THE BIG GAME

This week’s big prep football game pits a pair of high-throttled ground attacks in a Suburban League showdown that may decide the ultimate league champion.

La Mirada (6-1, 2-0) plays at Bellflower (6-1, 2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

“That’s their game, power football,” Bellflower Coach Ron Vander Sluis said. “And we try to run, too. So it all boils down to who can run the ball best at you will win.”

The Bucs have averaged 28 points a game in their last three outings. Running back Mark Hays gained 93 yards in last week’s 26-14 victory over Glenn. Quarterback Jay Young ran for three touchdowns and passed for another.

“For us to win, we’ll have to contain their speed, not let them get outside,” La Mirada Coach John Mele said.

With running back Ryan Hura at full strength, La Mirada has racked up 62 points in its first two league games. Hura ran for 166 yards in a 32-8 victory over Glenn, then got 143 in a 34-0 win at Norwalk. Running back Albert Smith, who gained 168 yards in a 30-7 victory over La Habra on Oct. 1, will also see action Friday. One key has been the return of offensive center John Garcia, who missed several games with a knee injury.

“We’re going to see what they will give us and take advantage of it,” Mele said. “We can throw the ball if we have to, but if they give us the run, like Norwalk did last week, we’ll just pound that.

Bellflower has held its opponents to an average of 10 points a game. Hays, an outside linebacker, has teamed with inside linebacker Keith Silva, who also plays offensive guard, and two-way lineman Jose Perez, to thwart opponents. The Bucs’ only loss was Oct. 1 to San Clemente, 10-7. La Mirada’s only loss came Oct. 7 against one of Orange County’s top-rated teams, Valencia, 23-6.

ONE FOR THE RECORD

Mayfair defeated Artesia, 41-25, last Friday, the first win by the Monsoons over the Pioneers in a dozen years. Mayfair (2-5, 1-1) continues Suburban League play at Glenn at 7:30 p.m. Friday before winding up the season with games at home against La Mirada and at Bellflower.

GENDER EQUITY

Long Beach State is in better shape than most in the California State University system in the wake of a decision requiring each school to achieve gender equity on sports teams by the 1998-99 season, according to interim Athletic Director Dave O’Brien.

“We are one of the few universities in the country that is very, very close to having a program that meets the Title IX guidelines,” O’Brien said, referring to the federal law that guarantees equal opportunities for women in sports.

On Oct. 21 the university system announced that it will require schools to bring participation opportunities and funding for women’s sports in line with those of men’s programs by the start of the 1998-99 season. The policy results from settlement of a lawsuit filed in February by the National Organization for Women. NOW claimed that CSU was in violation of state laws that guarantee equal opportunities for women in sports, as well as the federal statute Title IX.

Long Beach State offers eight men’s and eight women’s sports, O’Brien said. Currently 46 1/2 athletic scholarships are available to women at Long Beach, while the men have 37 1/2. In addition, the amount of money spent on women’s scholarships, about $48,000, is “within about” 5% of the men’s scholarship dollars, which are “in the low $50,000s,” O’Brien said. That is the maximum differential allowed by the terms of the settlement.

The settlement also calls for each of the 19 universities with athletic programs in the CSU system to provide funding to increase the number of women participating in sports in proportion to the number of eligible female undergraduates on campus. At Long Beach, approximately 53% of all students are female, but only 40% of the athletes are female.

“In that regard, we’ve got some work to do,” O’Brien said.

He is considering adding some sports in the near future, including women’s swimming and women’s soccer. He also wants to add men’s swimming, tennis and soccer and believes that can be done eventually without jeopardizing gender equity.

O’Brien is considering putting a cap on the number of athletes who can be on men’s rosters, while encouraging some women’s teams to have more players.

“The numbers are a little skewed right now,” he said. “Take our golf teams, for example. They’re coached by a husband and wife. The husband coaches the men and would prefer as many people came out as possible for the team. The wife prefers just a certain number of women on her team. That ratio can be changed easily.”

Last spring there were 14 players listed on the men’s golf roster and only six on the women’s golf roster.

NOW filed its suit after a 1992 suit was brought against Cal State Fullerton by members of its women’s volleyball team when the school announced that it would drop the sport. The volleyball suit was dropped after Fullerton agreed to reinstate the program and adopt a 10-year plan to achieve athletic gender equity. NOW representatives said the Fullerton case prompted them to press the gender equity issue throughout the CSU system, and they have indicated that they will turn their attention soon to the University of California system and other institutions.

“In some ways the job has only begun,” said Linda Joplin, California NOW state coordinator.

A 1988-89 CSU survey found that 53% of the CSU systems’ 347,000 students were females, but only 30% of all athletes were women. The survey also revealed that men received 74% of all athletic department funds, while women received only 25% and coeducational teams received 1%.

BEST START IN YEARS

It is too early to talk about a national title, but the Long Beach City College football team continues to surprise with its best start in almost three decades.

The Vikings, who play host to El Camino College at 7 p.m. Saturday in a Mission Conference game, are on a 7-0 roll. There is talk of a bowl bid after LBCC knocked off the third-ranked team in the nation, Mt. San Antonio College of Walnut, 24-22, on Saturday.

“The team is a really scrappy bunch,” Coach Larry Reisbig said. “We play well as a full team, but don’t have real outstanding statistics by any sense of the imagination.”

Quarterback Ray Domingo passed for 235 yards against Mt. SAC.

Special teams have played an important role in the Vikings’ success. A 17-yard field goal by Geoff Prince with less than three minutes remaining provided the difference.

“We’ve played well offensively and defensively,” Reisbig said. “But it’s very gratifying to see the special teams play so well week in and week out.”

On Oct. 3, four field goals and several punts were key ingredients in a 33-21 victory over San Diego Mesa College.

Reisbig is excited. So is the team, but there is plenty more work to be accomplished, the coach said.

“It’s nice to see the kids get some publicity. But again, they’re so young, as long as they don’t absorb themselves in it and believe it to be true, we’ll be fine.”

It is too early to lock up a bowl bid, though. More than half a dozen community college bowl games are held each season, with invitations going out sometime in early November.

“Another win and we can start thinking about it, but it’s still early,” he said.

SWORDSMAN TRANSFER

Jason Reynolds, a two-way starter for the Tustin High School football team, transferred to St. Paul High last week, just days before his new school lost, 24-0, to Bishop Amat, the No. 1-ranked team in the Southern Section Division I. He is reunited with Marijon Ancich, who coached Reynolds for three years at Tustin before taking the job at St. Paul last May. Reynolds did not play in the loss to Bishop Amat.

Reynolds’ father, Art, is an assistant coach at St. Paul. He is employed by the Tustin Unified School District as a noon supervisor on the Tustin campus.

“We felt it was rather bizarre, but maybe the fact he coached at St. Paul had something to do with it,” Tustin Athletic Director Al Rosmino said. “(Art Reynolds) told us the lease ran out on his home in Tustin and that he was relocating and wanted Jason to be with him.

“He felt it would be in his best interest at this time and that’s all the reason they gave us.”

Bill Clark, Southern Section administrator in charge of football, said: “If there’s a bona fide change of address, (Reynolds) would be eligible (to play) immediately.”

Reynolds, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound fullback and linebacker for the Tillers, was the team’s leading rusher, gaining 472 yards and averaging 5.9 per carry. He also started for the Tustin basketball team last season.

Reynolds left the school four days after Tustin (3-3, 1-2 in league play) was upset by a 1-4 Saddleback team, making it unlikely that the Tillers will earn one of the three automatic playoff berths in the eight-team Sea View League. The Tillers lost Friday to Newport Harbor, 23-7. St. Paul is 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Del Rey League. The Swordsmen play Crespi on Friday at Encino.

BIG WEST HONORS

For the second week this season, outside hitter Nichelle Burton of Long Beach State has been named volleyball player of the week in the Big West Conference. Long Beach, which defeated Hawaii twice last week, plays at New Mexico State tonight and at San Jose State on Saturday.

Burton leads the 49ers in digs (195) and ranks second on the team in hitting percentage (.357). In the first meeting against Hawaii in Honolulu last Friday, she had a career-high hitting percentage of .444, while recording 24 digs. On Saturday she hit .400. Long Beach won Friday’s match 16-14, 6-15, 15-10, 15-7. It recorded a sweep Saturday, 15-2, 15-6, 15-8.

The 49ers are in second place in the Big West, a game behind UC Santa Barbara.