Coaches Must Take Share of the Blame

As Oxnard football Coach Wes Morimune did a week ago, Dave Bessler is playing a blame game after his top-seeded Van Nuys girls’ volleyball team was bounced from the City Section 4-A playoffs for using an ineligible player.

But when you point your finger because your plan fell through, you’ve got three more fingers pointing back at you.

Administrative errors, paperwork snafus, call it what you will. These mistakes don’t happen if a coach has a clear understanding of rules and carefully reviews the decisions of athletic directors.

At stake are the hopes and dreams of too many kids who simply follow the rules, suit up and play.

Morimune and Bessler had the makings of championship teams, even without the ineligible players. Not making certain the players in question were eligible did a disservice to every rule-abiding teammate.

Bessler blames Van Nuys athletic director Steve Kalan, saying, “He assured me she was OK. I was perfectly satisfied with his answer. Steve takes it too lightly and I’m screwed.”

Wrong. Kalan and Bessler took it too lightly, and the rest of the team suffered.

Bessler said City Commissioner Barbara Fiege was too slow in her investigation, that she had ample time to make a decision before the playoffs began.

“They know we deserve a spot in the playoffs,” Bessler said. “Without [the ineligible player], we could still win the whole thing.”

Had Bessler been attentive to the transfer rules, we’d find out.

In Morimune’s case, only last year three Oxnard players were deemed ineligible after transferring from Rio Mesa. That experience should have prompted him to learn transfer and open enrollment rules front and back.

Like Bessler, he should not have taken the word of an administrator at face value.

The rules aren’t that complicated. Learn them, live with them, and avoid having to tell a team of ashen-faced players that their season is over and their championship null and void.

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On the money: After 984 points and 11,934 yards among them, it came to this.

Three coins tossed simultaneously Saturday, breaking a three-way tie for second place in the Marmonte League.

Results: Thousand Oaks (7-2-1) will go to the Division III playoffs as the league’s second-place team. Westlake (8-2) will be third. Newbury Park is fourth and must gain the wild-card berth.

Comment: If Newbury Park (8-2) is passed over for the wild card, the other Marmonte teams should consider boycotting the playoffs in support of the Panthers.

Passed over? Nobody passes like the Panthers, whose quarterback, Chris Czernek has thrown for 3,284 yards this season and 9,071 in his three-year career.

Czernek inherited the position from Keith Smith, who passed for 9,971 in three years and is the only other California quarterback to crack 9,000.

Six years, more than 19,000 yards through the air. A 14-0 record in 1993 and a 13-1 mark in ’95.

Newbury Park averages 36.7 points and 450 yards a game, nearly 50 yards more than any other team in the area. Put the Panthers in the playoffs and pity the league champion that draws them in the first round.

“We’ll play teams that don’t know how to score 40 points,” Coach George Hurley said.

That certainly wasn’t the case in league, where one seesaw, high-scoring game outdid another every week, peaking with Westlake’s 54-51 victory over Agoura on Friday night.

There were 16 touchdowns and 1,162 yards. Each quarterback passed for more than 400 yards, each tailback rushed for more than 130.

“You could try to limit the scoring in this league, but you couldn’t stop the yardage,” Westlake Coach Jim Benkert said.

Once it was said football coaches put their best athletes on defense. Say what?

Patrick Reddick of Newbury Park, Joey Cuppari of Westlake, Mike Anger of Camarillo, Barrett Grindle of Thousand Oaks and Shayne Sobel of Agoura are premier athletes in the Marmonte League.

They all are receivers first, defensive backs on occasion. The quintet averages 58 catches for 1,032 yards. Cornerbacks simply cannot cover them man-on-man.

“A lot of this scoring has to do with the excellent athletes at quarterback and the other skill positions,” Hurley said. “There’s never been anything like this.”

Just ask Agoura (5-5, 3-4), the most potent fifth-place team anywhere. The Chargers averaged 384.7 yards and 35.1 points a game, yet lost to league champion Camarillo, 41-35, to Thousand Oaks, 29-26, to Newbury Park, 48-40, and to Westlake.

The Chargers’ offense is in high gear just when the engine is shut off. Sobel had eight catches for 210 yards and four touchdown catches Friday, giving him 54 for 1,118 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Ryan McCann threw 11 touchdown passes in the last three weeks and Jason Gordon finished with a league-leading 1,475 yards rushing.

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Hot, hot, hot: Camarillo (8-2, 7-0) is the hottest Marmonte League team, winning its last eight games. Also rolling into the Division III playoffs are Mission League champion Notre Dame and Channel League champion Ventura.

Notre Dame (9-1) has won seven in a row after losing to Beverly Hills, and Ventura (9-1) was 7-0 in league thanks to a forfeit victory over Oxnard.

While Notre Dame is traditionally strong, Ventura’s success is a surprise after a mediocre 1995 season.

Coach Phil McCune considers linebacker Joe Martinez the best defensive player in Ventura County. Safety Moises Ramirez and linemen Alex Mack and Chris Ware are having excellent seasons.

The Cougars’ ground-oriented offense is keyed by backs Jeramie Jackson and Vinny Loffelmann, and center Joey Locklear.

“We are a solid team and we’re playing our best right now,” Loffelmann said. “We can go far in the playoffs. We are on a roll.”

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Open and shut: Chants of “Shutout, shutout,” burned the ears of junior running back Miguel Fletcher of Alemany.

Shouts of “0-10,” from the stands before Friday night’s game against Crespi lit a fire under him.

Fletcher bolted 91 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, scored twice more and finished with 205 yards.

The Indians finished the season by beating a rival that has dominated them in recent years.

“Last year they shut us out,” he said. “When we went out for warmups people were yelling 0-10. It got us mad.”

Fletcher also put an end to rumors he might transfer to Canyon. He lives in Canyon Country.

“I’ll stick it out here,” he said. “I go to Alemany for the academics.”

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Mike Bresnahan contributed to this story.