Even Bruised, They Can Beat You

One recovery bordering on the miraculous, the other steady and cautious.

Sedric Hurns of Taft and Patrick Reddick of Newbury Park, full-service players who rarely leave the field when healthy, picked their spots Friday and contributed mightily.

Injury-free, they make the game seem it was invented to showcase their talents.

Injury-riddled, they display tenacity and heart, doing whatever they can to help their teams win.

Injury-prone, they don’t even want to hear the term.

Playing only defense, Hurns helped cause a fumble that was recovered by Tyler Brennan, helping unbeaten and top-ranked Taft hold off Kennedy in a game that probably decided the Northwest Valley Conference championship.

Playing primarily offense, Reddick had 14 receptions for 184 yards in a one-point loss to Westlake in a Marmonte League game.

For Hurns, the contribution was phenomenal considering that two weeks ago a doctor told him not only would he miss the remainder of the football season, but track season as well with torn ligaments in his knee.

“When somebody tells me I can’t do something, I do it faster,” Hurns said.

Call it faith-healing or a wrong diagnosis, Hurns is back, wearing a brace on his knee. The ligaments weren’t torn after all.

“Every day it got better,” said Hurns, who says the same thing about his team.

Taft, having defeated Sylmar, Dorsey and Kennedy, has a clear shot at the City Section 4-A Division championship.

A two-way starter before the injury, he will be eased into the offense in time for the playoffs. Hurns has rushed for 619 yards in 84 carries.

“I want a ring,” Hurns said. “It’s realistic. Our team is together. We are one heartbeat.”

Reddick and the Panthers were a heartbeat from the Southern Section Division III title last season, winning 13 in a row before falling to Diamond Bar in the final.

Reddick had 61 receptions for 1,122 yards, and made several acrobatic catches. At cornerback, he played aggressively and tirelessly.

At a summer camp at the University of Washington, he attracted the attention of many top colleges.

As record-setting quarterback Chris Czernek’s only returning receiver, Reddick might have challenged former Panther Leodes Van Buren’s state record of 101 receptions.

But an ankle injury at the camp was followed by a hyperextended knee in the preseason, followed by a severe concussion a month ago. Reddick’s helmet resembles a double-layer devil’s food cake, a fat black hard hat atop a conventional helmet.

“I was out of it for two weeks [with a concussion],” Reddick said. “If I have another one, I can’t play any more football.”

Now he plays defense only in pass-prevent situations to reduce helmet-to-helmet collisions. Despite missing two games, he has 45 catches for 739 yards.

“The injuries are really frustrating because I know I can contribute more than I have,” Reddick said. “But I feel better than I have all year.”

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Another injury: Tailback Jaret Harris, Kennedy’s diminutive dynamite, underwent surgery Saturday after breaking the femur in his right leg about six inches below the pelvic socket.

Harris, a 5-7, 138-pound senior, went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark before the injury, which occurred in the second quarter against Taft.

Doctors at Valley Presbyterian Hospital inserted a steel rod into his leg.

“Within a month he will be doing squats,” said Walter Harris, Jaret’s father. “He’ll have a two-inch scar, but otherwise he won’t be affected at all.”

Harris is a friend of Hurns, and they share the same spirit.

“He wants to go to practice and play in the playoffs,” said Walter Harris, who played running back at Taft in the early 1960s. “I told him, you can run with the team but you shouldn’t be taking any hits on that leg.”

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The official word: It looks like Chris McNeese is going to be OK.

McNeese, a game official at the Crescenta Valley-Muir game, collapsed from an epileptic seizure and what McNeese said doctors told him might have been a slight stroke.

McNeese suffered the seizure between plays late in the third quarter. He was taken by ambulance to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where he will remain for a few days.

“Looks like the season’s probably done for me,” McNeese said from his hospital room.

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Don’t forget us: No doubt it’s the year of the quarterback in the Marmonte League. But the top four teams all have something else in common: An outstanding inside linebacker.

Jud Southwell of Thousand Oaks and Bobby DeMars of Westlake follow in the tradition of middle linebackers at their schools, and Sam Choi of Camarillo and Garrett Hobba of Newbury Park are their teams’ leading tacklers.

“All of those guys are very good,” Westlake Coach Jim Benkert said. “They are tough football players.”

Southwell wears a green helmet, the long-standing symbol of defensive excellence at Thousand Oaks, and his inspired play Friday with a severely sprained ankle helped the Lancers hold off Agoura and remain unbeaten.

DeMars, who signed early with USC, rushes the passer extremely well and seals off running plays from tackle to tackle.

Choi is a two-year starter and an unheralded member of a team has rattled off six consecutive victories after opening with a pair of losses.

Hobba played safety last year, and moved to linebacker to fill the shoes of Brock and Brant Diediker, twins who are at Brigham Young. Besides anchoring the defense, Hobba is an iron man with a knack for reaching the end zone.

Southwell and Choi play fullback, but are not relied on as extensively as Hobba, who is Newbury Park’s leading rusher with 550 yards and 12 touchdowns.

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Be there: The Princeton Review Foundation will hold a free seminar on NCAA scholarship requirements Saturday at Dorsey High. UCLA basketball coaches Jim Harrick and Kathy Olivier will speak.

The seminar will address several issues, but none more important than Proposition 48, a commonly misunderstood rule that enables non-qualifying athletes to go directly from high school to Division I colleges.

Also, a mock Scholastic Assessment Test will be given, and Princeton Review instructors will offer tips on how to achieve a qualifying score.

Athletes will receive a copy of the Prop. 48 requirements and a copy of the Princeton Review’s book, “Cracking the SAT.”