NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Brentwood Coach Finds That Turnabout Is Fair Play

Brentwood got its revenge, beating Hesperia Christian, 21-8, Saturday to win the Southern Section Large-School Eight-Man Division title.

Last season, Hesperia Christian defeated the Eagles, 20-16, in the first round of the playoffs.

“It is special winning a Southern Section championship,” Brentwood Coach Pat Brown said. “It’s even sweeter to win it against a team that knocked us out of last year’s playoffs.”

Under Brown, Brentwood has won two Eight-Man titles, its first coming in 1988. During the past two seasons, the Eagles have posted a 21-8 record as a free-lance team after winning three titles in the old Delphic League.

Brentwood’s strength has been its defense and it played a key role in the finals. Linebacker Nate Drati scored a touchdown on a 15-yard interception return with 1:50 left and the Eagles stopped Hesperia twice inside the 10-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Jono Ohlgren, who was selected to The Times’ Westside team last year, threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Michael Green against a stiff wind with 1:30 left in the first half to give Brentwood a 12-0 lead.

Brian Messing scored on a one-yard run for the Eagles’ first touchdown.

Add Brentwood--Two former members of the Eagles’ 1988 championship team are playing for NCAA Division I football programs. Sophomore linebacker Zack Freedman will return home to play for Michigan in the Rose Bowl after playing last season for UC Santa Barbara. Defensive back Derek Agnis is a team member for Colorado, which will play in either the Orange Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.

Eric Gronemeyer, who did not play for the 1988 team, was a second-string tight end for Colorado until he injured his knee.

Staying home--Santa Monica College elected not to play in a postseason football bowl game despite having the second-best record in the Southern Division of the Western State Conference.

The Corsairs were being considered after winning their final two games and finishing with a 4-1 divisional record and 5-5 overall.

Feeling that other schools with better records deserved the recognition, Santa Monica Coach Owen Hahn informed the WSC bowl committee not to consider the Corsairs.

“I didn’t believe our record warranted an appearance in a bowl,” Hahn said. “We felt there were more qualified teams. At 6-4, we would have done it.”

The St. Monica boys’ basketball tournament begins today, with seven area teams competing.

In the first round, Murphy will play Fairfax at 3:15 p.m.; Crossroads vs. Palisades at 4:45; Artesia vs. University at 6:30, and Santa Monica vs. St. Monica at 8.

The championship game will be played Saturday at 8 p.m.

On the run--It was a morning of firsts that Christian Cushing-murray of Santa Monica won’t soon forget.

Cushing-murray, the cross-country coach at Windward High, began the day running in the Jet to Jetty 10K Nov. 21 in Playa Del Rey at 8:30 a.m. The former UCLA track runner who placed sixth in the 1,500 meters at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, won in 29 minutes 52 seconds.

“I didn’t stop after crossing through the finish line and I just kept on running,” Cushing-murray said. He jumped on his motorcycle and sped to Walnut for the Southern Section cross-country championships. He arrived in time to catch the Division IV race at 10:20 a.m. to cheer on Windward’s Scott Thomas-Finch--the first runner in the school’s history to qualify for the final.

Times staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.