Lampkin Reopened His Eyes to Valley : Returning From Ventura, He Helped the Monarchs Earn Berth in Bowl Game

It happened to Vince Lampkin twice this season and he could barely see his way through afterward.

“One time I was blocking and the other time I was tackled,” Lampkin said.

For Lampkin, a slotback on the Valley College football team, losing contact lenses on those plays in separate games was, well, eye-opening. It reminded him of how much he dislikes wearing the lenses but is forced to because, without them, he couldn’t even read the scoreboard.

Or catch the bullets quarterback Sean Fitzgerald throws his way.

“I hate putting (contacts) in,” said Lampkin, who normally wears glasses. “It takes me about 15 minutes to put each one in . . . The times they came out it was near the end of the games, so it didn’t matter that much.”

His vision might be blurred without the lenses, but not his senses. Lampkin could see the whole picture a few months ago when he transferred from Ventura to Valley. Now, instead of perhaps watching from the bleachers, he will be in action when the Monarchs (8-2) travel to Moorpark to play the Raiders (8-2) in the Western State Conference K-Swiss Bowl Saturday night at 7.

The significance, or the cold numbers, haven’t been lost on Lampkin.

“I was lucky to come (to Valley),” he said. “I went from 2-8 to 8-2 in one season.”

At Ventura last season, Lampkin was one of the few rising stars on a declining team. Although an option quarterback who ran for 470 yards with 10 touchdowns and passed for 746 yards with nine touchdowns his senior season at Birmingham High, Lampkin was converted to wide receiver by then-Pirate Coach Dick James and responded magnificently.

Deploying his 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, Lampkin was third in the WSC with 32 receptions for 477 yards and two touchdowns in 1992, and led the conference in kick returns with 21 for 455 yards. He also played fullback and was eighth in all-purpose yardage with 1,059 yards.

Lampkin, 5 feet 9 and 178 pounds, says he chose Ventura over other junior colleges that recruited him because he was looking for independence as much as success on the field.

“It’s kind of calmer up there and I wanted to get away from the Valley for a while,” Lampkin said. “But I got bored and I wasn’t used to losing. That was the major reason for getting out. I thought it would be pretty much the same if I had stayed there another year. Not many colleges turn their programs around that fast.”

Actually, they can--in the wrong direction.

The Pirates were 0-10 this season under first-year Coach George Rosales, the team’s defensive coordinator last season, and scored 36 points. That’s only one more point than Valley scored in the first quarter in a 38-7 victory over the Pirates this season, with Lampkin catching three passes for 18 yards and rushing for 53 yards in limited service that night.

The beating, which could have been more severe had most of the Valley starters not been benched in the second half, left Lampkin hurting for his former teammates.

“I felt sorry for those guys,” said Lampkin, his smile suddenly disappearing. “I felt sorry for us when I was there. I know a lot of their players.”

He also knew when it was time to bail out and contacted the Valley coaches about playing for the Monarchs. And Lampkin told them it would be a package deal. Two other Ventura players, brothers Paul and Erik Williams, both defensive backs and former Birmingham teammates, also wanted to transfer. The Monarch staff said, “Come on down!”

“When they came to the office, I kept asking, ‘Which one is Lampkin? I want to start working with him right away,’ ” said Rob Phenicie, the wide receivers coach at Valley. “He has great speed and catches the ball whenever it’s thrown to him. You only have to tell him things once.”

Lampkin finished the regular season with 43 receptions for 420 yards and three touchdowns and was second on the team in rushing with 245 yards behind Irving Carter’s 665 yards. He represents an equally serious threat on deep pass routes or reverses and the Moorpark defense undoubtedly will keep its sights on him tonight.