Tiebreaker Had Its Share of Oddities

How strange was the California tiebreaker between Kennedy and El Camino Real highs at Birmingham High on Monday that decided a berth in the City Section 4-A Division playoffs?

Start with the score. When neither team was able to score in eight plays from scrimmage, El Camino Real was declared the winner based on yardage. The result? A 1-0 victory.

How else was it a strange afternoon? Count the ways. . . .

* Visually--As the tiebreaker was played, the Birmingham cross-country team continued to run laps on the track that encircles the field. No more than 250 spectators were in attendance.

* Logically--Sylmar was named the 4-A Division’s top-seeded team. Sylmar has a record of 8-1-1, and the loss was at the hands of El Camino Real and the tie was courtesy of Kennedy. Yet the teams were forced to play an elimination tiebreaker because they finished in a tie for third in the North Valley League at 4-2-1.

* Mathematically--Kennedy Coach Bob Francola pointed out that the winner of the tiebreaker would be designated the 10th-seeded team. In short, the winner, which earned an at-large berth, was assigned a higher seeding than six of the teams in the field. Consequently, El Camino Real (7-2-1) will face Carson.

“If the winner is good enough to be seeded 10th, then why aren’t both teams good enough to be in the playoffs?” Francola reasoned.

* Emotionally--El Camino Real was already on its bus and headed homeward as Kennedy’s players remained behind on the sideline, shocked at the results of the tiebreaker.

Neither Francola nor El Camino Real co-Coach Mike Maio wanted to play the tiebreaker. The coaches agreed that both teams were good enough to have been granted playoff berths no matter the circumstances.

“Mike and I were both emotional when we met beforehand because we knew somebody was going home with a broken heart,” Francola said.

* Analytically--Here’s the rub.

El Camino Real, Kennedy, Granada Hills, San Fernando and Taft all compete in the North Valley because they want to play in the 4-A Division. Only two teams are guaranteed playoff berths.

The tiebreaker was played five days after administrators from the two major City conferences in the San Fernando Valley voted unanimously to make only a minor modification in the conference alignments for the 1994-95 season and beyond. Birmingham and Reseda will change conference positions.

Had a more extensive realignment been agreed to, and the teams more equitably distributed, the playing field would have been leveled. As a result, the balance of power remains largely unchanged in the conferences and the problem experienced by El Camino Real and Kennedy--solid teams in a highly competitive league--will continue indefinitely.

It was broke. They didn’t fix it.

NORTH VALLEY LEAGUE

Venturine’s Revenge

Ryan Venturine wants to set the record straight. He might have been ejected during El Camino Real’s 22-22 tie with Kennedy last week, but he insists he was wrongly accused.

The game film backs him up, he says.

“My dad’s so mad he’s writing a letter (to the City athletics office) downtown to complain about the refs,” Venturine said. “That’s my reputation we’re talking about.”

Venturine, a quarterback and defensive back, was involved in a scuffle along the Kennedy sideline with Golden Cougar receiver Antwane Smith. Both players were ejected.

Venturine gained a measure of revenge, though. He completed three of five passes for 51 yards as El Camino Real defeated Kennedy in the tiebreaker.

“I had to finish what I started,” said Venturine, referring to Friday’s ejection. “It was my best game all year. It was homecoming, I was in a zone. I was on a roll.”

*

It was not a good week to be Mike Ferguson.

Ferguson, Taft’s quietly efficient quarterback, landed on his left shoulder while being tackled by a San Fernando defender last week and suffered a broken left collarbone. Ferguson, who passed for 1,185 yards and 17 touchdowns, will miss the rest of the season.

To make things worse, Taft lost, 19-18, blowing its undefeated season and a shot at the top seeding in the City 4-A playoffs, which open Friday.

What’s more, Ferguson committed two rare turnovers. He had thrown only one interception entering the game.

“I threw an interception and fumbled, so maybe it’s a good thing I got out of there,” Ferguson cracked.

Worst of all was that Ferguson and his family had to fly to Salt Lake City over the weekend to attend the funeral of the quarterback’s grandmother.

MARMONTE LEAGUE

Decision Time

This has not been the most pleasurable season for longtime Agoura football Coach Frank Greminger.

After beginning the league season 3-0, the Chargers lost four in a row and failed to qualify for the Southern Section Division III playoffs. Agoura finished 4-6, 3-4 in league play.

Greminger said a year ago that this season would be his last. Despite the Chargers’ rough road, however, Greminger is unsure if he is ready to hang up his headset and clipboard.

“It’s really tough to give it up,” Greminger, 55, said. “I thought I didn’t have the energy to commit to all of the work, but now that the time is here to make a decision it’s another story completely.”

Greminger, in his 24th season at Agoura, is the all-time area leader in coaching victories. His record is 153-100-3.

Greminger said he will make a decision about retirement early next year.

“(Football) has been my life since I was a teen-ager,” he said. “Maybe it should be for a little longer.”

SANTA FE LEAGUE

Taking It All Off

If St. Genevieve Coach Richard Fong had any trouble believing his team really had won the league championship, he needed only to scratch his head for proof.

When Fong arrived at the school three years ago, he promised the players they could shave his head after the Valiants won a league title. The championship was theirs after a 28-27 victory Thursday night. On Friday during lunch, Fong made good on his half of the deal.

“They wanted to go all the way to the skin, but I was afraid it wouldn’t grow back,” said Fong, who has a little fuzz left. “I told them if we won the (Southern Section title), they could shave the mustache.”

*

Not to detract from what the Valiants accomplished by beating two-time defending champion Murphy to win the title last week, but it should be noted that the Nobles played the second half without their top runner and top receiver.

Receiver-defensive back Gibbons St. Paul, probably the best all-around player in the league, left the game in the second quarter because of a hip injury. Running back Brent Snowden, who gained 79 yards in 15 first-half carries, did not play in the second half because of a shoulder injury.

Around the Leagues . . .

* Despite missing two games because of a knee injury, Buena senior George Keiaho finished second in the Channel League--first in Ventura County--in rushing with 1,836 yards in 247 carries (a 7.43-yard average). Aaron Molinar of San Marcos has 1,860 yards and leads the Channel League. Camarillo senior Robert Smith led the Marmonte League with 1,130 in 180 carries (a 6.27-yard average). Keiaho also led the county in scoring with 162 points (27 touchdowns).

* Bill Redell, in his inaugural year at St. Francis, had his first losing season in six years as a high school head coach. Redell, who coached the Golden Knights to a 3-7 mark, was 43-16-1 in five seasons at Crespi.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Paige A. Leech and Jason H. Reid 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 10-0 2 3 Quartz Hill Golden 10-0 3 4 Hart Foothill 9-1 4 2 Taft North Valley 9-1 5 5 Antelope Valley Golden 8-2 6 8 Crescenta Valley Pacific 8-2 7 10 Sylmar East Valley 8-1-1 8 NR Ventura Channel 8-2 9 6 Westlake Marmonte 7-2-1 10 NR San Fernando North Valley 7-3

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Team Last week This week Newbury Park Def. Westlake, 42-21 Leuzinger Quartz Hill Def. Littlerock, 66-13 San Clemente Foothill Def. Canyon, 35-18 Pasadena Taft Lost to San Fernando, 19-18 Eagle Rock Antelope Valley Def. Ridgecrest Burroughs, 34-9 Fontana Crescenta Valley Def. Arcadia, 27-0 Gahr Sylmar Def. North Hollywood, 48-6 Jefferson Ventura Def. Buena, 19-14 Bell Gardens Westlake Lost to Newbury Park, 42-21 Santa Barbara San Fernando Def. Taft, 19-18 Dorsey