Cal Lutheran Finally Gets the Last Laugh

Cal Lutheran’s football victory on Saturday brought out the zany side of first-year Coach Scott Squires.

On Monday, two days after the Kingsmen won their first game of the season by beating Occidental, 19-18, on Tim Cronk’s 37-yard field goal with four seconds to play, Squires and his staff were breaking up the troops.

With laughter.

The coaches handed out what Squires called “goofy” awards to players for things they did in the game.

Backup quarterback Zack Hernandez, who fumbled three times, got one.

“We gave him a football with a handle,” Squires said.

Freshman lineman Shane Graves, 6 feet 7 and 330 pounds, also was a recipient.

“They caught him [on film] on the sidelines, dancing around,” Squires said. “We presented him with an old, gross T-shirt with John Travolta’s picture on the front from ‘Saturday Night Fever.’ We call him the Dancing Machine.”

The victory came on the day Cal Lutheran honored the 1971 team that won the NAIA Division II national championship.

“It was homecoming, the ’71 team was there. I don’t know if you could make it more dramatic than that,” Squires said. “The kids presented me with the game ball. . . . It was a real emotional time for me in the locker room.”

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Pop quiz: When was Cal State Northridge’s only appearance in the Rose Bowl?

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It’s back to the fold for Willie West III.

West, 22, played basketball at Ventura College in 1993-94 and 1994-95, and at Redlands last season. But he has given up playing and is now assisting Coach Virgil Watson at Ventura. He is also majoring in sociology at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus.

“[Coaching’s] something I wanted to try now and if I like it, fine, if not, I can go on to another profession,” West said. “But it’s mostly that I care about this program.”

West can tap into a great resource for coaching tips if he wants. His father, Willie West Jr., has won seven state championships in his long tenure at Crenshaw High.

“It’s an honor to be under his wing,” West said of his father.

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Northridge’s softball team will scrimmage four teams in a mini-tournament Saturday in Sacramento, concluding its fall practice period.

The trip works out well for the softball players. They’ll watch the Northridge football team face Sacramento that night.

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Was there a subliminal message in that 80-20 football trashing Valley gave Pierce last Saturday?

Yes. For potential recruits.

Reciting lopsided winning scores is a powerful tool for college coaches to help persuade recruits considering different programs.

By pounding Pierce, their neighboring rival, the Monarchs turned all the arrows in their direction.

Most everyone knew that Pierce, which not long ago was among the best programs in the state, is on a vastly different plane from Valley.

The game Saturday left no doubt.

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When the Northridge women’s volleyball team visits Montana tonight for a Big Sky Conference match against the Grizzlies in Missoula, it’ll mark the first time a Matador team has played in that state since Northridge joined the conference this season.

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Quiz answer: The Matadors lost to West Texas State, 35-13, before 23,802 in the Junior Rose Bowl in 1967.

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Ventura’s football team has scored 40 or more points in its three road games, all victories. . . . Moorpark’s Kristen Lee leads the Western State Conference in kill percentage at 47.1% and in aces with 14. . . .

Pierce quarterback Dan McMullen has been cleared to play. McMullen was sacked hard by Valley in the second quarter last Saturday and sat out the rest of the game while being monitored for a possible concussion. . . .

Valley’s Jose Cortez, a sophomore, is showing off a bionic leg this season. He leads the WSC in punting with a 40.3 average and consistently boots kickoffs into the end zone. He had five that went for touchbacks against Pierce. . . .

Ventura strong safety Jason Ybarra tied the school single-game record with three interceptions against Santa Monica last week. He leads the WSC with five.