HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Football Team Claims Royalty at Cleveland

Cleveland High might have pulled a first Friday night when two players from the football team were elected homecoming king and queen.

Of course, there’s nothing unique about a football player being selected king. But the latter?

“When I told some of my friends, they thought we might have a gay player,” Cleveland leadership coordinator Barbara Yanuck said.

Hardly. The queen was kicker Michele Diana. She and king Kalin Bracero were crowned at ceremonies before the game--while dressed in full uniform.

PASS HAPPY

Quarterbacks Keith Smith of Newbury Park (2,091 yards) and Davis Delmatoff of Hart (2,056) passed the 2,000-yard plateau last week. Not far behind is Simi Valley’s Eric Bennett, who ranks third among area passers with 1,879 yards.

Whose numbers are the best?

Of the trio, Smith has the best completion percentage at 60.2. Yet he has thrown the most interceptions with eight. Delmatoff has the most touchdown passes (25) and highest gain-per-completion average (18.4). However, Bennett has thrown the fewest interceptions and is close behind the leader in virtually every category.

According to the NCAA quarterback efficiency rating system, Delmatoff ranks first among the three with a 181.18 rating. Smith is second at 155.34. Bennett’s rating is 144.13.

The trio’s numbers are superior to those posted by notable NCAA Division I quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe of Washington State (126.0), Steve Stenstrom of Stanford (120.0), Shane Matthews of Florida (125.6), Cale Gundy of Oklahoma (138.9) and Gino Torretta of Miami (124.5).

BACK IN STYLE

In his first game, Canyon receiver Kirk Sweetnam caught six passes for 133 yards--the most receiving yards in a game by a Cowboy this season--and two touchdowns in last week’s 33-3 Foothill League win over Burroughs.

Sweetnam, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior, sat out Canyon’s first six games while recuperating from a stress fracture in his foot. Sweetnam, also a member of the track team, suffered the injury in April while running hurdles. A doctor initially diagnosed the injury as a sprain and told Sweetnam he would heal with time.

The pain, however, continued.

Canyon football Coach Harry Welch suggested that Sweetnam’s family get a second opinion. In August, another doctor discovered the stress fracture and placed Sweetnam in a cast.

“He has good speed, but he’s only running at about 60% to 70% right now because of the atrophy in his leg,” Welch said. “He can play either receiver spot. He’s a big addition.”

FLAG US DOWN

El Camino Real was a bit unlucky Friday and it cost the Conquistadores (2-5, 2-2 in league play) first place in the North Valley League.

League rival Granada Hills (3-4, 3-1) took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, then set up to kick the point-after. The kick was wide, but a procedure penalty against Granada Hills moved the ball back to the seven-yard line.

“There was no choice (about declining the penalty),” El Camino Real Coach Mike Maio groused. “It was a dead-ball foul.”

Granada Hills was forced to go for two and converted when quarterback Jim Landress hit Jamal Brooks for an 8-0 lead. The conversion proved decisive as Granada Hills hung on to win, 8-6.

LONE STAR

Wide receiver Tyrone Brown has been about the only bright spot in a forgettable season for Hueneme.

The Vikings (0-7) are tied for last in the Channel League and have been outscored, 240-71. Yet Brown is third among area receivers with 35 catches for 603 yards and three touchdowns.

Brown’s 17.2-yards-per-catch average is higher than those of Jason Toohey and Leodes Van Buren of Newbury Park, the area’s top two receivers.

TO THE POINT

Antelope Valley played one of the toughest preseason schedules in the area and won only two of five games. The Antelopes suffered three consecutive blowout losses to Bakersfield (30-7), Loyola (28-7) and Muir (41-0) before heading into Golden League play two weeks ago.

Only now are the Antelopes (4-3, 2-0) beginning to understand the benefits of such a schedule. Immediately after last week’s 21-6 victory over Highland, Coach Brent Newcomb gave a brief but telling lecture to the Antelopes, who manhandled Highland.

“People always ask why I like to play such a tough (preseason) schedule,” Newcomb said to the team. “Now I think you guys know why. Enough said.”

GETTING DEFENSIVE

Santa Paula Coach Rick Shoup issued a challenge to his defense before last week’s Frontier League game against Moorpark. “I told them I wanted them to go out there and get a shutout,” he said. “I told them that I knew they could do it and I expected them to do it.”

Result: Santa Paula 6, Moorpark 0.

The Cardinals’ defense did not allow a first down in the second half. The win helped the Cardinals remain undefeated in the league (2-0) and tied with Nordhoff for first place.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.