Cook, Smigiel Talk at Length Before Gag Order Takes Effect

It’s not unusual to find UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook and Arizona tackle Joe Smigiel burning up the phone lines between Westwood and Tucson. They’re close friends and they keep in touch, especially during football season.

But this week--as the two former Newbury Park High teammates become rivals in the most important football game of their lives--Cook and Smigiel are talking daily.

“We’ve already talked three times this week and I’m supposed to call him again tonight,” Cook said Tuesday.

Cook and Smigiel, who played one year together at Newbury Park but didn’t get close until they moved on to Division I schools, swap scouting reports on other Pacific 10 Conference teams. They are choosing their words carefully this week before Saturday night’s showdown at the Rose Bowl.

Said Cook: “We’ve talked about how good it is that both of us are starting in a big game, and that, all of sudden, things are coming together for us.”

Cook, a junior, twice this season has tied the school record for touchdown passes in a game with four. With four games left, Cook needs 10 more to tie Troy Aikman’s single-season mark of 24.

Smigiel, a junior who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 276 pounds, took a circuitous route to Arizona. He committed early to Arizona State, but the Sun Devils didn’t offer him a scholarship. He played one season at Cal State Long Beach under George Allen, then, like Cook, Smigiel suffered a knee injury that sidelined him his sophomore season.

After the 49ers dropped football, Smigiel was picked up by Arizona, where Cook’s father, Ken, was a captain and most valuable player in 1962 as an end.

Cook and Smigiel talk just as much about their personal lives as they do about football.

“He’s on TV,” Smigiel said. “He’s all over the newspapers. He’s the UCLA quarterback. He’s a stud, but he’s also the biggest mama’s boy around. Smigiel teases Cook for going home each Sunday to have his mother, Linda, do his laundry.

Both players have dreamed of what has become reality. Both will be in the starting lineup as the No. 15 Bruins (5-2, 3-1 in Pac-10 play) and No. 7 Wildcats (7-0, 4-0) square off in a game that could determine which team goes to the Rose Bowl.

“We don’t like to look at it that way,” Smigiel said, noting that each team has three conference games remaining after Saturday. “But facts are facts. (Arizona has) never played in the Rose Bowl on January 1. So you can imagine what’s going on here.”

Said Cook: “If we get by this game you could say we’re in the driver’s seat--we control our own destiny. But who knows? This is the Pac-10.”

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain: Cook and Smigiel will get together Saturday night and one rule will be in effect: no talk about the game.

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Well-schooled: Two former Harvard-Westlake soccer stars have continue their success in the Ivy League.

David Moran, a sophomore forward at Dartmouth, is the Big Green’s leading scorer with four goals and two assists. Moran was named the league’s rookie of the year last season.

Yale freshman Dwight Angelini has started all 12 matches for the Bulldogs, 11 of them at sweeper, and has three assists.

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Checking the fax: Livingston (Ala.) quarterback Marty Washington (Quartz Hill/Antelope Valley College) passed for 502 yards and seven touchdowns in a 60-55 victory over Delta State Saturday in the Gulf South Conference. Washington set a school and conference record for touchdown passes in a game.

At Pepperdine, former Royal players Jack Kocur (26 goals) and Mike Radka (18) rank third and fourth in scoring on the men’s water polo team. Freshman forward Jennifer Evans (Royal) leads the women’s soccer team with 13 goals, six of which were game-winners.