Hart Dodges Alemany’s Sniper Fire

Looking for a reason why Hart High beat Alemany, 43-0, in football last year, besides, of course, Hart being a much better team? Although it has been denied by coaches at Hart, try this one:

Back when Alemany Coach Pat Degnan was an assistant at Cal State Northridge, he was administering skill tests of physical education students, one of whom was Dean Herrington.

Herrington, now Hart’s offensive coordinator, said that Degnan gave him perfect 4.0 scores in volleyball, golf, tennis, and others but a 2.8 in football. This for a former All-Southern Section quarterback.

“The test was a punt, a pass and a snap,” Herrington said. “So I think I knew what I was doing.”

Degnan doesn’t even remember how he evaluated Herrington. In fact, he didn’t even remember which Herrington he graded.

“I didn’t know who the hell he was,” Degnan said. “If he deserved to pass, he passed. If he didn’t, he didn’t.”

Degnan suspected the incident might have had something to do with the lopsided score in last year’s meeting. The teams will meet again tonight at Valley College.

“It’s like if a neighbor has something against another neighbor and isn’t man enough to talk to him about it but just goes and kicks his dog,” Degnan said. “But I saw him kick my dog.”

Hart coaches vehemently deny they ran up the score. They insist their starters were removed in the third quarter and defended a controversial onside kick in the second quarter when an Alemany penalty resulted in the ball being placed on the Alemany 45, saying an onside kick was the proper play in that situation, regardless of the score.

“If (Degnan) wants to use that to fire his team up, oh, well,” Herrington said.

EAST VALLEY LEAGUE

Head-to-Head Combat

Two opposing linemen battled so hard last week in El Camino Real’s 6-0 win over Sylmar, they got everyone’s attention.

After Sylmar’s Dwight Patton slashed for a 17-yard gain, the teams hustled downfield to prepare for the next play--that is, all but two linemen.

There, standing alone at midfield, were Sylmar tackle John Gonzalez and El Camino Real tackle Gregory Krochmal--stuck together at the face mask.

The top of Krochmal’s face plate was stuck inside Gonzalez’s mask. The two pulled their heads apart until finally Krochmal’s helmet came off his head.

There stood Gonzalez, firmly on his head--with Krochmal’s helmet perched atop his face plate. Proof that this was indeed a hard-hitting game.

NORTH VALLEY LEAGUE

Mission Accomplished

For a few El Camino Real seniors, beating defending City Section 4-A Division champion Sylmar last week could be the season’s crowning moment.

The Conquistadores’ 6-0 victory was vindication and retribution for the 55-0 loss they suffered at the hands of Sylmar last season.

Late in the fourth quarter, with El Camino Real holding a precarious 6-0 lead and Sylmar facing fourth and 10 at its four-yard line, linebacker Michael Cooper was interested to know what the Spartans thought of the Conquistadores’ effort. “Quite a turnaround from last year, isn’t it boys?” Cooper yelled across the line of scrimmage as the Spartans prepared to punt.

“We wanted this win more than anything else this season,” Cooper said after the game.

Tailback Chris Shinnick was equally pleased with the victory.

“I don’t think we’ll see a team tougher than that all year,” Shinnick said.

ALPHA LEAGUE

Getting His Kicks

Village Christian kicker Ignacio Brache is so good, even the opponent’s fans cheer for him.

During the Crusaders’ game last week against host Mojave, Brache’s field-goal feat moved the partisan Mojave crowd to its feet.

“I let him try a 49-yarder and he kicked it out of the stadium. . . . I’m not kidding,” Village Christian Coach Mike Plaisance said. “Everybody in that little town will remember that one. They were all cheering for him.”

Brache’s field goal cleared two fences about 50 feet beyond the goal post.

Apparently, Brache, a junior who has kicked field goals of 42, 49 and 54 yards, was inspired by the crowd. On the ensuing kickoff, Brache kicked the ball through the uprights with 10 yards to spare.

“People were telling me he should have tried out when Dallas had those tryouts (for a kicker),” Plaisance said.

GOLDEN LEAGUE

Danger Ahead (as Usual)

Shortly after the gut-wrenching, last-second defeat on Friday, Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb called his troops together at midfield.

Don’t dwell on the tough loss to Bakersfield, he said, because Loyola and Muir are right around the corner. In short, it’s business as usual at Antelope Valley, which routinely plays one of the toughest nonleague schedules around.

“I’ll say this about Brent--he plays anybody,” said Canyon Coach Harry Welch, a former Golden League rival. “Even some years when he doesn’t have a particularly strong team, he lines up the best he can find.”

Bakersfield, ranked third in the state, held off a last-second threat to win, 19-16. Loyola is ranked sixth in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and Muir is ranked 15th. Loyola has a 7-0-1 record against Antelope Valley and has never allowed more than 10 points.

Said Newcomb: “It gives our kids a chance to rub elbows with some of the big boys, with guys who sometimes end up playing pro ball. . . . We hope that if we survive, it makes us tougher (during league play).”

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When Quartz Hill faces Canyon tonight in a showdown of 3-0 teams ranked in The Times’ regional top 10 and their respective Southern Section divisions, the Rebels might be without hard-luck tailback Michael Perry.

Perry was injured in the first quarter of last week’s 7-0 victory over Hesperia when he was hit in the shoulder by a helmet and suffered a deep bruise. It’s unclear whether Perry, who leads the team with 196 yards in 29 carries, will be available tonight.

Perry, a senior, missed much of last season because of a separated shoulder.

SANTA FE LEAGUE

Winning Tradition?

With St. Genevieve (2-1) already having won twice as many games this season as in the previous two combined, Coach Richard Fong is in new territory.

“We’re on a high,” Fong said. “We’re trying to ride it, trying to feed on it. I guess I am kind of bubbly. People I’ve never met are coming out of the woodwork to congratulate me.”

While nothing seemed to go right during the school’s 23-game losing streak that was halted last season, almost everything is now falling St. Genevieve’s way.

In the Valiants’ 25-14 victory over Eagle Rock last week, they had a 14-0 lead and three possessions before Eagle Rock snapped the ball. After St. Genevieve’s Randy Iaccino returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, the Valiants recovered an onside kick, setting up another scoring drive. Eagle Rock fumbled on the kickoff after that score.

INDEPENDENTS

Count It

Just when the season was taking a turn for the better, Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County-funded school for male juvenile offenders, learned its 47-0 victory over Lucerne Valley last week might not count.

Kilpatrick, which lost its first two games, traveled 3 1/2 hours Saturday to play Lucerne Valley, a school that opened last year and has no senior class.

Lucerne Valley does not have a varsity program, according to Bill Clark, a Southern Section administrator in charge of football, which led to confusion.

Four of the Mustangs’ games however, are against varsity teams.

Dwayne Diffie, athletic director at Kilpatrick, insists he was informed Lucerne Valley had a varsity program. Otherwise, Diffie would not have scheduled the team.

“That would be ridiculous,” Diffie said. “They are all varsity games. We don’t schedule JV games.”

After conferring with administrators from both schools, Clark ruled Wednesday that the win counts for Kilpatrick, which is scheduled to play Lucerne Valley on the road again Nov. 12, the last week of the season. That game also will count.

Around the Leagues. . . .

* Montclair Prep’s Wilbert Smith has returned a kickoff for a touchdown in each of the Mounties’ three games and leads players in the region with 12 touchdowns.

* Royal has three running backs with more than 200 yards rushing: Mike Reddington (267), Jerome Lee (213) and Christian Broussard (210).

* Crespi has been penalized for 330 yards in three games.

* Junior Liufau’s 90-yard touchdown run for Rio Mesa against Santa Clara is the longest from scrimmage this season by an area player.

* Crescenta Valley Coach Alan Eberhart, after quarterback Dave Fielder made an early return from an ankle injury: “He heard about (Bill) Clinton’s health plan and figured he’d better get healthy.” Fielder started against Burbank but lasted only five plays before his ankle started to bother him again.

* The Washington State football team used the Burbank practice field for a run-through last Saturday morning--which captured the attention of more than 100 passersby. The results weren’t good. Hours later, the Cougars lost to USC, 34-3.

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Staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Paige A. Leech and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.