They See Northridge Sailing Into Thin Air

While most Cal State Northridge football players are probably going to have some difficulty adjusting to the 7,000-foot altitude in Flagstaff for their game today against Northern Arizona, at least two Matadors are looking forward to it.

Kicker Manny Marquez and punter Joe LaFirenza should be able to kick some boomers in the thin air.

“Me and Joe are looking to have a big game,” Marquez said.

Getting his kicks: The Cal Lutheran football team has been using Jeff Shea a little more than it would like.

Shea, a Division III All-American last season, leads the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. in punting with a 45.3-yard average in 15 kicks. The junior has a long of 63 yards.

Catching on: In two years playing for run-oriented Bakersfield College, Dwight McNaughton had nine receptions for 106 yards. In two games for Cal Lutheran, McNaughton, a junior, has 12 catches for 114 yards.

Riding a crest: After eight games in 20 days, the Pepperdine women’s soccer team (6-2, 0-1 in West Coast Conference play) has equaled its victory total of last season.

The Waves, led by freshman forward Jennifer Peterson, are off to the best start in the program’s four-year history.

Peterson leads the WCC with eight goals and five assists.

Tough decision: Manny Trevino, the cross-country and track coach at Moorpark College since 1971, says he’s as enthusiastic about his job as he was 25 years ago, yet this might be his last year at the school.

Trevino, 54, said he will probably make a decision within two or three months after reviewing a retirement buy-out package that he has heard will be “too good to pass up.”

“I’m definitely not tired of it,” Trevino said of coaching. “I think if I thought that way, I would have gotten out of it a long time ago. Coaching has been great for me, but [my wife and I] have a home in Hawaii and we’d like to move back there when I retire. We have some humanitarian-type things we’d like to get involved with.”