SIDELINES : Faria Sees They Only Have Eyes for Her

All eyes were on freshman Julia Faria of Granada Hills High on Saturday when she took the mat for a 114-pound bout in the San Fernando High wrestling tournament.

But then, they always are.

Faria, one of a handful of girls competing on area wrestling teams, always seems to be the center of attention. And she’s getting tired of it.

“The guys all stare and sometimes it makes me nervous,” Faria said.

Eyebrows rocketed skyward when Faria, 5-17 this season, pinned Juan Perez of Monroe in 2 minutes 20 seconds to record her first varsity pin.

“The place went crazy,” Granada Hills Coach Bill Lake said.

Faria isn’t trying to make a statement, just progress. She turned to wrestling when a self-defense class she wanted to enroll in was filled. She describes herself as tenacious and determined.

But learning wrestling has been the least of her struggles.

“I think I’ve earned respect from the guys on my team,” Faria said. “But I’m getting tired of all the looks.

“Some guys seem to be nervous wrestling me because either they don’t want to hurt me or because they’re afraid their friends will make fun of them if they lose.”

As for Perez?

“You should have seen the look on his face,” Faria said. “It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I got pinned by a girl !’ ”

Stars and stripes: Punter Bryan Wagner of the San Diego Chargers won’t be the first Cal State Northridge graduate to make a Super Bowl appearance.

Dale Williams, who graduated from Northridge in 1964 after playing on the Matadors’ baseball team, was a game official in the 1986 Super Bowl. Williams also has officiated several NCAA College World Series baseball games.

Details, details: Many kids dream of their names echoing through the loudspeakers of a professional arena. Alemany High boys’ basketball players almost got that chance on Friday, when they played Loyola at the Sports Arena, courtesy of the Clippers.

However, the arena’s microphone was missing, so introductions were skipped.

The microphone was located in time for the second half, as well as the ensuing girls’ game. However, game personnel were never able to find an electronic possession arrow, forcing officials to draw a makeshift arrow in pen on a loose piece of notebook paper.

Typical Clipper disorganization. The Indians didn’t seem to mind, though. They defeated the defending Mission League champion Cubs, 73-70.

“I’m going to ask (Clipper owner) Donald Sterling if we can move in here permanently,” Alemany Coach Robert Webb said.

Tight squeeze: A Division I football prospect isn’t what he used to be. But it’s not his fault. UCLA assistant coach Gary Bernardi blames new NCAA rules limiting scholarships.

Division I football teams had 95 scholarships in the late 1980s. Over the years, scholarship allotments have been trimmed to 92, 90 and now 85. That translates to a lot of disappointed high school seniors in the area who were told they had Division I talent but were not offered a scholarship.

“It adds up,” said Bernardi, who has recruited Valley players for Arizona, USC and UCLA. “That’s 100 fewer scholarships in the Pac-10.”

Where do I sign?: Add Remy McCarthy to the list of candidates for the Moorpark College women’s basketball coaching job next season.

McCarthy, former men’s coach at Oxnard, is interim women’s coach at Moorpark. He took over the Raiders in December when Lisa Ziegler resigned for personal reasons after a 1-8 start.

Although they have only seven players, the Raiders (5-17) have made steady progress under McCarthy, losing several close games. They play Santa Barbara tonight in a Western State Conference North Division home game against Santa Barbara.

“These kids have given an effort that is nothing short of amazing,” McCarthy said. “I’ve never enjoyed coaching a team more. I’ve not walked away from a game where I haven’t been proud of coaching them.”

“I’ll apply for (the job). I can’t speculate on the outcome of that, but I’ll definitely apply for it.”

Statistics

Pick the top team in the Valley Pac-8 Conference. Monroe? Grant? North Hollywood?

Good choices, but no team can afford to look past Canoga Park, Van Nuys (both 2-14 last season) or Poly this season. Canoga Park (5-10), which nearly beat North Hollywood two weeks ago, upset Grant (11-6) on Monday, 89-86.

Poly (8-7) held off defending conference champion North Hollywood on Monday, 65-63. Van (6-9) has nearly beaten North Hollywood and Monroe.

“People take my kids lightly--which is good, I guess,” said Kevin Kanemura, Van Nuys’ first-year coach.

Homebodies: In the past four seasons, the Ventura College men’s basketball team is 54-1 at home.

The only team to beat the Pirates was Cuesta, 72-71, in a WSC North Division game last Feb. 9.

That is Ventura’s only division loss since the 1989-90 season. The Pirates (24-0, 2-0 in division play), ranked No. 1 in the state, will get a chance to avenge the loss tonight when Cuesta (19-6, 2-0) travels to Ventura for a 7:30 game.

Things to Do

Buena and Mater Dei meet at Buena High Saturday night at 8 in a rematch of last season’s Southern Section Division I-A girls’ basketball championship game. Mater Dei is ranked No. 1 in the state, while Buena is ranked No. 10.

Contributing: Dave Desmond, Fernando Dominguez, Dana Haddad, Vince Kowalick and John Ortega.