BOWL GAMESLong Beach City College makes its...

BOWL GAMES

Long Beach City College makes its first appearance in a football bowl game in nearly three decades when it plays Fresno City College in the Fresno Producers Dairy Bowl at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Cerritos College, meanwhile, meets Riverside City College at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Simple Green Orange County Classic in LeBard Stadium in Costa Mesa.

The last bowl appearance by the Vikings was in 1965 in the Prune Bowl. Current Coach Larry Reisbig was a teen-ager then.

“It’s been a long stretch, but we are very excited and happy to be in a bowl game again,” Reisbig said.

The Vikings (9-1) had nine consecutive victories before losing to Pasadena City College, 43-13, in the regular-season finale. They were courted by several bowl committees around the state, including the prestigious Shrine Potato Bowl in Bakersfield and the Orange County Bowl, which is part of a doubleheader with the Simple Green Classic.

“When you look at bowl games for junior colleges, you take the one that you think will provide the best experience for your kids,” Reisbig said. “We felt that this bowl would provide something different for them, a chance to go on the road, stay overnight in a motel and play before a large crowd in a good stadium.”

After decades of mostly mediocre football seasons, the team’s performance this year has put some zip back into the Long Beach campus. Five buses filled with boosters will make the trip to Fresno. Reisbig pointed out that a crowd of 5,000, largest in at least a decade, turned out Nov. 6 at Veterans Stadium to watch Long Beach pull out a last-second 21-20 victory over Cerritos.

“There’s been a real fire lit in this community,” Reisbig said. “It’s a real good feeling for all involved.”

Long Beach has used a balanced attack, led by quarterback Ray Domingo, who has thrown for nearly 1,800 yards and 14 touchdowns. Running backs Patrick Noors and Kevin McKenzie have combined for more than 1,000 yards on the ground.

Fresno (8-2) is expected to try to control the ball on the ground, then pop for the big pass. Defensively, the Rams rank among the state’s best at controlling the line of scrimmage.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Reisbig said. “We’ve got to get off the line of scrimmage well. We match up pretty well in passing, but you never know when they are going to suck you in with the run, then hit you with that big pass play.”

Cerritos (7-2-1) also faces an opponent that likes to grind it out. Riverside (6-4) has used three running backs in its option attack and, after an 0-4 start, has dominated its opponents.

Like Long Beach, Cerritos has a more balanced offense, gaining 1,757 yards on the ground, while passing for 1,876.

After a 6-0-1 start, the Falcons have lost two of their last three games. One key is running back Deon Tyler, who gained 910 yards but missed most of the last 3 1/2 games with an injury. He is expected to play Saturday. His replacement, Louie Major, has rushed for 859 yards.

PREP FOOTBALL

Whittier and Dominguez high schools have advanced to CIF Southern Section semifinal playoff football games at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

In Division VI, Whittier (7-4), which has overcome internal squabbles and the resignation of its head coach, will play Western High of Anaheim at the California High stadium.

Dominguez (11-1) plays at Huntington Beach (11-0) in Division II.

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Halfway through the season, Whittier was in shambles. After starting with a 2-0 record and being ranked No. 1 in their division, the Cardinals fell on hard times. About half a dozen players were out with injuries and the team dropped its next three games.

Worse, the vehement booster club wanted Coach Mike Fitch’s head on a platter, and that forced Principal Fred Zimmerman to intervene. Fitch announced his resignation, effective at the end of this season, on Oct. 7.

Since then the Cardinals have won six of their last seven games, shared the Del Rio League championship with Santa Fe High and held high-scoring Anaheim scoreless in a 14-0 quarterfinal victory Friday.

Fitch credits the players for not letting the distractions affect them.

“We didn’t have one kid quit, not one kid late for practice,” he said. “The kids just wanted to get after it (on the field). This (distraction) was not a player thing and they all hung together.”

Quarterback Bryan LaVigne knew the Cardinals could bounce back if they concentrated only on football and not what was happening around them.

“Whatever happened off the field, we couldn’t do anything about, so we left it off the field,” the senior said.

Most of the injured players have healed and are playing again.

“We’re really moving now,” LaVigne said. “We’re working like a machine because we’ve got the right people out there now.”

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Willie Donerson thought he had seen it all in 10 years at Dominguez High. That was before last Friday. Now the coach says he never wants to see anything like the Dons’ 44-42 victory over Hart High of Newhall.

“We couldn’t stop them and they couldn’t stop us,” Donerson said of Friday’s offensive show, which ended with Hart on the Dominguez 6-yard line as time ran out. “I’ve never been involved with something like that.”

Huntington Beach also will test the Dons. Only once have the Oilers been threatened--in a 10-7 victory over Edison on Oct. 1.

“They present great problems defensively for us,” Donerson said. “Offensively, they are good, too.”

In its quarterfinal, Huntington Beach held Gahr to 33 yards in the second half of a 24-10 win.

The Dons figure to run, as they have all year, with tailback Zack Sworpshire, fullbacks Donald Davis and Vincent Parker and quarterback Anthony Bilbo. Blocking for the foursome will be guards Curtis Armour and Bernard Ellison, center Carlton Knight and tackles Fesso Banner and Kevin Robertson.

STATE CHAMPIONS

Heavyweight Jeff Ware pinned Alex Holdrin a little more than a minute into the match Saturday to secure a dramatic 24-19 victory for Cerritos College over Fresno City College in the California community college dual meet wrestling championship.

The Falcons, who also got pins from Dan Santana (150 pounds) and Bisoit Detslev (177), trailed 19-18 entering the heavyweight bout, which is traditionally the final event of the contest.

Cerritos, ranked No. 2 in the state before the Fresno match, will compete in the Southern California individual championships Saturday at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. The state finals for individuals are Dec. 11 at Santa Rosa Junior College.

BRIEFLY

The Long Beach State men’s basketball team will play Houston in the opening round of the Hawkeye Invitational at 4 p.m. Friday. The tournament will be at the University of Iowa, which will play host to Lehigh. The finals and consolation games are Saturday night.

The 49ers will return home to host Cal Poly Pomona at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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Third-ranked Long Beach State (27-2) will play host to the winner of Wednesday’s late match between George Washington (27-7) and Pittsburgh (23-9) in the second round of the NCAA women’s volleyball playoffs. The match will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The 49ers shared the Big West Conference title with UC Santa Barbara (28-3) and both received first-round byes. On Sunday, Santa Barbara will play host to the winner of the Ball State (26-4)-Minnesota (22-9) match.

Both Long Beach and Santa Barbara have bid on hosting one of four regional tournaments Dec. 10 to 12. The NCAA will announce those sites this weekend, and only one Southern California venue is likely to be chosen.

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The 49er women’s basketball team’s first home game will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21 against Rice. That will be followed by a game at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27 in the campus gym with Western Michigan and a game at 2 p.m. Jan. 2 with Colorado.

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Former Artesia High basketball standout Charles O’Bannon, a freshman at UCLA, was named Prime Ticket player of the game for his 22-point, 12-rebound, 3-assist performance in his first college basketball game, a 115-77 victory over Loyola Marymount. His brother, Ed, a junior, scored 20 points, had eight rebounds and four assists. The brothers had a total of eight dunks.

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The Bicycle Club Casino Invitational nine-ball pool tournament began Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Bell Gardens card club. A purse of $58,000 is at stake. Sixteen pros from the recent California State Open tournament have qualified to compete.