At Bell-Jeff, They Play, Tie by the Rules

Bell-Jeff High Coach Doug Woodlief dug into the rule book Saturday to help his team avoid falling to 0-7.

Leading, 21-18, with 10 seconds to play, Salesian lined up for a punt near its end zone. Woodlief, who was surprised the Mustangs were passing up a chance to take a safety and get a free kick from their 20, instructed his return team to call for a fair catch to preserve time.

The punter shanked the ball to his right, where cornerback Danny Hughes was waiting. Hughes called for a fair catch at the Salesian 26. The clock never started.

At this point, Woodlief remembered a rarely invoked rule that allows a team to take a free kick after a fair catch.

Rather than take a shot at the end zone and a victory, Woodlief sent kicker Richard Szeptcki out to try for a tying field goal. Woodlief said his players didn’t even know what was going on because they didn’t know the rule.

After Szeptcki’s kick split the uprights to tie the score, Bell-Jeff, which lost its first six games, finally had a non-loss.

“In our situation, we needed something positive and I think a tie was a lot more positive than another loss,” Woodlief said.

Woodlief, who played at Memphis State and for the Rams, said it was the first time the free-kick rule had been used in a game in which he played or coached.

“I saw this about two years ago in a pro game,” Woodlief said. “I’d heard about it before.”

MISSION LEAGUE

Major Breakthrough

For the first time in Coach Rich Corso’s eight seasons at Harvard-Westlake, his water polo team has made the cut to participate in the prestigious John Felix State Invitational.

Only the top six teams from Southern Section Division I and the No. 1-ranked squad in Division II are chosen as part of the 16-team statewide field. The tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at De Anza College in Cupertino.

“It’s taken us eight years to get to this level,” Corso said. “It’s a big event for us and the players are really excited about it. It’s great competition and preparation for playoffs.”

The Wolverines (18-1, 7-0 in league play) open against San Jose Bellarmine, and in their second game could meet El Toro, which defeated Harvard-Westlake, 10-9, in last year’s section championship game in double overtime.

NORTHWEST VALLEY

Eligibility Updates

As expected, the City Section this week granted athletic eligibility to Chatsworth basketball player Jerome Joseph, a transfer from Montclair Prep.

Joseph, a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who started last season, sought and was granted a financial-hardship waiver. Joseph helps fill out one of the most talented and youngest teams in the region.

“He gives us another guy we can count on,” Coach Sandy Greentree said.

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The eligibility of Reseda basketball player Roderick Jones (6-4, senior) seemingly has been approved despite the City’s ruling last week that students who are granted an opportunity transfer for disciplinary reasons must forfeit a year of athletic eligibility. The rule takes effect in the winter-sports calendar.

It seems the new rule does not apply to Jones after all, according to Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern.

Halpern said a review of Jones’ transfer paperwork stipulates that Jones was granted an opportunity transfer from Chatsworth to Reseda for reasons of personal safety. Jones was involved in a fight at Chatsworth, which precipitated the transfer.

“If Chatsworth wants to squawk, so be it,” Halpern said. “This says to me that he’s OK and we’re going to continue under that assumption.”

Around the Leagues . . .

* Buena running back George Keiaho scored five touchdowns Friday night to boost his career total to 76, fifth-highest in state history.

* Alemany Coach Pat Degnan, a St. Paul alumnus, made a point last week of predicting that St. Paul would beat or nearly beat top-ranked Bishop Amat. Well, Pat, for the record, Bishop Amat won, 24-0.

* Since snapping its 23-game losing streak last season, St. Genevieve has won six of eight games.

* Van Nuys running back Larry Reed has scored 15 touchdowns--the most among Valley Pac-8 Conference players.

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.

The Times’ Top 10

Rankings of Valley-area high schools by sportswriters of The Times:

Rank Prev. Team League W-L 1 1 Newbury Park Marmonte 7-0 2 2 Taft North Valley 7-0 3 3 Antelope Valley Golden 6-1 4 4 Hart Foothill 6-1 5 5 Quartz Hill Golden 7-0 6 7 Crescenta Valley Pacific 6-1 7 8 Saugus Foothill 5-2 8 9 Ventura Channel 6-1 9 10 San Fernando North Valley 6-1 10 NR Westlake Marmonte 5-1-1

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Team Last week This week Newbury Park Def. Thousand Oaks, 14-6 Fri. vs. Royal Taft Def. El Camino Real, 46-14 Fri. at Granada Hills Antelope Valley Def. Highland, 38-0 Fri. at Palmdale Hart Def. Lompoc, 42-6 Fri. vs. Burroughs Quartz Hill Def. Palmdale, 48-37 Fri. at Ridge. Burroughs Crescenta Valley Def. Pasadena, 23-21 Fri. at Glendale Saugus Def. Burbank, 49-14 Sat. vs. Canyon Ventura Def. Dos Pueblos, 28-6 Fri. at Santa Barbara San Fernando Def. Cleveland, 24-0 Fri. vs. Reseda Westlake Def. Agoura, 20-12 Fri. at Camarillo