Quartz Hill Was Deluged When the Surf Came Up

A word of advice to Crespi High: It might not be a good idea to get San Clemente tailback Allen Vaughan riled up before tonight’s Division I playoff game.

Vaughan rushed for 248 yards and four touchdowns in 38 carries last week as San Clemente shocked Quartz Hill, 45-21, in a first-round game. He claimed afterward that he was targeted by Quartz Hill players who had unflattering things to say.

Quartz Hill was undefeated and ranked No. 7 in California.

“I bought a paper when we got here that said Quartz Hill was (nationally ranked) Eisenhower’s biggest stumbling block on the road to the finals,” Vaughan told the San Clemente Sun Post News. “Those guys were nothing. They were so cocky.

“They were calling us hippie (surfers) before the game. I was so happy to put it in their faces.”

Then again, San Clemente Coach Mark McElroy did nothing to dispel the surfer stereotype during the week when he expressed concern over playing in the cold air of the High Desert.

“We’re used to barbecues by the beach,” he said.

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

Is Hart Unstoppable?

Hart High’s football team took off down the stretch and appears to be soaring in the Division II playoffs. But Coach Mike Herrington wants to keep the Indians grounded as they vie for their third Southern Section championship.

Hart (10-1) averaged 24 points through the first five games of the season then 43 over the last five. The Indians opened the playoffs with a rousing 61-25 defeat of Pasadena.

Sixty-one points in a playoff game is nothing to get excited about, Herrington said.

“How much we score all depends on the defense you face and the personnel you face,” cautioned Herrington, whose team plays at Dominguez tonight. “Pasadena had three or four Division I-type kids, where Dominguez has eight or nine.”

MARMONTE LEAGUE

Smith Wins More Fans

Newbury Park quarterback Keith Smith is celebrated for his passing--and with good reason.

Smith led the state last season and is first again. He has completed 68% of his throws for 3,325 yards and 33 touchdowns.

But the Panthers’ signal-caller is equally dangerous running with the ball, as Leuzinger found out last week.

Smith ran for a 51-yard touchdown during the second quarter of the Panthers’ 39-6 rout of the Olympians in the first round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. He eluded a rush and made several other would-be tacklers grab air while he zigzagged around the field and into the end zone.

Smith, who covers 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, leads the Panthers in rushing touchdowns with eight. He is second on the team with 441 yards (a 6.1-yard average).

“We knew what type of passer he is, but we didn’t figure on him being so fast,” Leuzinger Coach Fred Boehm said. “We thought we would do a better job containing him. He is just incredible.”

GOLDEN LEAGUE

Streak Busters

Bishop Amat, the defending champion and top-seeded team in Southern Section Division I, has won 26 football games in a row. The streak dates back to the first round of the 1991 playoffs, when the Lancers were shocked at home by none other than . . . Antelope Valley, their opponent tonight.

The game was tight throughout. In fact, if not for a couple of crucial turnovers by Bishop Amat tailback Scott Fields, now at USC, the heavily favored Lancers might have pulled out the victory.

Fields fumbled twice inside the 10-yard line and the second one was a killer. With the score tied in overtime, the ball was placed on the 10-yard line for a California tiebreaker. Fields fumbled during Bishop Amat’s four-play possession and Antelope Valley wisely elected to attempt a field goal on its first play from the 10.

“We’d actually practiced and talked about doing that if we had the chance,” Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb said.

Peter Holt, now playing at San Diego State, provided the field goal and the 13-10 victory.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Dana Haddad and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.