Change in Practice Is No Help

Fountain Valley’s football team made a concerted effort last week to get back the mental approach it had last year, when it held Santa Margarita to 86 yards rushing, the Eagles’ lowest total of the season.

After all, Coach George Berg said, this team had that same potential.

So Berg shortened the team’s 3-hour 20-minute practices by as much as half an hour.

“Our practices were shorter,” Berg said, “and we practiced harder.”

Santa Margarita rushed for 298 yards Friday and won, 31-0.

One notable series: Santa Margarita had first-and-goal--from its own 44-yard line. The Eagles eventually scored with a 37-yard field goal by Nick Sparks.

With its victory, Santa Margarita has won 71% of its games in its eight-year history.

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With all the hype about Mater Dei and Servite tangling in a battle of county Nos. 1 and 2 on Friday, Monarch quarterback Nick Stremick put the meaning of the game in perspective.

“We were out here having fun,” he said. “We’re all 17-year-old kids playing football on a Friday night. That’s what it is all supposed to be about.”

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Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan knows when to use junior running back Mike Jones and when to rest him. He also knows when to leave well enough alone.

Jones has played in the fourth quarter only once in five games, but still leads the county in carries, rushing and touchdowns.

“He’s the type of kid who wants the ball and gets stronger as the game goes on,” Bresnahan said.

But isn’t there the slightest fear of overusing him?

“He doesn’t complain,” Bresnahan said, “and I don’t ask.”

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Jeanette Antolin, a freshman at Marina, placed fourth in the all-around at the recent China Cup gymnastics invitational at Wuhan City. Antolin, a member of the United States Junior National team, also placed third on the uneven bars and fifth on beam.

The trip also was enjoyable for Antolin’s coach at Costa Mesa-based Gym-Max, Jia Wen, who was able to visit relatives in her native country. Wen was a member of China’s Olympic team in 1980, when China boycotted the Moscow Games. She expected to compete for China at Los Angeles in 1984 but broke her ankle two weeks before the Games. Wen moved to the United States in 1987.

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Riverside Poly Coach Shane Wiley watched Los Alamitos’ Sean Stein pass for 358 yards and four touchdowns against his defense, which included two potential Division I recruits in the secondary. After Poly’s 43-28 loss, he said Stein wasn’t as good as Kevin Feterik, the Griffins’ quarterback a year ago, “but he’s still pretty darn good.”

Through five games, Stein has thrown 15 touchdown passes and one interception for 1,157 yards and has a quarterback rating of 204.2. year ago at this time, Feterik had 11 touchdowns, three interceptions and 1,309 yards and a rating of 221.6.

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John Barnes, Los Alamitos football coach, talked about the advantages of his team’s 22-0 lead 10 minutes into the victory over Riverside Poly: “We try to go for the jugular. I’m not into winning, 7-6.”

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Bryan Harrison, who won the state title in the 200 meters and took third in the 100 as a sophomore at Dana Hills two years ago, attended the Arizona State-UCLA football game over the weekend on a recruiting trip to UCLA. Harrison, now a senior at Marietta (Ga.) Roswell, has UCLA at the top of his list--and the feeling is mutual. Bruin track coaches say they love Harrison’s athletic ability as well as his grades.

Also contributing to this report were correspondents Don Turnbull, Joe Wojciechowski and Mike Wojciechowski, and Times staff writers Paul McLeod and Wendy Witherspoon.