SIDELINES : Sherman Oaks CES Gets Its Work Clothes, Takes Care of Business

It’s a good thing Sherman Oaks CES Coach Ed Weathersby decided to collect team uniforms after a recent tournament and brought them to school--freshly laundered--Monday after a three-week holiday break.

Turns out the Knights had a Magnet Conference game against Downtown Business, although nobody was notified before the holiday break.

The game, which was on the schedule for Tuesday, was moved up at the request of Downtown Business. Weathersby started notifying players--who hadn’t practiced in a week--during a 10 a.m. nutrition break. Seven hours later, Sherman Oaks (2-9) posted a rare victory, 71-55, behind Sal Raphael’s 28 points.

“Maybe I should hide the schedules and not tell the players when we play,” Weathersby said. “I’m just lucky I brought the uniforms.”

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Time out for fun: Cal State Northridge football assistants Scott Norton and Mark Banker attended the ever-colorful American Football Coaches Assn. convention this week in Dallas.

Norton rubbed elbows with Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne and Grambling’s Eddie Robinson. As one might expect, amid the clinics and seminars plenty of time is set aside for socializing. These are football coaches, after all.

Tuesday, Norton and Banker--along with a few thousand of their brethren--attended a bash thrown by Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones at Texas Stadium. Anybody interested in the art of blocking and tackling should have watched the coaches jostle over the acre of food served up by the oil tycoon.

“You can’t imagine what we ate,” Norton said. “What a spread.”

Evenings were just as eventful.

“Put 6,000 football coaches in one hotel . . ,” Norton said. “It’s something to be experienced.”

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Fresh start: Maybe Maurice Potter needed a breather.

The Verdugo Hills High junior forward usually leads the Dons in scoring, but most of the points have come in the first half. Potter, playing his first year of organized basketball, often wore down by the fourth quarter.

Last Friday against Belmont, Coach Scott Kemple switched his strategy. He rested Potter for the final three minutes of the third quarter and Potter exploded for 19 of his 30 points in the final period as the Dons pulled away, 76-57.

“I guess I’ll have to rest him more often if we get results like that,” Kemple said.

Honors

Faith Baptist High quarterback Judd Granzow has been named the Southern Section Eight-Man Large Division player of the year. Granzow, a senior, passed for 1,425 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 912 yards and 18 scores in leading Faith Baptist to its third eight-man championship.

Teammates Randy Zahr, Chris Savoie, Andre Mennart, Colby Carpenter and Robert Escalante also made the team. All are seniors.

Mat matters: Tom Nelford of Rio Mesa High finished first at 160 pounds and was named most valuable wrestler among the upper weight divisions in the Camarillo tournament last weekend. Nelford (28-2) has 11 pins. David Johnson of Ventura finished first at 130 and was voted MVP of lower weights.

Stats

Wrestler Roger Izzo of Highland High placed first at 140 pounds last weekend in the 32-team Tournament of Champions at North Torrance High. Izzo recorded three pins before defeating defending City Section champion Jose Barahona of Canoga Park, 5-2, in the final. Izzo is 28-1 with 23 pins. Highland placed first in the team competition.

Benched: Over the team’s first 16 games, the reserves on the Channel Islands High girls’ basketball team scored a total of 16 points.

The shootist: Senior forward Brock Jacobsen of Crescenta Valley High has reached the 30-point plateau eight times in 17 games.

Quotebook

Montclair Prep boys’ basketball Coach Howard Abrams, whose team is 14-3, on facing a four-hour bus ride to play Lone Pine tonight: “Maybe we can kill time by talking about each of our wins. That might get us as far as Palmdale.”

Things to Do

Highland High will play host to its fourth wrestling tournament today and Saturday.

Sixteen schools are scheduled to participate, including Antelope Valley, Buena, Chatsworth, Littlerock, Monroe, Quartz Hill, San Fernando and Thousand Oaks.

Highland, 17-0 in dual-meet competition this season, is defending champion of the tournament.

Compiled by Steve Elling. Contributing: Dave Desmond, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Vince Kowalick and Michael Lazarus.