Sports

MISSING IN ACTION

The troubles of the Harbor College football team apparently have gotten to Coach Don Weems.

With Harbor (0-7) off to its worst start since 1960, Weems has taken a stress-related leave of absence and will probably sit out the rest of the season, Athletic Director Jim O’Brien said. The Seahawks have three games remaining.

“He’ll be out at least the next two games,” O’Brien said. “That’s all I know. I would say it’s doubtful that he’ll be back (this season).”

Weems, who teaches health and physical education, has not been at school since Oct. 19, when he complained of feeling poorly and went home, O’Brien said. Assistant Eugene Miranda served as interim coach Saturday in Harbor’s 45-17 Western State Conference loss to Los Angeles Valley.

“Don wanted to come to the game, but we didn’t feel it was appropriate,” O’Brien said. “He didn’t feel well and he was advised by our administration to take it easy.

“He hasn’t been himself for some time. It’s typical of stress-related problems. He’s just been down. I would say it’s some type of depression.”

Harbor has won only four of its last 17 games. The Seahawks were 4-6 in 1993, a season marred by a postgame brawl with Pierce College that resulted in penalties, legal repercussions and adverse publicity for the program.

Weems, who could not be reached for comment, has a six-year record of 23-35 at Harbor. He guided the Seahawks to an 8-3 mark in 1992, including a victory in the Western State K-Swiss Classic.

“He’s a tough competitor,” O’Brien said of Weems. “He never experienced that much losing until the last couple of years. He had a tremendous record, but now he’s going through tough times.”

UNPLEASANT VISIT

Crenshaw High didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet Friday for the visiting San Pedro football team.

In fact, San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh can’t remember when his team was treated more inhospitably.

“It was the most incredible incident I’ve ever run across in my life,” Walsh said.

Walsh first became angry when no dressing facilities were provided for the Pirates, who were forced to stay on the field for more than an hour before the game and during halftime. But that was nothing compared to a pregame incident that resulted in Walsh and two of his assistants being removed from the field by campus police.

Walsh and the assistants, Joe Aguilar and Grant Beachley, were ordered off the field by Crenshaw Principal Yvonne Noble after they refused to cut short pregame warm-ups in order to accommodate Crenshaw’s homecoming festivities.

Noble said San Pedro was asked to move to the far end of the field, but Walsh contends the Pirates were told to leave the field even though they were barely into their warm-ups. Noble said she called for campus police after San Pedro coaches directed “inappropriate statements” at her.

Walsh said Noble was the one out of line.

“She demanded that I listen to her,” Walsh said. “I didn’t know who she was. She grabbed me with both hands and pulled me back. I don’t have the right to do that and neither does she.”

After being removed from the field, Walsh said he stood near the stands for about 30 minutes before Noble and San Pedro Principal Rey Mayoral reached a compromise. Walsh and Aguilar were allowed to return to the field and coach, but Beachley was not. He spent the game in his car, parked on a street next to the field.

Walsh said the distractions hurt San Pedro in a 22-14 loss.

“I think it had a definite impact on the game,” he said. “Our players had to be thinking, ‘Is this a safe place for us to be?’ They certainly weren’t thinking about who they were playing that day or what impact the game had.”

Mayoral said the school plans to send a letter to the City Section’s Interscholastic Athletics Committee to complain about Crenshaw’s failure to provide a dressing facility. Noble said the facility formerly used by visiting teams now houses a student business, Food From The Hood, and a new facility has not been found.

“It’s something I’ve never thought about,” Noble said.

In the meantime, Crenshaw has use of its locker room while the visiting team sits outside and uses the same restroom as the fans.

“We would never treat anybody like that,” Mayoral said.

ELECTRIC GLIDE

Sometimes, you never know. After a week of uneven practices, Peninsula High football Coach Gary Kimbrell wondered if his team was ready for Friday’s Bay League showdown against Hawthorne.

“I was real concerned last week,” Kimbrell said. “It didn’t seem like we were mentally prepared. But we were.”

Peninsula proved it was ready on the first play from scrimmage when running back Petros Papadakis broke up the left sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run. The Panthers had a 24-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, on their way to a convincing 44-14 victory.

Kimbrell said any jitters Peninsula may have experienced during practice disappeared the night of the game.

“At the game, I didn’t know we were going to win, but I knew we were ready to play,” Kimbrell said. “It seemed like our kids were walking on air. Our band was playing the Michigan fight song and their fans were booing us. There was a lot of electricity in the air.”

It was Peninsula’s first victory in four tries against Hawthorne and moved the Panthers into sole possession of first place at 4-0.

Kimbrell said a key to Peninsula’s steady improvement has been the dominant play of the offensive line, consisting of center Jeremy Sparling, guards Alan Warmbier and Ryan Lindley, and tackles Jeff Erxleben, Hamilton Allman and Scott Jackson, and tight ends Dan Secrist and Clark Haggans. The Panthers rushed for 326 yards and six touchdowns, three by quarterback Peter Krogh, against Hawthorne.

AERIAL ASSAULT

It took a record-breaking performance by quarterback Steve Sarkisian for El Camino College to avoid an upset Saturday as the Warriors turned back winless Saddleback, 31-28, at Murdock Stadium.

Sarkisian, a sophomore from West Torrance High, set a school single-game passing record with 481 yards, eclipsing the previous mark of 467 yards set by Ronnie Barber in 1985. He completed 24 of 45 attempts for four touchdowns and had two passes intercepted.

Sarkisian leads the Mission Conference in passing and total offense with averages of 363.5 and 353.7 yards a game, respectively. His total offense figure is lower because of negative rushing yardage.

El Camino (6-0), ranked third in the nation behind Garden City, Kan., and Ricks, Idaho, will play host to Mt. San Antonio (2-3-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday.

SITTING PRETTY

The second half of the West Coast Conference women’s volleyball season begins this week with Loyola Marymount firmly in control.

The first-place Lions opened a two-match lead over their nearest competitor Saturday by defeating San Diego, three games to one, at Gersten Pavilion. It was Loyola’s 11th consecutive conference victory dating to last season, a school record.

Sophomore middle blocker Tate Medley, a former Mira Costa High standout, had a career-high 17 kills and seven blocks against San Diego and contributed 16 kills in Friday’s victory over San Francisco to earn the WCC player of the week award. Medley was the fourth Loyola player to win the award this season.

Loyola (14-6, 8-0 in the WCC) can put more distance between itself and San Diego (15-6, 6-2) when it visits the Toreros at 7 tonight. The Lions play at fourth-place Pepperdine (6-12, 5-4) on Saturday night.

NOTABLE

* Ryan Price continued his outstanding season for the El Camino College water polo team by scoring six goals in an 8-6 victory over Saddleback in the championship game of the Saddleback tournament on Saturday. Earlier Saturday, Price scored the winning goal with eight seconds left in an 11-10 semifinal victory over Ventura. Price leads El Camino (12-12) with 11 goals and ranks second on the team with 24 assists.

* Circe Thompson, a freshman from Torrance High, helped the University of Maryland Baltimore County women’s volleyball team improve to 14-3 and 4-0 in the Big South Conference last weekend with her play in victories over Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina.

* Stephanie Fleischaker, an assistant at Nevada Las Vegas last season, has been named softball coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Fleischaker helped UNLV reach the NCAA Southwest Regional final in 1993-94. Before that, she was the coach at Whittier College for one season.

* A women’s tennis team from Torrance has qualified to compete in the United States Tennis Assn. 4.5 Senior National Championship Nov. 3-6 in Phoenix. The team, which recently won the Southern California title, plays out of the West End Tennis and Racquet Club and consists of Maggie Adams, Carolyn Biedler, Maxine Brown, Dolly Bloomstedt, Loretta Delgado, Ginny King, Sandra Williams and captain Judy Estes.

* John Verhoeven, pitching coach for the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team, has accepted a similar position with the Palm Springs team of the new Western State League.