It Gets Crazy When Espana Takes the Field

With that hank of bright red hair, Reseda High quarterback Nilson (Red) Espana is hard to miss. Evidently, he’s also hard to forget.

As Espana, a junior backup, warmed up to play in last week’s game against Kennedy, Reseda assistant Mike Stone half-jokingly told a reporter on the sideline: “Get your camera. This guy’s a psycho.”

Espana, barely within earshot, stopped warming up and asked what Stone said. Uh, nothing much, was the response.

“Well, I am a psycho,” Espana said, grinning.

Espana entered the game, ran left on a planned rollout to the right, threw a wobbly pass that was intercepted and turned an ankle . . . on the same play.

“He’s a strange kid,” Coach Joel Schaeffer said. “I call him ‘Short-circuit.’ He’s an accident waiting to happen sometimes.”

NORTH VALLEY LEAGUE

Food for Thought

Best way to a lineman’s heart?

Through his stomach, it seems.

Taft assistant Frank Grossman told his five starting offensive linemen that he’d buy them breakfast if they each recorded a “pancake block” during last week’s key game against El Camino Real. A pancake, of course, is when the defender is knocked on his backside.

On Sunday, Grossman followed through and bought the boys a short stack.

“Pancakes means pancakes,” Joey Rothman cracked.

Rothman definitely earned his meal. He claims to have flattened El Camino Real lineman James Romero, a 6-foot-7, 330-pound senior.

GOLDEN LEAGUE

Norris on Record Pace

Quartz Hill senior quarterback Brad Norris broke one school single-season passing record and moved to within striking distance of three others with his 243-yard, two-touchdown performance in a 48-37 win over Palmdale.

Norris now owns the school record with 1,736 passing yards, breaking the mark of 1,615 he set as a junior. Norris also has completed 107 passes, three shy of his school record, and needs 27 attempts to tie the record (216) he set last year.

Norris has 14 touchdown passes, one shy of the record set by Jake Haro, who led the Rebels to the Southern Section Division I final at Anaheim Stadium in 1990.

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Rocque Sandoval shouldn’t feel too bad. Others have shared the experience.

The Palmdale quarterback threw four interceptions last week, all in the second half, as Quartz Hill (7-0) rallied to win one of the league’s wildest shootouts in years.

Sandoval passed for 278 yards as the Falcons took a 31-21 lead at halftime.

“I’ve never seen a kid throw better,” Quartz Hill Coach John Albee said. In the second half, however, the Quartz Hill defense responded--which isn’t unusual.

Five players have at least two interceptions: Punche Tuenge (five), Jeremy Sanders (five), Erik Williams (three), Keith Lilley (three), Dion Finley (two) and Brian Stouch (two).

Sandoval finished with 392 yards, the top yardage mark in the nation for the night, according to USA Today.

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Palmdale’s cross-country team suffered a big loss last week when sophomore Marcus Castro quit the team, but Coach Rob Fairley said the Falcons are trying to make the best of the situation.

Castro, the defending Golden League champion, had been Palmdale’s No. 2 runner behind junior Antonio Arce before informing Fairley that he no longer wanted to run.

“His decision was that he didn’t want to do it any more,” Fairley said. “And I just said, ‘OK. I can’t force you to run.’ The guys have pretty much accepted the fact that he’s no longer going to be around.”

Palmdale, the No. 7-ranked team in the state Division I poll, finished a well-beaten eighth in the team sweepstakes race at Saturday’s Mt. San Antonio College Invitational without Castro, but Fairley still thinks the Falcons can advance to the state championships.

“We can’t have any bad races out of our top five guys,” he said, “but we still feel like we can make it to the state meet.”

MISSION LEAGUE

Desperation Time

Chaminade football Coach Rich Lawson is frustrated. After the Eagles won the Mission League title and finished 8-3 a year ago, Lawson has seen his team lose its best player--Franklin Saunders--to injury and start 2-5, 0-2 in league play.

The last two losses are by a combined score of 75-10.

“I’ve been wondering about teams that are winless at this point,” Lawson said. “What do they do? I just took all the sharp objects out of my desk Saturday morning. It sure makes you appreciate the wins.”

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How dominant was Notre Dame in its 42-3 victory over Harvard-Westlake last week?

* A Notre Dame offensive lineman was called for holding 14 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. After the officials marked off the penalty, Notre Dame still had enough for the first down.

* The Wolverines had been averaging 203 yards rushing. Notre Dame held them to 53.

* Harvard-Westlake had not allowed a sack all season. Notre Dame sacked the Wolverines five times.

* Alvan Arzu, a sophomore running back who had touched the ball three times before Friday, gained 57 yards in five carries in the fourth quarter.

* Notre Dame won despite 80 yards in penalties.

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Alemany basketball players, who guided the squad to the Southern Section Division III-AA championship game last season, form the heart of the volleyball team.

Samantha Rigley (an all-state sophomore selection in basketball), Kelly McKay, Kathy Brown and Lori Shigematsu play both sports. Brown is the team’s starting setter and McKay the team’s kill leader.

The team would possess even more height and talent if basketball players Zevette Mitchell (6-0) and sophomore Carly Funicello (6-1) had stuck with volleyball after practicing with the team last spring.

“At that practice, the first time Carly jumped, her head was higher than the net,” Coach Tim Browne said.

“(Assistant) Anna Garcia and I just looked at each other and started giggling. I told Carly she could be all-state in two sports by the time she was a senior.”

MARMONTE LEAGUE

Name Game

The Simi Valley volleyball team has avoided an identity crisis, though six of the Pioneers’ 13 players are named Kristin, or Kristen, or some variation thereof.

They are: Kristin Sampson, Kristin Scott, Kristen Hansen, Kristi Dimmick, Christy James and Christina Conmay.

“All we have to say is, ‘Kristi--do it!’ and someone’s going to do it,” Coach Jerry Garon said.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

Respectability at Hand

Moorpark football Coach Rob Dearborn expects a crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 for tonight’s home game against two-time defending Frontier League champion Nordhoff. Maybe he should expect more. Moorpark fans have been waiting for a league championship since World War II and the Musketeers--with a victory--could take a big step toward one.

Asked if he has prepared a dramatic speech for his players before they take the field, Dearborn said he plans to say nothing special.

“I’m just going to talk about how people don’t respect us and how we weren’t picked to do anything this year,” said Dearborn, whose team hasn’t won a league title since 1943.

Also on the line for Moorpark (5-1-1, 1-0 in league play) is a chance to post the best record since the school opened in 1909. The Musketeers have never finished better than 7-3.

Apparently Nordhoff (5-2, 2-0) doesn’t expect Moorpark to steal its crown. While viewing videotape of Nordhoff’s recent victory over Calabasas, Dearborn said he saw players and coaches brandishing T-shirts that said “Threepeat” as soon as the game ended.

Dearborn said his seniors should be ready to end the reign of futility. Two years ago, those players won the first junior varsity championship for Moorpark in 25 years.

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Four Frontier League running backs are on pace to gain 1,000 yards, including Nordhoff’s Josh Hawkins (103 carries, 913 yards), Moorpark’s Bryan Wilkins (126-739) and Calabasas’ Matt Findlay (133-724), who play for winning teams. But none have been more striking than Paul Soliz, who has rushed for 844 yards in 98 carries. Soliz averages 8.6 yards per carry for a 2-5 Santa Clara team.

Around the Leagues. . . .

* Crespi receiver Wayne Emerson, who has not played this season because of a foot injury, practiced for the first time last week and was in uniform for pregame warm-ups on Saturday against Loyola. Emerson, the team’s leading receiver in 1992, might play tonight against St. Paul.

* Thirteen players have scored touchdowns for Sylmar, which is averaging 269 yards a game rushing. Sylmar has outscored opponents, 239-33.

* Kennedy junior quarterback Dan McMullen has passed for 1,029 yards in seven games, the second-best single-season mark posted by a Golden Cougar quarterback since 1980, when Bob Daniels threw for 1,370. McMullen’s brother, Mike, passed for 1,328 yards in 1990.

* Taft quarterback Mike Ferguson is waging a war on turnovers. Ferguson has thrown for 861 yards and eight touchdowns on 45-of-90 passing--and has yet to throw an interception. No other area City Section passer with more than five pass attempts can make that claim.

* Harvard-Westlake water polo goalie Bepe Khayatian scored his second goal Tuesday against Notre Dame. The senior’s 70-foot shot hit the post and went in. He also scored against Loyola on Sept. 21 on a length-of-the-pool shot.

* Providence volleyball Coach Jeff McClean made a crucial mistake Tuesday that almost cost his team the Liberty League championship. With his team tied, 13-13, in the fifth game against second-place Lynwood, McClean made an illegal substitution, for which Lynwood was awarded a point to make the score 14-13. But his team rallied to win the game, 16-14, and clinched the title.

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