City Ties to Go to Overtime

It happened only three times during conference play last season, but the City Section won’t allow it at all this fall.

Conference football games that end in a tie after regulation will go into an overtime period.

It is the first time in the history of the section that tiebreakers will be used during the regular season.

Each team will get four consecutive plays from the opponent’s 10-yard line. A team could possibly score four touchdowns, but field goals and extra-point attempts will not be allowed in the first series.

About 90% of all City football coaches were in favor of the tiebreaker, which will help determine playoff teams and seedings.

“I guess it’s a good thing,” said Reseda High Coach Joel Schaeffer, who is entering his 18th season with the Regents. “I voted against it, but a lot of people were for it. I’m a traditionalist. I always thought that a tie was a unique thing. It makes the game interesting.”

Golf

Three area golfers survived swirling wind conditions and advanced to the final 32 of the California Amateur Golf Championship at the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Valencia’s Jason Gore shot a 76 for 151 after two rounds. Also making the cut was Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys with 152 and Ken Weixel of Calabasas with 155.

Ventura’s Chad Wright, who finished with 157, missed the cut after he failed to advance from a pool of seven golfers who were battling for the final two spots.

Baseball

Kevin Nykoluk, a former Moorpark College and Simi Valley High catcher, has signed a letter of intent to play for Miami next season.

After one season at Moorpark, he transferred to Seminole Junior College in Oklahoma to increase his chances of getting drafted.

Nykoluk batted .389 with six home runs and 50 runs batted in, but wasn’t selected in the amateur draft.

“This definitely takes the sting out of not getting drafted,” Nykoluk said. “They go to the College World Series almost every year and I want to go to a school that can make it to Omaha.”

Former Agoura High pitcher Bobby Kazmirski has signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics. Kazmirski, who graduated from UCLA last week, was passed over in the draft earlier this month.

Kazmirski, a right-hander, was 0-2 with five saves and a 3.97 earned-run average for the Bruins this season. He has been assigned to play for the Athletics’ rookie-level Arizona League team in Phoenix.

Track and Field

Phil Gonzalez of Crescenta Valley High, who placed seventh in the 3,200 meters in the State championships June 3, said he’ll attend Pasadena City College in the fall.

Gonzalez finished third in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200 in last month’s Southern Section Division I finals. He ranked fourth on the region list in both events with personal bests of 4 minutes 15.55 seconds in the 1,600 and 9:09.00 in the 3,200.

In addition, he placed eighth in the 1994 Southern Section Division II cross-country championships.

Chuck Gustafson, who coached at Simi Valley High off and on since 1968, has been selected to coach the boys’ track and cross-country teams at the school.

Gustafson, 58, a math teacher at Simi Valley, last coached girls’ track at Simi Valley in 1987. His hiring as coach is subject to approval by the school board.

Basketball

Ventura College Coach Philip Matthews is among a group of six who will be interviewed for the coaching position at the University of San Francisco.

Matthews, who has been at Ventura for 10 seasons, led the Pirates to the junior college state title this season and was named California Community College Coach of the Year.

Other candidates include UCLA assistant coach Steve Lavin and Robert McCullum, an assistant at Florida.

Matthews previously applied for the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo job but was not selected.

Volleyball

The Royal High boys’ volleyball team won the L.A. Summer Games championship Sunday at Cal State Dominguez Hills, beating University in the final. The Highlanders won 11 consecutive games and in the semifinals defeated Thousand Oaks, a Marmonte League rival.

John Baxter and Joe Olson of Royal were named the tournament co-MVPs.

* Contributing: Jeff Fletcher, Paige A. Leech, John Lynch, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.