THROWBACK FROM PAST

It was a play Paul Hornung made famous when he played for Notre Dame and the Green Bay Packers. Westchester running back Jermaine Lewis ran a sweep right and threw a pass back to quarterback Seka Edwards, who raced down the left sideline for a 25-yard touchdown. Westchester went on to beat Venice, 38-27.

“That’s the kind of play you expect from an athlete like Edwards,” Venice co-coach Tony Chretin said. “You could see his body was parallel to the ground. What really surprised us is Lewis’ throw between two defenders. It won the game.”

The victory ended Venice’s five-game winning streak and a chance to win the Western League title outright. It also answered questions about the character of the Westchester team.

“It reaffirmed our belief that we can win the big games,” Comet Coach Larry Wein said. “I felt the Venice game gave us a big lift and momentum heading into the playoffs.”

Although Edwards and Griffin figured in the big play, Westchester received contributions from two unexpected sources. Courtney Brown had three catches for 80 yards and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. Lance Quarles had four receptions for 42 yards, including three catches for first downs.

ONE MISTAKE TOO MANY

Chretin believes the Gondoliers would be celebrating a Western League championship this week if not for five turnovers in the loss to Westchester.

“We knew beforehand we had to avoid those mistakes,” Chretin said. “We could overcome them against other teams. But against better ones, like Westchester, that wasn’t the case.”

With a victory against Manual Arts on Friday, Venice can become co-league champions. Robert Hayes, who injured his hand on the opening kickoff against Westchester but returned three plays later, is questionable for Friday’s game.

INSTANT SUCCESS

St. Bernard did not have to wait long to score a touchdown against Bishop Montgomery on Friday. For the third time this season, Larry Stanback returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. This time Stanback ran 98 yards for the score as the Vikings scored six first-half touchdowns en route to a 42-7 win.

With the win, St. Bernard (3-1 in the Mission League) ensured a spot in the Division IV playoffs. The Vikings, however, need to beat Harvard-Westlake (0-4) to avoid playing a top-seeded team in the playoffs. Last season, St. Bernard entered the playoffs as a wild-card team and lost to top-seeded Rubidoux in the first round.

“It’s tough duty trying to beat a first-place team,” St. Bernard Coach Mike Noonan said. “We can’t let up and stop playing hard because we are in the playoffs.”

If St. Bernard should lose, the Vikings could end up part of a three-way tie for second with Bishop Montgomery and Chaminade, who would have to win their games.

Noonan, however, does not expect Bishop Montgomery to upset first-place Notre Dame.

“That would be the greatest upset in the history of high school football,” Noonan said. “Bishop Montgomery is a sound little football team, but it does not match up well with Notre Dame.”

KICKING HIMSELF

Leading 14-13 against Serra, St. Monica had the ball on fourth down on the Cavaliers’ three-yard line when the team was called for illegal procedure. Instead of attempting a field goal, Mariner Coach Norm Lacy elected to go for a touchdown on fourth and eight with 6 minutes 28 seconds left. Quarterback Oscar Casillas threw an incomplete pass to Steve Pulley.

Serra took over at the eight and drove to the Mariner 10, where Michael Wiley kicked a 27-yard field goal with 33 seconds left to give Serra a 16-14 win. It was Serra’s first field goal.

“This was a great game to watch,” Lacy said. “Unfortunately, we were on the downside of this one.”

St. Monica has to beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. If the Mariners lose and Serra wins, there will be a three-way tie for second with Verbum Dei. A coin flip would determine which two teams would qualify for the playoffs.

PLAYING FOR PRIDE

Beverly Hills hopes to make up for its dismal season with a win against rival Culver City today at Beverly Hills. The Normans are 2-7, 1-2 in the Ocean League. The Centaurs (6-3, 3-0) have clinched the league title.

Norman Coach Carter Paysinger, however, said records are unimportant when the two teams meet.

“Every year . . . this game is a battle,” Paysinger said. “This game is for us. We want to make up for this season.”

Receiver Taylor Humphries scored a touchdown for the second consecutive week in the Normans’ 24-0 win over Morningside on Friday. Humphries has caught at least one touchdown pass in the six games he has played.

Sophomore Aaron Kogan had another impressive game, rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown in 25 carries.

UP TO THE TASK

A matchup to watch in the Culver City-Beverly Hills game will be 5-foot-8 Centaur Jahmal Wright, who was an all-league cornerback last year as a sophomore, defending 6-3 Norman receiver Taylor Humphries.

“We usually put Jahmal on the best receiver,” Culver City assistant Anthony Thomas said. “Taylor is a real threat since he runs precise patterns and gives the quarterback a good target because he’s tall.”

NOW OR NEVER

Hollywood (0-9) will play host to Franklin in its season finale. Hollywood has been shut out in three of its past four games and been outscored, 131-12, during the span.

The prospect of a winless season has not fazed Hollywood Coach Bob O’Connor, whose team features several first-year players. What O’Connor finds upsetting has been opposing teams’ tendencies to run up the score.

This was the case in a 40-0 defeat against Lincoln Oct. 22. Lincoln Coach Randy Rodriguez said he decided to run up the score because his players were victims of cheap shots from Hollywood players.

“I am normally happy with a 20-0 ballgame, but Hollywood was deliberately going for the facemask and stuff like that,” Rodriguez said. “We wanted to score as many touchdowns as we could.”

O’Connor said he gives playing time to his reserves whenever his team is ahead or behind by four touchdowns. He attributes the penalties to his players’ inexperience and said coaches such as Rodriguez have lost “the values of sportsmanship.”

“Coaches who are educators teach the ethics which the American Coaches Football Assn. advocates,” O’Connor said. “Luckily, most coaches fit this pattern. We are building a program based on hard work and good sportsmanship. I guess Coach Rodriguez and I have different philosophies of education and fair play in sport.”

COMING ATTRACTIONS

O’Connor is putting the finishing touches on a book co-authored with Seattle Seahawk Coach Tom Flores titled “Football--The Violent Chess Match.”

“It’s for the fans and tries to give them an idea of the theory and tactics of what’s going on,” O’Connor said.

The book will be in stores in early 1994. But for those who can’t wait, O’Connor and Flores have two books on shelves already, “Coaching Football” and “Youth Football.”

UPSET VICTIM

University can win the Metro League championship with a victory against Hamilton on Friday, but not with the same level of play it had in a 28-0 loss to Los Angeles, according to Coach Marshall Jones.

“It doesn’t matter what team we go against,” he said. “If we play like we did last week, we’re going to lose.”

The shutout of University was the Romans’ first league win.

“We watched them at the beginning of the season and they were not a good football team,” he said. “The coaches and players managed to hang in there. They kept getting better and then everything jelled. And they really took it to us.”

A slow adjustment to a change in the Los Angeles defensive front and poor execution led to the upset, according to Jones.

“We had an interception on our first drive and had a touchdown pass to Mike Lee called back,” he said. “After that, we never could break it.”

Sophomore tailback Marco Pleas returned from an Achilles’ tendon injury and rushed for 36 yards in 11 carries. He had been rushing for 122.7 yards a game.

“Considering everything, he had a good day, with a 21-yard run and another for 10,” Jones said. “But it was not a good day to come back. We weren’t blocking very well.”

PLAYING TO A STRENGTH

Murphy will play St. Genevieve for its third consecutive Santa Fe League championship, and Noble Coach Greg Dixon thinks tonight’s game will present a challenge.

“They’re very disciplined and they make few mistakes,” Dixon said. “On the other hand, we’ve been known to make quite a few.”

St. Genevieve, with quarterback Alex Muller, will also be the first passing team Murphy has played this season. But Dixon says the strength of the Murphy defense has been its secondary, particularly the play of Gibbons St. Paul.

“No one has really challenged him so far,” Dixon said. “A lot of teams don’t throw to his side. It just doesn’t work.”

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Pierce held off a late rally by West L.A. to defeat the Oilers, 31-29, in a Western State Conference Southern Division game Saturday at West L.A. The game was played without incident between the coaching staffs.

Last year, a confrontation arose when West L.A. Coach Rob Hager and his staff were scouting a Pierce game. Hager said they were asked to leave the sidelines and threatened by a Brahma assistant sent by Coach Bill Norton.

On Saturday, though, there were troubles among Norton and his staff.

Early in the first quarter, Norton got into a shouting match with outside linebackers coach Chris Setterberg. Norton eventually yanked off Setterberg’s headset.

Norton ordered Setterberg off the sideline in the second half. Setterberg told players he had been fired.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Setterberg said.

Trailing, 31-14, West L.A. quarterback Damon Williams scored on an 11-yard run with 2:55 left. The Oilers recovered the onside kick. Williams and Demilio Bynum connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 left. Williams and Bynum hooked up on the two-point conversion pass to cut the deficit to 31-29.

West L.A. regained possession with 16 seconds left, but a desperation pass fell incomplete as time expired.