Moorpark Finds the Talent on Its Doorstep Thin

There is little correlation between the success of a junior college football team and that of its closest high school feeder. Consider the relationship between Moorpark College and Moorpark High.

Moorpark College has four consecutive 9-2 seasons and is off to a 4-0 start. Moorpark High, 1-4 this season, has a 14-27 record the previous four seasons.

Is it any wonder that the college football team doesn’t have a player from the local high school on its roster?

The Raiders recruited one Moorpark player, punter David Stratton. But the Stratton family moved to Ojai and David isn’t playing football this season.

Conversely, Moorpark College has 23 players from the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. The Raiders also have a strong corps of players from surrounding Marmonte League schools such as Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Westlake.

“The type of kid coming into the program here now, we’re getting a big-time player,” Moorpark recruiter Will Thurston said. “It wasn’t always that way, though.”

Thurston, who lives in Moorpark, said he expects the college to carry more players from Moorpark in future years, once the enrollment boom in the community hits the high school level.

SO CLOSE, SO FAR

Vince Lampkin, who is fourth in the Western State Conference in all-purpose running, is a life-long resident of the San Fernando Valley. His decision to attend junior college at Ventura was cause for considerable disappointment at Valley and Pierce.

Valley Coach Jim Fenwick had Lampkin pegged in a slotback position that would have made him a rusher and receiver. Pierce Coach Bill Norton had similar plans. But Lampkin chose to get away--though not too far away.

“I still go home and visit my mom on weekends,” Lampkin said. “But I like it out here. It’s more calm. There’s less trouble. That’s why I came here. I wasn’t in trouble but I was around it, so it was good for me to get away.”

Lampkin shares an apartment in Oxnard with three other former Birmingham football players--Ventura cornerback Eric Williams; Eric’s brother, Paul Williams, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Santa Monica; and John Smith, a freshman who is not playing this season.

SILVER LINING

When a team is 0-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play, coaches look for anything they can to keep their squad motivated. So Ventura College football Coach Dick James was quick to search for a silver lining in the black clouds after last week’s 26-13 loss to West L.A. College.

He found it when the Pirates rebounded from a 20-0 halftime deficit to challenge West L.A. for the lead late in the fourth quarter. Trailing 20-13, Ventura drove to the Oiler 26 before losing the ball on downs with five minutes remaining.

“It was the first time all season that our kids felt we could win,” James said. “I’m just sorry we couldn’t pull it out. They are trying so hard to be successful.”

The 0-4 start has come as a surprise to James. “It has shocked me. But it can happen to anyone who loses their starting quarterback (Stacy Townsend) and starting running back (Mike Gee).”

NO SURPRISES

The opponent doesn’t matter to Antelope Valley Coach Brent Carder. His game plan is always the same.

“We need to play decent defense, run the football effectively and throw when we want to, not when they want us to,” Carder said. “That’s our generic game plan, and coaches in our conference know what we do as well as we know what we do.”

They just can’t stop it.

Take last week’s 49-35 win over East L.A.: Antelope Valley rushed for 404 yards, using mostly straight-ahead, running plays.

The Marauders scored on their first two possessions, marching 80 yards in six plays and 75 yards in four plays--all on the ground. That’s an average of 15.5 yards per play.

And it’s a good thing because Antelope Valley struggled defensively. East L.A. passed for 449 yards, moving the ball through the air as fast as the Marauders on the ground.

“That was the first team we had seen this season that passed like that,” Carder said. “Maybe we panicked a little. We were changing coverages and making substitutions that we normally wouldn’t make instead of sticking to the basics.”

When it was over, Carder said he breathed a long sigh of relief. “At least we won,” he said. “That beats the hell out of the alternative.”

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Any player who runs back an Antelope Valley punt for a touchdown will have worked extra hard to do so.

The Marauders’ punter, and last man back on defense, is Richard Pesti, a 6- foot-2, 235-pound linebacker who has 42 tackles, second on the team to linebacker Jason Mentry.

Pesti has punted 21 times for 896 yards, a 42.7 average that ranks third in the state.

SECOND CHANCE

Since transferring last spring from Cal State Long Beach, defensive lineman Steve Ruedaflores has adjusted to the Cal State Northridge team, but he cannot forget the letdown he experienced when the 49er program was dropped last winter.

“It’s upsetting,” Ruedaflores said. “You’re in a good situation, a Division I scholarship at a nice school by the beach. I went through a lot with the guys, and (administrators) get rid of it like it’s nothing.”

REPAIR JOB

In her first season as Cal Lutheran’s women’s volleyball coach, Beth Welch is trying to change the perceptions of the program.

“We go into visiting gyms and other people say, ‘It’s only Cal Lu,’ ” said Welch, an assistant last season. “That’s something we’re fighting to overcome because of the last four years.”

The Regals took a small step toward improving their reputation last week with a four-game victory over Pomona-Pitzer, their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference triumph in two years.

“It was our best win of the year,” said Welch, whose team was 7-15 and 1-4 in conference play before Friday’s match at Occidental.

However, Cal Lutheran could not continue its momentum, dropping its next two matches. The team had 15 service errors in Tuesday’s loss to Whittier and displayed what Welch called “a big lack of intensity.”

The team’s biggest need is a leader with experience, said Welch, who played at Thousand Oaks High and Cal State Northridge. The Regals have five freshmen, two sophomores and no seniors on their 10-player roster.

Welch is full of praise for freshmen Aimee Snyder, Tara Thomas and Darcy White, and said sophomore middle hitter Ann Mumma has “improved 1,000%” over last season.

“Overall, I’m very satisfied with the program but not content to say it has been a good year,” Welch said.