Sports

RETURN TRIP

One of the most difficult feats in sports is repeating as champion.

Just ask Don Morrow.

The Mira Costa High football coach has felt the strain of living up to expectations, mainly his own, as the Mustangs have battled adversity to reach the Southern Section Division VII final for the second year in a row. Mira Costa (12-1), the 1993 champion, plays Arroyo Grande (11-1) in the title game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Righetti High in Santa Maria.

“I’ve felt a lot more pressure this year trying to get back to the level (of play) we wanted to be at,” Morrow said. “We had a better team last year. It’s been a struggle for us in a lot of games this season. We’ve never been in a comfortable situation at any point in the playoffs.”

Of course, that makes Mira Costa’s appearance in the final all the more remarkable. The Mustangs don’t have the array of offensive weapons they did last season and have been forced to rely on their defense in most games. The defense came through again last week in a 16-7 semifinal victory over Lompoc, as Jason Hughes’ 77-yard interception return for a touchdown turned out to be the pivotal play.

The Mustangs have given up a stingy average of 10 points a game, despite losing two of their best players before the season when fullback-nose tackle Phil Fonua suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm and receiver-cornerback Dino Rossi underwent surgery for a torn knee ligament.

There’s no telling how good Mira Costa would have been with those guys.

But sometimes adversity has a way of bringing a team closer together. And there’s no substitute for the confidence that comes with winning. Mira Costa’s seniors have enjoyed success on all levels, going 9-1 in back-to-back seasons on the freshman and sophomore teams and 13-1 during last season’s championship run. That’s 43-4 in four years, including 25-2 in varsity play.

So, despite their lack of offensive weapons (tailback Michael Fikes is the workhorse), their inexperience at quarterback (sophomore Kevin Cooper was a midseason replacement for an ineffective senior), and their lack of size on defense (the unit frequently operates with no players weighing more than 200 pounds), the Mustangs do have some intangibles in their favor.

Morrow hopes he can harness them for one more game.

NO-NAME DEFENSE

We’re not sure what was going through the minds of Ocean League coaches when they selected the all-league defense, but it wasn’t good.

Mira Costa, despite having the league’s best defense, had no players chosen to the first team.

Morrow probably hurt his cause by nominating multiple players at certain positions, such as linebacker, but someone should have made it from a team that limited five of seven league opponents to seven points or less.

The most glaring oversights were outside linebacker Dennis Hughes, who leads the South Bay with 24 sacks, and inside linebacker Ricky Saunders, who has more than 150 tackles this season. Both were second-team selections.

PUNCHED OUT

Before the game, El Camino College football Coach John Featherstone compared Saturday’s Southern California Bowl between the offensive-minded Warriors and equally potent College of the Desert to a heavyweight fight.

El Camino landed plenty of punches but absorbed even more punishment in losing, 59-48, in a wild, four-hour game that saw the teams combine for 1,270 total yards and 42 penalties totaling 460 yards.

Featherstone said both schools are considering writing letters to Foothill Conference administrators to complain about the heavy-handed officiating. One controversial call was especially damaging to El Camino.

After cutting a 38-14 halftime deficit to 45-42, El Camino appeared to recover the ball at the Desert 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter after Desert muffed a punt. But an official ruled that during the scramble for the ball an El Camino defender had intentionally batted the ball forward, which is illegal. The 15-yard penalty gave Desert a first down, and three plays later it scored a touchdown.

Featherstone, after reviewing the game video, said it did not appear that the ball was batted intentionally.

“It just looks like the momentum of two huge bodies colliding forces the ball to come squirting out,” he said. “I think we would have blown them out if it wasn’t for the penalty. We had all the momentum, and that killed it.”

The Warriors finished the season 9-2, but not before quarterback Steve Sarkisian, named to the J.C. Grid-Wire All-American first team, capped a brilliant two-year career by completing 41 of 61 passes for 645 yards and four touchdowns. The yardage total broke his single-game school record of 481 yards set earlier this season, but is not considered official because it occurred in a bowl game.

Featherstone said Sarkisian’s effort will go in the record book anyway, accompanied by an asterisk.

DEAD END

Question of the week: What happened to Peninsula?

After steamrollering opponents for 10 consecutive weeks, the Panthers hit a brick wall Friday in a 28-0 loss to Antelope Valley in the Division II semifinals. It was the first time Peninsula was shut out in 48 games, since the school opened in 1991.

Coach Gary Kimbrell could have blamed four turnovers, one that was returned for a touchdown, but he gave most of the credit to Antelope Valley.

“We played a team that was defensively just relentless,” he said. “They were as quick a group as I’ve ever seen. It was sort of deja vu of the Mira Costa game (a 9-6 loss). We couldn’t get anything going. Defensively, we actually played well enough to win. They only got 180 yards against us.”

Kimbrell said Peninsula’s offense was hindered by a second-quarter injury to quarterback Peter Krogh, who suffered a broken little finger on his left, non-passing hand.

“The fingernail was ripped off and it was bleeding like mad,” Kimbrell said. “But he never said anything. He just wrapped it up and kept playing. He mishandled a couple of balls from center. (The injury) may have had something to do with that.”

Kimbrell said Krogh’s determination was typical of his team, which stayed focused the entire season.

“We had some real good kids,” he said. “They’re smart kids and they’re tough, and they have a lot of humility. When you have smart, tough kids, you can accomplish a lot.”

LONG MEMORIES

Sylmar drew motivation from last season’s 22-21 loss to Carson in the City Section 4-A Division semifinals to defeat the Colts, 27-19, Friday and advance to the division final.

“We practiced with 22-21 on the scoreboard all week,” said Sylmar running back Durell Price, who rushed for 237 yards and four touchdowns. “I couldn’t get it out of my head.”

Sylmar (13-0) will play Crenshaw (12-1) for a title at noon Saturday at El Camino College.

HOOPING IT UP

* Two of Southern California’s top prep basketball teams, featuring two of the nation’s top players, will meet Friday night when Inglewood plays its season opener at Westchester (1-0). Inglewood is led by senior forward Paul Pierce, a preseason All-American. Westchester, ranked 19th in the nation by USA Today, features junior guard Danny Walker, another prize recruit. The nonleague game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

* Top-seeded Artesia held off a fourth-quarter run by Peninsula to defeat the Panthers, 68-64, in the championship game of the Pacific Shores basketball tournament Saturday at Redondo High. Peninsula, trailing by 18 points after the third quarter, pulled within one behind all-tournament selections Phil Belin and Andrew Klein before fading. Other area players named all-tournament were Gilbert Alvarado of Hawthorne, Brian Jones of Banning, Bobby Terrell of Carson, Eric Works of Leuzinger, and Tremaine Mayeaux and Doug Francis of Redondo. Artesia’s Deandre Moore, a freshman guard, was most valuable player.

NOTABLE

* Cindy Weglarz of division champion Bishop Montgomery has been named Southern Section Division II player of the year in girls’ volleyball. The senior outside hitter, who has committed to Loyola Marymount, was joined on the Division II team by two teammates: first-team choice Heidi Ilustre and second-team selection Teri Zartman. . . . Division I runner-up Mira Costa placed three players on the first team: Kelli Cordray, Lori Garber and Mandi Lawson.

* Five area water polo players, all from Mira Costa and Peninsula, have been named to the All-Southern Section Division III team. Mira Costa placed Oliver O’Connel on the first team and goalie Jeremie Simkins on the third team. Peninsula placed Ryan Brouillette and Robert Keese on the second team and Matt Streeter on the third team. . . . In Division VI, Chadwick had goalie Mac Henry named to the first team and Phil Burgers and Anuj Datta named to the second team.

* The 16th annual South Torrance Holiday girls’ soccer tournament continues Saturday with quarterfinal- and semifinal-round games at South. In 9:10 a.m. games, defending champion Peninsula plays Simi Valley, Royal meets Mayfair, West Torrance faces St. Lucy’s, and Redlands plays Buena. Winners advance to semifinals at 11:40. The championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Dec. 17.