Sports : HART ATTACK

When Torrance High football Coach Rock Hollis was asked his opinion of Hart fullback Ted Iacenda after Friday’s playoff opener, Hollis’ response was short but to the point.

“My God,” he said.

Fred Boehm can relate to that.

Boehm, whose Leuzinger team plays host to Hart in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division II playoffs Friday night, says Iacenda and the rest of the top-seeded Indians (11-0) are deserving of superlatives.

“We’ve been looking at videos, and they’re just as good as everybody says they are,” Boehm said of the state’s sixth-ranked team. “That fullback is a tank.”

Iacenda, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior, was a one-man gang against Torrance, accounting for 309 yards in total offense and four touchdowns to lead Hart to a 42-13 victory. He has scored 35 TDs this season, giving him 55 in two years as a varsity player, and has gained nearly 2,000 yards rushing and receiving.

But Iacenda doesn’t do it alone. The Indians’ quarterback, Steve McKeon, has passed for 2,148 yards and 23 TDs, and the offensive line boasts three players who are at least 6-3 and 280 pounds. To further confound defenses, Hart uses a no-huddle, hurry-up attack.

So, how does Leuzinger plan to keep up with the bad boys from Newhall?

“Nothing is going to change,” Boehm said. “It all depends if we can control the ball and keep it away from them. We need seven-minute drives.”

Ball control is Leuzinger’s game, as it demonstrated last week in a 21-8 victory over Burroughs of Ridgecrest. The Olympians had three time-consuming touchdown drives, nothing new for a team that relies on a big offensive line and the one-two running punch of tailback Derrick Norris, who has rushed for more than 1,400 yards and 11 TDs, and bruising fullback Aaron Williams (6-3, 235), who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 14 TDs.

Boehm knows his team is a big underdog, but he still has hope.

“It’s just a matter of us getting after them and running hard,” Boehm said. “We’re going to do what we can to upset these guys.”

ROLE REVERSAL

Breaking with tradition, the Peninsula High football team keeps breaking loose for big plays. Of the Panthers’ five touchdown runs Friday in a 34-6 Division II playoff victory over Canyon of Canyon Country, four covered more than 60 yards.

On the season, Peninsula has gained 40 yards or more on 26 plays, with 18 going for TDs.

“It has been surprising,” said Coach Gary Kimbrell, whose team previously was known for its grind-it-out, ball-control style.

Running back Petros Papadakis leads Peninsula with more than 1,500 yards rushing and 21 TDs. Thirteen of his runs have covered 40 yards or more, including three longer than 80 yards. He had scoring runs of 83, nine and 62 yards against Canyon.

The Panthers’ other big-play specialist is quarterback Peter Krogh, who has rushed for more than 700 yards and 16 TDs and had scoring runs of 67 and 77 yards last week.

Peninsula, averaging 41 points in winning its last nine games, plays at Arcadia (9-2) Friday night in a quarterfinal game matching two teams that emphasize the running game and tough defense.

“Arcadia is like our clone. It’s amazing,” Kimbrell said. “I think they’ve attempted fewer passes than us.”

TIP-OFF TIME

Peninsula, ranked No. 1 in the South Bay in football most of the season, also might have the area’s best prep basketball team.

The Panthers return four starters from last season’s 21-7 team and have added a promising transfer. They open the season at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Torrance in the Pacific Shores tournament at Mira Costa.

“I’ll be very disappointed if it’s not one of my best teams,” said veteran Coach Cliff Warren, starting his second season at Peninsula.

Warren, though, still thinks Inglewood is the team to beat. Peninsula was 0-3 last season against Inglewood, which graduated several of its top players but returns All-America forward Paul Pierce and has added a couple of talented transfers.

“We’re good, but at this point we’re not up to Inglewood’s standards,” Warren said. “We lost 25 games this summer and never beat a good team.”

Look for Peninsula to beat some good teams this season. The Panthers are led by juniors Phil Belin, a 6-4 guard, and Andrew Klein, a 6-6 center, both Bay League selections as sophomores. The other returning starters are senior point guard Andy Jensen and 6-5 senior forward Marcus Boyd, who had a good summer. A.J. Jones, a 6-3 junior transfer from Texas, can play all five positions, Warren said.

Here is a rundown of first-round games in the 43rd annual Pacific Shores tournament:

Monday (At Redondo): Artesia vs. Bell, 6 p.m.; St. Bernard vs. Hawthorne, 7:30 p.m. (At Mira Costa): Banning vs. Serra, 6 p.m.; Ocean View vs. Leuzinger, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday (At Redondo): Morningside vs. Carson, 6 p.m.; North Torrance vs. Redondo, 7:30 p.m. (At Mira Costa); Peninsula vs. Torrance, 6 p.m.; San Pedro vs. Mira Costa, 7:30 p.m.

STUNNER

No, that wasn’t a misprint in your newspaper last weekend. Santa Maria, a team that entered the playoffs with a 1-9 record, really did upset top-seeded Culver City, 33-29, in a Division VII opener Friday.

How it happened is anyone’s guess, but Santa Maria Coach Frank Bentz has a hunch that Culver City didn’t take his team as seriously as it should have.

The first sign came before the game when the public address announcer began rattling off who Culver City would most likely play in the subsequent rounds of the playoffs.

“It got our attention,” Bentz said. “Plus, they were barking at us.”

Barking?

“Yeah, all the Culver City players and coaches,” Bentz said. “They were barking at us and giving us the thumbs-down sign.”

After the game, Santa Maria could have given Culver City the choke sign. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Centaurs (9-2), who are 1-2 in the playoffs the past two seasons as Ocean League champions. Mira Costa, the Ocean runner-up in each of the past two seasons, has a 5-0 playoff record during that time.

Santa Maria qualified for the playoffs under unusual circumstances. The Saints were 0-9 before beating Righetti in their last Northern League game to finish in a three-way tie for third at 1-3 with Righetti and San Luis Obispo. Under league rules, Santa Maria was awarded the last playoff spot because it had gone the longest without reaching the playoffs.

MARKED MAN

One of Mira Costa’s chief concerns Saturday night will no doubt involve keeping close tabs on South Hills’ versatile Brett Pierce when the football teams meet in the Division VII quarterfinals at Covina District Field.

Pierce did a little bit of everything last week in South Hills’ 14-3 victory over Los Amigos. He passed for a touchdown and ran the ball effectively playing quarterback, caught a 53-yard option pass, punted, returned punts and kickoffs, and intercepted three passes playing defensive back.

NOTABLE

* Loyola Marymount defeated St. Mary’s and Santa Clara last weekend to win the West Coast Conference women’s volleyball title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, starting Wednesday. The Lions (19-9, 12-3 in the WCC) are ranked 24th in the nation and had three players named all-conference. Junior middle blocker Mardell Wrensch and freshman setter Tracy Holman were selected to the first team and sophomore outside hitter Kim Blankinship was chosen to the second team. Holman, from West Torrance High, was also named WCC freshman of the year.

* Three South Bay youth football teams, all champions of the Pacific Coast Conference, will play in Pop Warner regional title games Saturday at Torrance High’s field. Wilmington-Carson meets Tucson at 2:15 and 4:15 p.m. in the Pee Wee and Junior Midget division finals, and Palos Verdes plays Tucson at 6:15 in the Midget Division final. Winners advance to national title games Dec. 9 in San Jose. Wilmington-Carson’s Junior Midget team is coached by Andy Subingsubing, an All-City Section linebacker at Carson High in 1976.

* El Camino College (9-1), featuring record-setting quarterback Steve Sarkisian, has accepted an invitation to play Foothill Conference champion College of the Desert (8-2) in the Southern California Bowl Dec. 3 at Desert. El Camino finished Mission Conference play Saturday with a 41-0 victory over Pasadena, as Sarkisian passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns to set the national single-season record with 3,659 passing yards. The Brigham Young University-bound Sarkisian has set nine El Camino and three national passing records.

* Bishop Montgomery and Mira Costa each won opening-round matches Tuesday in the State girls’ volleyball playoffs. Bishop Montgomery (23-2), the Southern Section Division II champion, defeated Exeter, 15-5, 15-3, 15-7, in a Division III match behind 14 kills by Cindy Weglarz and will play host to Rim of the World on Saturday night. Mira Costa (30-2) got 14 kills from sophomore Kristin Sigel in beating Chatsworth, 15-10, 15-4, 15-11, in a Division I match and will play at Bakersfield on Saturday.