final qualifier in both divisions in the regional meet in San Diego.

NEARING GROUND ZERO

After three consecutive losses, the Cal State Northridge football team, whose season ends Saturday at Cal State Sacramento, has reached a new low in terms of frustration.

“The frustration level is about to the point of breaking,” Coach Bob Burt said. “From the standpoint of the players and the coaches this has been a dismal year.”

The losses are particularly galling because Northridge (3-6), the co-defending Western Football Conference champion, expected to return to the playoffs this season.

“There’s a lot of disappointment after starting out with very high hopes,” Burt said. “Some seniors like Alo Sila, Ken Vaughn, and Don Goodman and others . . . need to go out with a good taste in our mouths and pull off what would be considered, at this point, an upset at Sac State.”

GAME OF INCHES

Northridge defensive backs Eric Treibatch and Tremelle Barnes just missed making interceptions in the Matadors’ 38-13 loss Saturday to Portland State.

Treibatch couldn’t hold on to a first-quarter pass by Vikings’ quarterback John Charles at the CSUN five-yard line. On the next play, Charles found Alan Boschma open in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown pass.

On the Vikings’ ensuing possession, Charles hit Henry Newson on a crossing pattern that went for a 73-yard touchdown. Barnes tried to step in front of Newson to make the interception, but when he missed no one was left between Newson and the end zone some 50 yards away.

“I am a good cornerback, but I made an amateur move to intercept the ball against a good quarterback,” Barnes said.

MATADOR DEFENSE

The demise of the Northridge defense might be greatly exaggerated, according to Burt.

“Maybe we’re not as good as we were earlier and maybe Portland is better than the teams we’ve been playing,” he said. “They certainly looked better than the (teams) we’ve been playing.”

Once the proud leader of the Western Football Conference on defense, Northridge has slipped to third behind Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Southern Utah.

The Matadors allow 346.2 yards per game compared to the 250 yards allowed through the first four games--two of them against Division I teams.

“It is real frustrating,” defensive tackle Sila said. “I think the guys on defense are trying. Maybe they’re trying too hard.”

SPEED BURNER

After Paul Peters’ 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Portland State, Burt called the junior from Santa Ana “a threat every time he touches the ball.”

“He is a great athlete,” Burt said. “As good an athlete as there is in this league.”

Peters returned a punt for a CSUN and Western Football Conference record 96 yards earlier in the season.

“I just ran my blocks,” said Peters, crediting Patrick Johnson and Cedric Ingram for key blocks. “To tell you the truth, as soon as I caught the ball I knew I could go all the way. I looked to the left and saw open field and the blocks in front of me.

“There were three or four Portland State people around but I knew I could get around them.”

GROUND WAR

When Redlands (7-1) visits Cal Lutheran (4-5), the game will pit a punishing running offense against a stingy rushing defense.

Redlands averages 281 yards rushing behind running back Shaun Trejo and fullback Curt Landreth, who have combined to grind out 1,640 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Cal Lutheran counters with a rushing defense that allows an average of 72.8 yards a game, 10th best among NCAA Division III teams.

Cal Lutheran has been able to count on linebackers Chris Sestito and Cary Caulfield (83 and 81 tackles, respectively) along with Tom Pellegrino, a defensive lineman who has 58 tackles, including nine sacks for 77 yards.

PAR FOR THE COURSE

Northridge concluded its golf season with mixed results. Corby Segal, a junior from Burbank High, carded a 140 in regulation in the San Diego State Aztec invitational, good for a first-place tie with William Yanagisawa of UC Irvine.

However, Segal lost out in a bid for the individual title when Yanagisawa beat him on the third hole of a playoff. As a team, Northridge finished tied for fourth in the six-team tournament.

Segal finished the season with a 74.5 strokes per round average, second on the team behind senior Mike Zambri (73.9).

MATCH PLAY

The Northridge women’s volleyball team, trying to keep its postseason hopes alive, will attempt to snap a three-match losing streak Friday night in a nonconference match at UC Santa Barbara that starts at 7:30.

Since 1983, which is as far back as complete records have been kept, the Matadors have not lost four consecutive matches. Northridge (12-13) will be facing a 16-8 Santa Barbara team--which started the week ranked 13th in the nation. The Matadors have five matches remaining in the regular season.

CSUN Coach Walt Ker, whose club was swept by Arizona and Arizona State last weekend, believes his team must finish above .500 to reach the National Invitational Volleyball Championship tournament, which is scheduled for Dec. 5-7 at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio.

The Matadors placed second in the tournament last year.

CEREBRAL ERRORS

The Master’s College women’s volleyball team had reason to have first-time jitters Tuesday when it visited Westmont in the first round of the NAIA District 3 playoffs.

The match marked the first time in four years and only the second time since the program’s inception in 1978 that Master’s had received a bid to the playoffs.

Westmont (10-6), seeded fourth among six teams, defeated fifth-seeded Master’s (6-9), 15-13, 15-2, 15-12.

Master’s Coach Dean Conk attributed the loss to a lack of confidence. “There was no doubt that we could beat them,” Conk said. “They’re not a team that we are in awe of. Our main problem was not their strength but our mental weakness.”

Ron Twersky and staff writers Mike Hiserman, Kirby Lee, 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. Cmp. Yds. TD Matt Brimigion, Ven. 28 18 199 1 Corey Tucker, Mrprk 31 11 146 1 Joe Pica, Pierce 9 5 130 1

RUSHING

Player TC Yds TD LaShante Parker, Pierce 31 214 4 Jamal Anderson, Moorpark 20 175 1 Terrance Brown, Valley 14 143 3

RECEIVING

Player Rec. Yds TD William Mills, Ventura 9 71 0 Shannon Culver, Pierce 4 110 1 Tim Blakely, Moorpark 4 63 1