MIDWEEK REPORT : HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS UPDATE : Dedicated Sebek Parents Risk Getting Called for Traveling

Like singers reading sheet music, Dick and Kathy Sebek must follow the bouncing ball. It takes them all over the state, and they are having a blast all the while.

The Ojai couple’s oldest child, Tim, is a senior guard at Azusa Pacific. Mark is a sophomore guard at UC San Diego, and their daughter, Kori, is a senior guard at Buena High, the No. 1-ranked team in the state.

All of which makes for significant travel time for Mom and Dad, who attend as many games as their schedule allows.

“We have a master calendar,” Kathy said. “If one is playing, Dick and I both go. If two are playing, we split up. If all three are playing we have a decision to make. We use a rotating schedule.”

Life was much simpler when Tim and Mark played at Nordhoff. Dick was the coach and by the time his sons were done playing they ranked one-two in every significant category in the school record book.

Dick coached the Rangers for 19 seasons before retiring last year to follow the bouncing ball.

“I still love coaching but I wanted to see my kids play,” he said.

Usually, Kori is the easiest to watch, but with Buena taking two trips to Northern California this season in search of quality competition, following her also has set the Sebek wheels in motion.

And although Tim’s eligibility is exhausted after this season, the travel won’t be curtailed next year: Kori has made a commitment to attend UC Davis.

Settling the Score

How does a team score a lot of points without its coach being accused of running up the score? Marc Ward would like to know.

Ward, Crescenta Valley girls’ basketball coach, said he has received criticism over the lopsided outcomes of games. And the Falcons have had a number of those.

Crescenta Valley (20-1), ranked fourth in The Times’ regional poll, is averaging 70.8 points while allowing an average of 46.6. Ward said he began hearing grumbles after the Falcons defeated Crossroads, 111-55, in December and was still hearing them last week after a 60-33 victory over Arcadia.

“I’m caught in a Catch-22,” Ward said.

Ward said the team’s starters did not play in the fourth quarter against Arcadia after the Falcons built a 52-14 lead. And every player entered before halftime, typical procedure for Crescenta Valley in lopsided contests, Ward said.

“I would never, personally, run up the score,” Ward said. “We didn’t press against Arcadia and I still caught some flack.”

Stand-Up Guy

The buck stops with Poly Coach Jay Werner.

The Poly boys’ basketball team was 4-14 at the start of the week, and Werner is assuming full responsibility for the Parrots’ shortcomings.

“I haven’t done a great job, to tell you the truth,” said Werner, who has led the Parrots to the playoffs in four of his seven seasons. “I take all of the blame. I’ve got young kids, but I could have done a better job with them earlier.”

Young is an understatement: Poly starts three sophomores and two juniors. But never mind that, Werner said.

“I’m a teacher and it’s my job to teach these players,” he said. “They come in to play every day. I couldn’t ask for more than they give.”

Regents on a Roll

Several Valley Pac-8 Conference coaches say that Reseda, 6-11 at the start of the week, is the best team with a losing record in the conference.

Since the Regents’ 53-42 loss to Sylmar in a conference opener, they have been on a tear. They narrowly missed posting a major upset two weeks ago when they let a 51-44 third-quarter lead over Canoga Park slip away in a 71-68 loss in overtime. But a week later the Regents upset Van Nuys in overtime.

The 60-59 victory did not surprise Van Nuys Coach Kevin Kanemura, whose team came into the game 3-0 in conference play.

“We beat them by a bucket in the Birmingham tournament and if they would have had 30 more seconds, they would have won,” Kanemura said.

It’s no mystery how Reseda pulled it off in the second go-round. The Regents shot 60% from the field (excluding three-point range). Van Nuys shot 39%.

Good Riddance

It may not be a complete case of addition by subtraction, but Birmingham boys’ basketball Coach Al Bennett acknowledges the removal of center David Redmond from the Braves has had a positive effect on the team.

Redmond, a 6-foot-6 center who briefly quit the team last month, was kicked off the team by Bennett last week, just two games after his return. Redmond, who was expected to be one of the top players in the area, averaged 11.8 points and 9.5 rebounds in six games, while slowed by an ankle injury and the flu.

Birmingham, expected to contend for the City Section 3-A title, struggled to a 6-8 record.

But after introducing new plays, the Braves won the first two games since Redmond’s dismissal were tied for first place heading into North Valley League play this week.

“I don’t look at the negative side but it’s more fun to be around now than a couple of weeks ago,” Bennett said. “They’re learning to play as a team.”

No Star Treatment

Chaminade girls’ soccer Coach Mike Evans said he isn’t exactly burying his head in the sand, he’s just putting off a rather tough decision.

The Eagles (13-6-2, 4-1-1 in Mission League play) have a crucial match against league leader Harvard-Westlake Monday, the same day senior stars Vanessa Thiele and Tami Pivnick are expected back from knee injuries.

Thiele was the 1994-95 league player of the year, and Pivnick is a member of the U.S. under-16 national team, so their return would seem to be timely.

But Chaminade has won five consecutive league matches with a patchwork lineup. Evans has been noncommittal about whether Thiele and Pivnick will start or even play against the Wolverines.

“They ask me all the time what we’re going to do and I just keep telling them we’ll decide when we get there,” Evans said. “I just want to make the decision that’s going to benefit the team the best.”

Basketball Notes

City Section

VALLEY PAC-8 CONFERENCE

Boys: East Valley League (4-A)--Talk about parity: Grant, Monroe, North Hollywood and Reseda were all 2-2 after playing teams from their conference counterpart, the 3-A Mid-Valley League. And coaches are saying it probably will take the next three weeks to decide the champion. “I think it’s great,” North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said. “I don’t think anything will be decided until after we’ve played each other a couple of times.”. . . Reseda’s Mandeep Hayre is no longer a secret, despite being a first-year varsity senior. In the last three games Hare has averaged 20 points--33% of the Regents’ offensive output. . . . Alcorn State is showing interest in Monroe’s Marrean Robottom, a 6-7 senior center who also plays football. Alcorn State recruiters have told him he can play both football and basketball.

Mid-Valley League (3-A)--Van Nuys senior guard Kris Hurdle shot 71% (12 of 17) in two games last week. . . . Never underestimate the importance of rebounding. Carloes Harper, Aaron Lasley and Anthony Ellison of second-ranked Canoga Park are averaging a combined 37 rebounds.

Girls: Mid-Valley League (4-A)--Sylmar’s Kylie Roberson is easily the hottest player in the conference. Roberson, a 5-4 senior point guard whose brother Brian plays wide receiver for Fresno State, scored 62 points in two victories last week and she isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. “She just has no fear,” Coach Wallace Bates said. . . . North Hollywood Coach Rich Allen did all he could to get the Huskies ready for the playoffs by arranging a difficult nonconference schedule. But after only two weeks of conference play, which Allen calls “weak,” the Huskies are bored and tend to get lethargic in games. “It’s really tough to get them up for these games,” Allen said. “We have about two [scoring] spurts a game and that’s enough to win by 20 points.” Check that, Rich: The Huskies are winning conference games by an average of 40 points. Ho-hum. . . . Monroe Coach Bryant Ching is the front-runner for biggest sandbagger of the year. Before the start of the season, Ching predicted that the Vikings would finish 1-9 in conference play. Voila! Entering the week Monroe was tied for second with Van Nuys at 3-1 in league.

East Valley League (3-A)--Canoga Park, Grant, Poly and Reseda took it on the chin in conference play last week. The four 3-A teams were winless in eight games and 4-12 against Mid-Valley foes over the past two weeks. . . . Poly Coach Kim McEwen is the only female coaching in the conference.

NORTHWEST VALLEY CONFERENCE

Boys: West Valley League--Tired of poor play on defense, Chatsworth Coach Fluke Fluker benched standout seniors Jerome Joseph and Eddie Miller for most of the first quarter Friday against Granada Hills. The lesson was learned. Miller grabbed 22 rebounds, blocked seven shots and held Highlander center Ernest Quinley to eight points in a 71-64 victory. . . . As league play began yesterday Cleveland (4-0) is the only school with a winning conference record. Five teams are 2-2. Taft and San Fernando are 1-3. . . . North Valley League--San Fernando’s one-point victory over Taft on Friday was its first conference victory since 1994 and the first for second-year Coach Mick Cady, who went 0-10 last season in conference play. “They played hard and they didn’t quit,” Toreador Coach Mark Drucker said. “They have some good young players who were able to hustle and beat us.” . . . Birmingham sophomore Ellis Richardson has led the Braves in scoring in all four conference games.

Girls: West Valley League--For Taft Coach Stephanie Blin, the best part of the Toreadors’ overtime victory over Chatsworth was the effort Taft players showed in the game’s waning moments. “We work them to death in practice,” Blin said. “It’s good to see it pay off.” Before the 69-67 victory, Taft’s smallest victory margin was 15 points.

North Valley League--Birmingham, which has only eight players, was down to six in a 63-27 loss to undefeated Taft. One of the missing was leading scorer Shenika Askew, who had a death in the family.

Southern Section

ALPHA

Boys: Reggie Goings, who has averaged 18.5 points and is the second-leading scorer for Kilpatrick, pulled a hamstring in last week’s 87-63 loss to Maranatha and will miss the remainder of the season. With Goings’ injury and the suspension of four players for violation of camp rules, the Mustangs played their last three games with only six players. They lost all three by more than 20 points.

Girls: Village Christian Coach John Domke called his team’s 102-4 victory over first-year varsity team Vasquez “the hardest game [he’s] ever had to coach.” He pulled his starters after halftime, called off his pressure defense midway through the first quarter and instructed his players not to look for a shot until the shot clock was at 10 seconds. “I don’t know what else I could have done,” he said.

CAMINO REAL

Girls: After losing its third consecutive game, Bell-Jeff skipped practice Tuesday. Instead, the Guards had a two-hour team meeting. They discussed team morale and unity as well as stepping up their play in the absence of standout forward Jaclyn Johnson, who is out because of a stress fracture in her shin. “We talked about being a team and what it means to be on a team,” Guard Coach Jim Couch said. “Some of us were just waiting for Jackie to get back.” Johnson is scheduled to be examined this weekend and could be cleared to play as early as Monday.

CHANNEL

Boys: Ventura lost a key league game to Oxnard on Friday at least in part because standout inside players Charles Dixon and Donte Lincoln were benched for what Coach Dan Larson said was a physical and verbal altercation after a game against Santa Barbara. Dixon averages 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds; Lincoln averages 15.4 points and 7.7 rebounds. . . . George Jones, Hueneme’s sharpshooting guard, has averaged about 20 points despite missing nearly half the team’s games because of illness. Jones is a 6-3 senior who played quarterback on the football team for four years, but Coach Larry Miller believes basketball is his best sport. Teammate Ronney Jenkins is averaging 11 points, but no one is pretending basketball is anything more than a pastime before he attends Brigham Young on a football scholarship. Jenkins, of course, is a tailback who rushed for 619 yards in a single game.

Girls: Buena, ranked No. 1 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and No. 8 in the nation by USA Today, has a comfortable two-game lead after Rio Mesa knocked off second-place Oxnard on Tuesday. Buena’s Eboni Conley had 10 steals in a victory over Santa Barbara on Tuesday. . . . Clutch free-throw shooting keyed Rio Mesa’s 65-60 upset of Oxnard. The Spartans made 16 of 21, including five of six by center Chante Guggia.

FOOTHILL

Boys: Hart has the league’s best overall record at 14-7. But after dropping into a three-way tie for second place at 3-2 with losses to Canyon and Burbank, Coach Mike May gave his team a lecture on consistency and intensity last week. Sometimes it is hard for May, once a starting guard at Brigham Young, to keep his composure during a tight league race. “I have a hard time dealing with any loss as a coach,” he said. “As long as your team is [making progress], whether you’re winning or not, you keep your perspective. But if we aren’t, I struggle.” . . . Hard to believe, but former teammates Matt Baker and Jorge Sotomayor insist the Burbank-Burroughs rivalry was not a factor in the dazzling performance between the two last week. Each player made six shots from three-point range. Baker scored 27 points in leading Burbank to a 74-72 victory. Sotomayor, who transferred from Burbank to Burroughs, had 25. “I don’t care about the Burbank-Burroughs game and the rivalry as much as winning a league game,” said Sotomayor, who was greeted by boos and jeers from former schoolmates in the stands. Burbank moved to 3-2, tied for second place, while Burroughs dropped to 2-3 and fifth place.

Girls: Even though Valencia entered the week with an 0-5 league record, sophomores Shaleen Sayani and Kelly Warden are hinting at success in the future. Sayani leads the team in scoring (6.8) and Warden is tops in rebounding (six).

FRONTIER

Boys: Nordhoff picked up its first league victory Jan. 17 when Malibu forfeited its five victories for using an ineligible player. Starting guard Jamie Mazur was declared ineligible for participating in his ninth semester of high school athletics. However, he was then granted a waiver by Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley and will be allowed to finish the season with the Sharks. Malibu’s second-year coach Marty Biegel said he will end his 30-year coaching career with the Sharks’ final game Feb. 9. . . . Calabasas has won three consecutive games since Coach Bill Bellatty, looking for a smaller, quicker lineup, put guards Jeremy Marque and Kambiz Ahmadi in the lineup. Ahmadi scored eight points in 80 seconds against Nordhoff last week, and Bellatty said he’s heard no complaints about the senior’s ascent. “We’re winning and the bench is standing up and hollering a lot,” Bellatty said. “I’m sure some people aren’t happy about it, but [the lineup]’s not going to change when we’re winning.”

Girls: Moorpark bombed winless Malibu, 80-8, last week but Musketeer Coach Brent Milburn said the result could have been even more lopsided. “Our kids wanted to pour it on and score 100 but I told them no,” Milburn said. “Our program used to be down where theirs is. It still sounds like we poured it on but we didn’t. The starters played maybe a quarter and a half.” The Musketeers (17-0) defeated Paraclete on Monday in the long-delayed championship of the Saugus tournament. The Spirits were snowed in on the originally scheduled date of Dec. 23. . . . Santa Paula has frustrated first-year Coach Julie Coert by failing to run its offense properly. “We go through one or two options and then we lose our heads and panic,” Coert said. “We’ve had some good individual performances, but it’s the team performance that matters and they haven’t quite realized that yet.”

GOLDEN

Boys: Troubles continue for Quartz Hill, which entered the week 1-3 in league play. Playmaking guard Robert Beeson suffered a sprained ankle Friday in a 63-44 loss to Palmdale. Center Brian Woodworth had just returned from an ankle sprain and was not 100%. . . . Just when it looked like Littlerock might get rich quick, the Lobos (6-12, 1-4) came within a layup or a tip-in from upsetting first-place Antelope Valley on Friday. Littlerock scoring leader Bronson Pitts (17.2 a game) missed a layup and Bruce Johnson couldn’t put in a follow shot with 10 seconds left and the Antelopes (15-5, 4-1) leading, 52-51. Antelope Valley won, 55-52.

Girls: At 18-3, 5-0, Palmdale has hardly missed a beat this season. But second-place Quartz Hill (11-5, 4-1) gave the Falcons a scare last week in a 48-46 loss. When Palmdale wins by a small margin, poor shooting is usually the reason. The Falcons shot 27% against the Rebels, 13 percentage points lower than usual. . . . After five league games, forward Monique Nolan has raised her scoring average from 10 points to 15.4. . . . Antelope Valley will sorely miss center Britta Hoff, a 6-2 exchange student who will return to Germany next week at the end of her one-semester program. How much does Hoff mean to the Antelopes? She had a team-high 13 points, five blocked shots and three steals Tuesday in a key 39-38 victory over Littlerock. “She’s an intimidating force and she makes us competitive, because every other team in the league has size,” Coach Robert Fields said.

MARMONTE

Boys: Coach Dean Bradshaw credits Simi Valley’s four-game winning streak entering this week to improved defense. “We’ve stepped it up defensively, which has created some things offensively,” he said. “We’ve been able to get points in transition, creating some easier buckets and not having to come down the floor and go five-on-five.” The Pioneers are shooting a robust 53.4% on two-point attempts and guard Scott Blough has made 59 of 136 three-point attempts (43.4%). . . . Errant shooting has cost Camarillo, which lost three of its last four games entering this week. The Scorpions went from shooting about 49% to making only 40%. “We’re getting the same shots as before; we just aren’t making them,” Coach Mike Prewitt said. . . . Guard Brent Bush was averaging nearly 20 points for Newbury Park before suffering stress fractures in both legs two weeks ago. Bush missed two games and played sparingly in two others. He should gain more playing time this week. Forward Charles Stanton missed two games because of academic problems and missed Wednesday’s game because he broke a team rule.

Girls: After losing to Channel Islands, Westlake and Newbury Park, Royal (10-10, 4-5) must win four of its last five games to have a shot at making the playoffs. That’s a tall order for the youthful Highlanders, who have six sophomores and three juniors on their roster. Royal’s strength is balance: Six players average between 6.9 and 8.9 points. Sophomore guard Jessica Sanders, sophomore forward Becca Voigt (the team’s leading rebounder) and junior center Amber Shores (43 blocked shots) have been the steadiest. . . . Another youthful team, Agoura, is only 4-15, 2-7, but that is a vast improvement over last season’s 1-23 record. The Chargers have only one senior. . . . Coming on of late is Channel Islands, which beat Agoura, 57-30, Tuesday behind Elanor Ecoffey and Alma Perez. The Raiders held Agoura scoreless in the first quarter and to 12 points in the first three. Perez made six three-point shots and Ecoffey finished with 19 points.

MISSION

Boys: Brett Kearns of Crespi has made 23 of 59 three-point shots (38.9%) but the Celts (5-13 overall) remain in last place at 0-6.

Girls: Alemany’s 61-53 victory over Notre Dame last week was the Indians’ 21st in a row over the Knights, dating to 1986. The Indians have not lost to Notre Dame in Coach Melissa Hearlihy’s 10-year tenure. Sophomore guard Kelli Kobayashi, rebounding from a lingering case of the flu, led Alemany with 19 points after scoring only seven points two days earlier in a 59-36 victory over Louisville. Kobayashi has connected on a school-record 40 three-point shots in 110 attempts (36.4%). Kobayashi made 37 three-pointers last season.

PACIFIC

Boys: There’s plenty of pain but not much gain these days for Crescenta Valley. The Falcons (14-6) lost to Muir and Arcadia last week and dropped to fourth place. Guard Jake Willis continues to battle a sprained wrist and forward Nathan Sinning is plagued by tendinitis in both knees. “The doctor said it could be from growing,” Sinning said. “He said it will go a way in about a year.” Sinning’s frustration led to him taking an overdose of an over-the-counter pain reliever before a game against Hoover three weeks ago. The result was severe dizziness and a season-low nine points in a 76-73 loss. “My head was spinning during the game,” he said. Sinning will have a chance at redemption when Crescenta Valley plays at Hoover on Friday night. . . . A bright spot for Glendale (7-13, 1-4) has been senior guard Steve Avetyan, who remains among area scoring leaders. Avetyan, who scored 42 points against Keppel, is averaging 20.9 points and is 27 of 77 (35%) from three-point range.

Girls: Karen Shirikjian of Glendale is shooting 81.8% (54 of 66) from the free-throw line.

RIO HONDO

Boys: La Canada ran its streak of consecutive league victories to 47 with last week’s 70-66 victory over Blair. La Canada lost to Blair in the first league game of Coach Tom Hofman’s tenure in the 1985-86 season. Three-point shooting has long been a weapon in La Canada’s arsenal and this season is no exception. The Spartans have made 118 of 314 attempts (37.6%). Danny Bush is 52 of 115 (45.2%) and Todd Crane is 47 of 127 (37%) from three-point range.

Girls: Senior guard Kai Felton of La Canada this season discovered the three-point shot and leads the league with 38 three-point baskets. . “Last year, she hit a three once in a while,” Coach Dennis Ballard said. “She was hot and cold, mostly cold. But this year, that’s her shot.” Felton is averaging 11.5 points. The Spartans (10-9, 3-2) are in third place behind Temple City and San Marino.

SANTA FE

Boys: Bell-Jeff showed signs of improvement in close games last week as the Guards won three games by a total of seven points. Earlier in the season, the Guards (13-5) let fourth-quarter leads slip away in each of their five losses. . . . St. Genevieve erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit Thursday night against Cathedral only to turn the ball over on three consecutive possessions in the final 90 seconds of a 62-52 loss.

TRI-VALLEY

Boys: St. Bonaventure defeated Fillmore last week for its first league victory, then Friday lost to Villanova Prep, its second loss to a Condor League school this season. “After [Fillmore] we were going to have a letdown no matter who we played,” Coach Marc Groff said. . . . Oak Park Coach Rob Hall was impressed with Montclair Prep, which defeated the Eagles last week for the third time in the last two seasons. In last week’s game, Oak Park led by two at the end of the third quarter but was outscored, 31-15, in the final stanza. Said Hall: “They have a better athlete than us at almost every position.”

WESTSIDE

Girls: Montclair Prep Coach Bob Webb is back on the bench after missing four games while helping his sick father in Philadelphia. Webb’s return was delayed by the snowstorm that paralyzed most of the East Coast. “I grew up there and I’ve never seen so much snow,” Webb said. “I wasn’t sure when I was getting back.”

FREELANCE

Boys: Montclair Prep, which already had standout forward Anwawn Jones miss a game earlier this month for a football recruiting trip, might have another conflict with point guard Akil Anderson. Anderson, who is being recruited as a fullback, planned to take a trip to Hawaii the first weekend in February. The Mounties, the top-ranked team in the latest Southern Section Division V poll, play No.2 Chadwick on Feb. 3. Anderson is trying to reschedule the trip.

Soccer Notes

City Section

Boys: Chatsworth has improved steadily under the guidance of Coach Desmond Willows and with the scoring of senior striker Michael Preis. Senior midfielders Mike Grofsky and Danny Openden have also played well. “We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what we need to do to win,” said Preis, who has 20 goals in 13 matches. “I was a little frustrated early on but I knew we were a pretty young team.” Preis said he has been offered a full scholarship to Nevada Las Vegas and is also considering UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge and San Jose State. He will miss Friday’s Chatsworth-Kennedy match to visit San Jose State. . . . Reseda standout midfielder Marvin Quijano injured a foot in Tuesday’s last-second loss to Van Nuys. Regent Coach Julio Castillo said Quijano will not play today against Canoga Park. . . . Basil Grant, a starting forward last season at Birmingham, has not played for the Braves this season. Grant said Tuesday he has recovered from a back injury but continues to have academic difficulties and must wait for the school district’s 20-week marking period to learn if he is eligible for match play. . . . Birmingham goalkeeper Peter Mastrocinque, touted in the preseason, has been shaky at times but made a diving save Tuesday in the Braves’ 2-1 victory over Chatsworth. . . . North Hollywood has been bolstered by the emergence of goalkeeper Vartan Hovsepyan, who began playing with the Huskies in early January and has two shutouts in as many starts. . . . Cleveland, which has been carried by star midfielder Luis Castro, tied San Fernando and defeated Kennedy last week, matches Castro missed because of an injured shoulder. Wednesday he returned and scored three goals against El Camino Real, raising his total to 17 in 10 matches.

Girls: Canoga Park, a first-year program in League C, scored its first goals Monday in a 3-3 draw with Sherman Oaks CES. The Hunters had lost their previous six matches, including a 13-0 drubbing at Cleveland, a 3-A Division finalist last season. Only four of Canoga Park’s 22 players had soccer experience at the start of the season. Chief among those is junior forward and eight-year player Holly Applegarth, who scored twice against SOCES.

Southern Section

Boys: Frontier League--First-place Santa Paula is ranked fourth in Division IV. However, longtime Cardinal Coach Joe Magdaleno has been ill and has not directed his team in match play since the league season began the first week of January. Athletic Director Joe Riccio said he expected to hear from Magdaleno today regarding his status for the rest of the season.

Golden League--Palmdale exacted revenge on 1994-95 league champion Quartz Hill last week, turning an early 1-1 tie into an 11-1 rout. Murad Dibbini scored three goals to raise his season total to 31.

Marmonte League--Royal (No. 3), Simi Valley (No. 5) and Westlake (No. 7) are all ranked in the latest Division I coaches’ poll.

Mission League--Loyola, St. Francis and Harvard-Westlake appear to have the inside track on the league’s Southern Section Division III playoff berths. St. Francis plays three of its last four matches on the road but its lone home match is against league-leader Loyola. Pete Vagenas, the Golden Knights’ top player, has visited UCLA and UC Santa Barbara and also is being courted by Brown and UC Irvine. Forward Shunta Shimizu has visited Westmont, and St. Mary’s is interested in him and defender Darin Maxwell.

Rio Hondo League--La Canada, which has won 40 consecutive matches dating to the start of last season, will set a Southern Section record if it gets by San Marino on Friday. Palos Verdes set the current record by winning 40 consecutive matches from 1988-90. La Canada won the 1994-95 Division IV title and is top-ranked in the division’s latest coaches’ poll.

Tri-Valley League--St. Bonaventure earned its first victory of the season Tuesday as senior Andrew Montenegro did all the Seraphs’ scoring in a 3-2 defeat of Fillmore. St. Bonaventure (1-12-2) has lost eight one-goal matches this season. “One-to-nothing and 2-1, those are famous scores to us,” Bierly said. “We’ve shot the ball around, over and under the net but not in.”

Girls: Pacific League--Crescenta Valley (15-3-2), top-ranked in the latest Southern Section Division II coaches’ poll, has been backstopped by goalkeepers Marla Nelson and Laura Fawcett, who have posted 12 shutouts.

Mission League--With the loss of three seniors to knee injuries, Chaminade has been bolstered by the emergence of four freshmen, including starting midfielders Amy Watts and Jennifer Valentine. Watts has been a playmaker while Valentine has scored three goals on headers. “She stands four-feet-nothing and she’s tough as nails,” Coach Mike Evans said. . . . Lindsey Horn, a midfielder, and backup goalie Lauren Rousselet have also played significant roles. . . . Louisville slumped to 8-6-4 and 2-2-1 in league play with a 3-0 loss at Chaminade last Friday. The Royals’ starting midfielder, Andrea Licari, was on a recruiting trip to Dartmouth while star Kim Daws was knocked out of the match by the Eagles’ physical play.

Tri-Valley League--La Reina lost a chance to set the Southern Section record for consecutive league victories by tying St. Bonaventure on Jan. 12. However, the Regents then defeated Oak Park and tied Bishop Diego last week to set a section record for consecutive league matches without a loss at 48. Temple City had held the previous record at 47 in the Rio Hondo League from 1988-92.

Wrestling Notes

City Section

Defending City champion El Camino Real improved to 10-3 in dual meets after defeating Birmingham, 66-15, last week. The Conquistadores wrestle at Granada Hills (9-1-1) today. Senior heavyweight Jeff Macrea, defending City champion, is 21-2 after placing second at the San Clemente tournament last weekend. Macrea recorded three pins in less than a minute before dropping an 8-3 decision to a wrestler from Rancho Buena Vista. Junior Francisco Jordan (145 pounds), who placed fourth at San Clemente, is 18-6. Senior Nathan Carlen (171) has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury in the Moorpark tournament two weeks ago.

Southern Section

Jesse Bautista of Rio Mesa (135), sixth in the state last season as a sophomore, improved to 24-2 Tuesday with his second pin of the season of Ventura’s Jarom Gaitan. Bautista, who has 10 pins, lost twice in the Fountain Valley tournament. Last week’s 36-36 Mission League tie between Alemany and Harvard-Westlake is the first stalemate for Harvard in Coach Lew Roberts’ 15-year tenure. Senior Josh Eisenberg (171) of Harvard is 25-2, including eight pins, entering Saturday’s Harvard tournament, which will include El Camino Real, Canoga Park, Chaminade and Monroe. Eisenberg’s only losses were to Cristobal Gonzalez of Ventura. Ron Linares of Harvard (152) is 24-2 and has raised his school-record single-season takedown total to 93. Linares had 79 takedowns last season.

Highland remains among the dominant teams in Division IV. The Bulldogs, three-time defending Golden League champion and Southern Section runner-up last season, are 28-0, 3-0 in league dual meets. Highland has not lost a league meet since joining the Golden League in 1992, a string of 23 consecutive victories. Highland, which wrestles at Littlerock today, has defeated Quartz Hill, 46-19, Palmdale, 43-24, and Antelope Valley, 54-24. Pretty impressive, considering only four seniors are among the starting 14. Senior Keith Mac (125) improved to 44-5, including 23 pins, after placing first in the San Fernando tournament last weekend. Mac defeated defending City champion Oscar Hernandez in the final round. Highland’s Corey King (189) also placed first at San Fernando.

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Contributing: Dana Haddad, Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, Paige A. Leech, Tris Wykes, Peter Yoon.