Angel Martinez Well Received at Glendale

Wide receiver Angel Martinez has been a prize catch for Glendale College, even though he figured his football career was over several years ago.

Martinez, a 1989 graduate of Saugus High, caught only two passes for 57 yards during his senior season. After two years in the work force, the 5-foot-8, 161-pound Martinez decided he would like to return to football at Glendale because his brother, Orlando, also a wide receiver, planned to continue his career with the Vaqueros after graduating from Saugus in 1991.

“I figured my career was over after high school,” Martinez said. “I had no intention of going on to school or playing football again, but things didn’t work out that well working, so I asked my brother if he could ask Coach (John) Cicuto if I could come out for the team when he did.”

Despite his two-year hiatus, Martinez had 14 receptions for 223 yards and two touchdowns last season.

“I did OK last year,” Martinez said. “But I never really felt completely comfortable because I only started practicing with the team three weeks before the season started. I worked out with the team during the spring and summer this year, and it has really helped.”

The statistics prove that.

Martinez has 14 receptions for 255 yards in three games, including five for 118 yards in Glendale’s 24-7 Western State Conference victory over Santa Monica on Saturday night.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

A change in position has led to a change in fortunes for Brett Washington of Santa Monica College.

Washington was The Times’ Valley back of the year in 1990 for Granada Hills High after rushing for 1,638 yards and scoring 24 touchdowns as a senior, but he played sparingly last year for a Santa Monica team that was loaded with runnings backs, including Johnny Mack (Sonoma State), Tim Halliday (San Jose State) and John Haqq (Texas El Paso).

Things did not look like they would improve much this season because Washington was slated to split time at fullback with Jason Patterson, the Southern Section Division I player of the year for Bishop Amat in 1990.

Santa Monica Coach Owen Hahn, however, used Washington primarily at tailback in last week’s game against Glendale and it resulted in 13 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.

“We’re a little thick-headed over there,” Hahn said. “But we figured that having two 240-pound backs in the game at the same time might help us.”

While Hahn was impressed with Washington’s performance, he has been equally impressed with Washington’s attitude.

“He is a magnificent team player,” Hahn said. “For someone with his accolades to come in here last year and then not play much, but be willing to learn, says a lot about him.”

HOME-FIELD EDGE

If you asked Northridge soccer Coach Marwan Ass’ad why the Matadors have won 20 consecutive matches at North Campus Stadium over the past three seasons, he would invariably attribute it to the support of Northridge’s vocal fans.

But the Matadors’ schedule has not hurt either, at least not this season.

Northridge (7-3) defeated UC Santa Barbara, 2-1, Sunday to run its home record to 7-0 this season, but one of those victories came against an NCAA Division II school (Cal State Dominguez Hills) and two came against NAIA schools (Cal Lutheran and The Master’s).

The Matadors’ four home victories over NCAA Division I opponents have come against teams with a combined record of 15-20-5.

ON THE RISE

Mark Covert, the Antelope Valley cross-country coach, has hinted for weeks that the Marauders had a quality women’s team, and they proved it Friday by winning the Bakersfield invitational in Hart Park.

Close-knit running was the key to the Marauders’ first invitational win as the gap between the Nos. 1 and 5 runners was only 59 seconds over the 5,000-meter course.

Freshman Teresa Santana was Antelope Valley’s top finisher in sixth place with a time of 18 minutes 34 seconds. She was followed by sophomore Holly Ludwig (eighth in 18:48), freshman Rene Azevedo (11th in 19:05), sophomore Karen Harvey (18th in 19:33) and freshman Kristin Whitehead (19th in 19:33).

“We’re a good team,” Covert said. “We’ve got some quality people. Now I’ve just got to convince them that they’re capable of running with (teams like Mt. San Antonio).”

Mt. SAC is the defending state champion.

DISTANCE DYNAMOS

Four former high school distance-running standouts from the region played prominent roles in their team’s success in the Stanford invitational Saturday.

Eliazar Herrera of UCLA, a 1990 graduate of Hoover, placed third in the men’s race to lead the Bruins to a third-place finish, and 1990 Canyon grad Dan Berkeland led Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to a second-place finish with an 11th-place effort.

Arkansas won the title in the women’s race, led by Deena Drossin in sixth place, and Arizona finished third with Jean Harvey finishing 11th for the Wildcats.

Drossin won three state Division I cross-country titles for Agoura High, and Harvey won the state junior college title for Antelope Valley last year.

TO AIR IS HUMAN

Valley might have raised an eyebrow or two by passing late in its 56-10 win over Compton, but don’t fault the Monarch coaching staff. Darren Firestone and Ernie Foli, Valley’s second- and third-string quarterbacks, were doing the throwing.

“That’s the nature of our offense,” Coach Jim Fenwick said. “Plus, you don’t want to send your No. 2 or 3 guys in just to hand off. You want to give them a chance to run the offense. Besides, we were only throwing short, just to keep things moving by going for first downs.”

All three Valley quarterbacks had field days. Starter Joe Mauldin completed six of nine for 177 yards and two touchdowns; Firestone was five of eight for 85 yards and a touchdown; and Foli completed eight of nine for 98 yards.

GRUDGE GAME

Valley wasn’t the only junior college team attempting passes late in a lopsided victory.

In a 42-13 rout of Ventura, Pierce scored three second-half touchdowns by throwing.

“One of our coaches asked, ‘Why are we throwing?’ ” Pierce Coach Bill Norton said. “I said, ‘Because they’re stunting their (linebackers).’ I’m not out to rub it in, but I’m not going to get anyone killed out there, either.”

The game was somewhat of a grudge match for Pierce, which forfeited six wins and a tie last season when Ventura reported to Western State Conference officials that the Brahmas used an ineligible player.

The player previously had played for Ventura. Pierce coaches used him mistakenly thinking he still had a semester of junior college eligibility remaining.

Norton said there was little talk of revenge before the game, but when asked if Brahma players recalled the incident, he replied, “Oh, yeah. Definitely. They remember it.”

MAKING A POINT

Pierce scored six touchdowns against Ventura one week after being shut out 10-0, by Harbor.

With a showdown against Moorpark on Saturday, Norton said the Brahmas got offensive in the nick of time.

“What we needed most of all was for our offense to put some points on the board and show our defense that they can afford to make a couple of mistakes and we can still come back,” Norton said.

“We’re back to being a more confident football team again--on both sides of the football.”

STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING

Pierce won the coin toss with Ventura, but instead of taking the ball the Brahmas deferred their right to receive the kickoff until the second half.

The strategy almost backfired.

Ventura, running the wishbone instead of its usual veer offense, drove 61 yards for a touchdown on its first possession.

Then, on the ensuing kickoff, the Pirates’ Harold Spann recovered a fumble by Pierce’s Louis Spellman at the Brahma 20.

Ventura’s DeLon Smith gained 12 yards on the next play, giving the Pirates a first down on the Pierce eight.

But quarterback Charles Hicks fumbled the next snap from center and Vachon LeCesne covered it for Pierce. The Brahmas then drove 80 yards in 14 plays to tie the score, 7-7.

Ventura came back by moving the ball from its 40 to the Pierce 16. But after a fumbled pitch lost 10 yards, Leon Glasgow intercepted a pass by Hicks at the Brahma one.

From there, Pierce marched 99 yards in 12 plays to take a lead it would not relinquish.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.