COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Townsend Veers to Ventura to Rebuild Career

After ruining his chances of a Division I scholarship by failing to graduate from Pasadena High last spring, quarterback Stacy Townsend is trying to rebuild his football and academic career at Ventura College.

Townsend, who was recruited by such schools as Colorado, Washington and Illinois, is battling sophomore Charles Hicks for a starting job in the Cougars’ veer offense. But Coach Dick James already is speaking in glowing terms about Townsend.

“He reminds me of Darrin Nelson,” James said, comparing Townsend to the former Minnesota Viking running back he coached at Stanford. “Stacy has the same kind of movement, those same lightning reflexes. Stacy makes people miss (on tackles). He’s able to make good things happen when bad things are imminent.”

Townsend said he is determined to change his study habits.

“I don’t blame anyone but myself for not getting it done in the classroom,” he said. “I’ve learned to sit down and study before I go out and do anything else.”

WISING UP

When quarterback Marty Fisher arrived on the Cal State Northridge campus four years ago he shared the mind-set of the majority of Matador football players. Only 8% of Northridge football players graduate.

“A lot of guys come here just to play football,” Fisher said. “They get their scholarship check, they sign up for classes and they go--sometimes. My first semester, I’ll be honest, I rarely went to class. I came to play football. I had to wake up. I saw my grades and it was humbling.”

Fisher, a criminology major, is now making steady progress toward his degree.

SPIN CONTROL

Cal Lutheran’s Len Bradley was able to find something positive in a season-opening 27-21 loss to Pomona-Pitzer.

“Compared to a year ago, we’re a much-improved team,” the senior wide receiver said. The Kingsmen lost, 21-19, to Azusa Pacific in their 1991 opener. “One thing that is going to come out of this loss is that we’re going to learn and improve off that. The key for us this year is to come together as a team.”

The Kingsmen had a bye this past weekend.

“(The bye) will be a very positive thing for us,” Coach Joe Harper said. “With the number of new people that we’ve got in the program, it will be a benefit for us to have more time to spend with them fundamentally.”

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

Bill Norton, Pierce’s football coach, describes freshman free safety Tucker Setterberg as “a little, blond-headed skateboarder guy, with those ugly shorts and tennis shoes.”

But, he adds, “he pops guys who go over the middle.”

From his position on the sidelines, Norton didn’t notice the extent of Setterberg’s contributions in the Brahmas’ 38-24 victory over East L.A. last Saturday.

However, once Norton turned on the projector, it became obvious that the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Setterberg made an indelible impression on several receivers.

“He laid out four or five different guys, and that’s always good,” Norton said. “Guys look at that on film and they don’t want to be coming over the middle. They get scared when they see a guy do that on film.”

He is the third Setterberg brother to play for Pierce. Mark, a tight end, played for the Brahmas from 1984-85. Chris, now a Pierce assistant, played inside linebacker from 1988-89.

A PET JOB

As one of Cal State Northridge’s starting cornerbacks, Ralph Henderson must keep up with the opposition’s fleet wide receivers.

As a breeder of parakeets, Henderson enjoys watching birds take flight.

Henderson, a junior from Rancho Santiago College, began breeding parakeets five years ago after his father, Ralph Sr., brought two of them home.

“He told me to pick the colors I like and try to breed the colors I want,” Henderson said.

Henderson has a white female and a blue female and a blue male. Oddly, none have a name.

“They do not have names because they are not ‘pet’ pets,” Henderson said. “If they were pets, I would be taking them out of the cage all the time. I don’t bother them. I just feed them and water them.”

Henderson’s 19-month-old daughter, Tianna, and his fiancee, Danielle Mahoney, Tianna’s mother, also are parakeet lovers and football fans.

They were in the stands when Henderson made six solo tackles and recovered a fumble in his Northridge debut against Fullerton and they saw him make 11 tackles (five solo) in the Matadors’ 16-14 win over UC Davis last Saturday.

David Coulson and staff writers Steven Herbert and Theresa Munoz contributed to this notebook.