Oak Park’s Martin, Candy Not Exactly Wild and Crazy Guys

Here are a couple of guys who should be able to keep up a running gag.

Most people associate the names with comedians who made it big in the movies, but at Oak Park High Steve Martin and John Candy are sophomores on the cross-country team.

Martin is the No. 3 runner on the Oak Park varsity, which is ranked fourth in Southern Section Division IV. Candy is the No. 3 runner on the sophomore team.

Despite their names, Martin and Candy most of the time are “dead-face serious,” according to Oak Park Coach Kevin Smith.

“They’re definitely not like their namesakes,” Smith said. “Both of them were very quiet last year, but you wouldn’t expect them to be talkative as freshmen.

“But they’re still pretty quiet. It’s not like they don’t have a sense of humor, but they’re definitely not jokers.”

Wala whatta?: Those crazy sounds emanating from the Pierce College sideline when fullback Cleveland Williams carries the ball are not an incantation. Rather, the players and coaches are yelling “Wala Wala,” Williams’ nickname.

Williams, a 6-foot-1, 247-pound freshman from Palmdale High, explained to Brahma Coach Bill Norton how he got the nickname.

“He said he was as big as a bear and he has a round face, so guys started calling him ‘koala,’ ” Norton said. “They just changed it to ‘Wala Wala.’ ”

Williams played for the first time with the Brahmas last week, gaining 61 yards in 11 carries in a 26-19 victory over West L.A. He sat out Pierce’s opener, a 31-28 loss to Victor Valley on Sept. 9, because of a sprained neck.

Naturally, Norton will be rooting for Williams every game.

“When I see him getting first downs, I’m going ‘Wala Wala, Wala Wala,’ ” Norton said, laughing.

Distance showdown: After demolishing two course records and tying another in her first three meets of the season, Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks High faces a severe test in the Stanford Invitational on Saturday when she races Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa.

Stamps, a junior, is the defending Foot Locker national and state Division I cross-country champion and won her second consecutive state title in the 3,200 meters in June.

Mortensen has posted victory margins of a minute or more in each race this season, but Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell warns she “has to run her own race” to have a chance against Stamps.

“She has a very good sense of pace,” Farrell said. “And if she paces herself well in the first two miles, she could find herself in a race with a mile to go.”

And, if not?

“If she tries to run shoulder to shoulder with Stamps for the first mile,” Farrell added, “she could find herself in a lot of trouble later.”

Quotebook

“Are we going to have pizza with Steve Axman now?”

--Ryan Baldwin, 11-year-old son of Cal State Northridge football Coach Dave Baldwin, after Axman’s Northern Arizona team demolished Northridge, 68-7.

Baldwin and Axman are close friends from their days as assistants together at Stanford.

*

“Right now our offense is in disguise.”

--Moorpark College football Coach Jim Bittner, whose team defeated L.A. Southwest, 6-2, last Saturday.

Honors

Ventura College running back Elihu Vann and Valley wide receiver David Eastham were selected state offensive players of the week along with several others. Valley linebacker Troy Tuck was included on the list of top defensive performers.

Vann gained 191 yards in 26 carries and scored two touchdowns in Ventura’s 45-10 victory over Compton last Saturday. Eastham, a sophomore from Alemany High, had 11 receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown as Valley upset Bakersfield, 33-30.

Tuck, a sophomore from Moeller High in Cincinnati, made 11 tackles and two sacks.

By the Numbers

Talk about efficiency. The Northern Arizona football team ran exactly one more offensive play than Northridge on Saturday, yet beat the Matadors by 61 points.

Valley College quarterback Aaron Flowers had thrown 91 passes without an interception before Bakersfield cornerback Sedrick Ashley ended the streak Saturday. The interception came on Flowers’ 34th and final pass during a 33-30 victory over the Renegades.

The Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team has lost a school-record 12 consecutive matches and things aren’t going to get any easier tonight when the Matadors play second-ranked Hawaii in a nonconference match.

The Rainbows are Northridge’s sixth top-25 opponent. The others are Stanford, which was ranked first when it played the Matadors; No. 6 Penn State; No. 9 USC; No. 21 San Diego State, and No. 23 Pepperdine.

Only 30 to go: Sylmar (3-0) and Los Alamitos (3-0) have won 17 consecutive football games, and share the longest winning streak in Southern California and second longest in the state. Concord De La Salle has a 42-game winning streak, and the state record is 47.

Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Jeff Fletcher, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega.