Harvard-Westlake’s Abusaleh Found Recruiting Letters Tangled in Ivy

Running back Abed Abusaleh wants to play college football. And like most students at Harvard-Westlake High, an elite private school nestled in the foothills of Coldwater Canyon, Abusaleh has high expectations.

Abusaleh spends his spare time thumbing through college brochures--most from Ivy League schools.

“I’ve gotten a lot of them,” Abusaleh said. “Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, San Jose State.”

San Jose State?

“Hey,” Abusaleh said. “I get a lot of mail.”

A little short: Remember how Jim Fenwick, the Valley College football coach, wanted to lure 10,000 to Monarch Stadium for last Saturday night’s game against Pierce?

He should use stronger bait next time.

The homecoming game attracted 2,382 and was obviously well below the target. It was more than 4,400 short of the stadium record set against Bakersfield in 1969.

It was, however, a big improvement on the sparse crowds at Valley home games. Although the Monarchs have been among the top teams in the state the past three seasons, they haven’t drawn well.

Baby steps: Even a two-victory season would be a step in the right direction for the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team, but first-year Coach Michael Abraham is looking beyond marginal improvement.

“I would be disappointed if we couldn’t put together 10 wins this year,” said Abraham, who inherited a team that finished 1-26 last season. “Ten wins is a realistic goal for this team.”

Quotebook

“There was a look of terror in their eyes.”

--Michael Abraham, Cal State Northridge first-year women’s basketball coach, describing his players’ reaction to him at the team’s first practice Sunday.

“Our running backs are sleeping with footballs.”

--Cal State Northridge football Coach Dave Baldwin, explaining one way he is trying to cut down on turnovers.

Honors

Tim Hilton, Cal State Northridge’s kick returner, was named American West Conference special-teams player of the week for the second time this season. Hilton, a junior out of Glendale College, returned seven kicks for 218 yards in Saturday’s loss to Western New Mexico.

Stats

By completing 14 of 22 passes for 169 yards in Cal Lutheran’s 38-24 victory Saturday over Claremont-Mudd, Kingsmen junior quarterback Ryan Huisenga moved up to fifth on the school’s all-time passing yardage list with 2,975.

The four American West Conference football teams had a combined record of 4-15-1 before last week, when every team except Cal State Northridge won.

What raised eyebrows around Northridge was news of Cal State Sacramento beating Southwest Texas State, 12-3. Sacramento had not won a game, and Southwest Texas had beaten Northridge, 43-14.

Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech, Tris Wykes.