Changes Are in the Air at Kennedy

This is a news alert for City Section football teams.

Kennedy, traditionally one of the area’s most feared running teams, won first place in the 35-team Valley College seven-on-seven passing tournament last weekend.

The repercussion: The Golden Cougar offense will be tougher to stop this fall.

“We hang our hat on the power running game, but we’ve got some new key ingredients,” Kennedy Coach Bob Francola said,

Namely a standout quarterback, Calvin Zinck, and five players with good hands who have been taught how to beat defensive backs by a new assistant coach, Billy Parra.

Francola also has taken a few pages from Jim Fenwick’s no-huddle, run-and-shoot playbook at Valley College.

“Our receivers are coming off the ball and reading the defenses and have the option to change their routes,” said Francola, who credits the coaching of Parra, a Kennedy alumnus who played at Cal Lutheran last year.

“I’ve never had a receivers coach, so they’re jumping on Bill.”

Zinck led area City quarterbacks with 1,578 yards and 13 touchdown passes last year as a junior and could double those numbers in ’96.

Kennedy, which had not won a passing tournament before, outshined the likes of Westlake, Newbury Park and three-time defending champion Hart.

But Francola can’t ignore Jaret Harris, a speedy tailback who could follow in the footsteps of Mike Pringle, Ontiwaun Carter, Elijah Raphael and Donte Scarbrough.

If nothing else, Kennedy, which reached the semifinals of the 4-A playoffs in 1995, will add balance and firepower to its offense.

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When Gary Willison showed up at Burbank High last spring, replacing John Hazelton as football coach, he expected to find some wreckage.

Aside from losing all but three games the past two seasons--and later forfeiting those--the program was plagued by allegations of recruiting, residence irregularities and a sex scandal.

But when Willison opened the door to the equipment room, he found practically nothing.

“The jerseys are all gone,” he said. “I came in with a negative budget. I don’t really have a booster club anymore. Most of them vacated with [Hazelton]. And everyone else is really afraid.

“But the administration at the school has been a great help.”

Willison has rebuilt the varsity to 35 almost from scratch after dismissing 10 of the 19 players from Hazelton’s 0-10 squad in 1995 because they were “illegal.”

He also has had to change attitudes.

“There was a lot of fighting, chaos all over the place,” said Willison, a Burbank graduate who played defensive line at USC and coached at Saugus and Canyon the past two seasons.

“No one ever got coached.”

A positive sign is Burbank’s performance in recent passing-league tournaments. The Bulldogs reached the semifinals of the Northridge tournament, losing, 13-6, to Kennedy.

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Canyon High pitcher and quarterback Rick Thomas is making up for lost time this summer.

Few days have gone by without Thomas, who will be a senior, either pitching for the Newhall-Saugus American Legion baseball team or quarterbacking for Canyon in passing-league games.

This has been Thomas’ rehabilitation after spending 3 1/2 months with his right wrist in a cast, the result of a snowboarding accident.

“At first I thought I was hurting my arm, but now I think it’s getting a lot stronger,” Thomas said.

Thomas entered the week with a 3.02 earned-run average in 32 innings of legion play while impressing Canyon Coach Larry Mohr in football workouts.

Said Mohr: “In my opinion, he’ll be the best quarterback in the league this year.”

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Coach Glenn Gray has found a good way to motivate his Ventura High girls’ basketball team after a 7-17 season--take them to Hawaii for a tournament.

Gray promised his players a nine-day trip to Hilo for the Goodwill tournament at the end of this month if each player could raise $700 through various fund-raisers, which they did.

“There’s quite a few kids that worked hard to get this chance,” Gray said. “We’re hoping to become closer as a team.

“It’s a chance for them to grow a little outside of basketball, to see a different part of the world and a different culture, because they’re staying with host families. It should be all positive.”

Speaking of positive, Ventura began the week with a 12-4 record in summer competition.