Quartermans in the Playoffs on Two Fronts

As he takes the floor for Crespi High’s first-round Division IV-AA playoff basketball game against Oak Park tonight, Celt forward Ron Quarterman Jr. will miss a deep, occasionally stern but often reassuring voice in the crowd.

His, father Ron Quarterman Sr., who coaches the boys’ varsity at Burbank, will miss the game because the Bulldogs will play host to Santa Barbara in the opening round of the II-AA division. Junior will miss his dad.

“I look up at him all the time,” Ron Jr. said. “He’s probably the best coach I’ve had. He was always hardest on me, but he’s definitely the fairest. He knows the game. He knows the right things to teach certain people.”

Ron Sr. tries to relax, but sometimes he can’t contain his enthusiasm.

“Every now and then the coach comes out, and I say, ‘That was a bad shot’ or ‘Don’t foul,’ ” Ron Sr. said. “And the fans watching the game think, ‘Who’s he talking to?’ ”

But Ron Sr. has unleashed some of the loudest cheers at Burbank games.

Which begs the question: Why aren’t they together at Burbank?

“If I had it to do all over again, I would have taken him with me,” Ron Sr. said. “It would have been great. He would have been a big help. Another weapon.”

Ron Jr. is 6 feet 4 and averages 12 points per game. Burbank (13-10) has suffered from a lack of height and offensive firepower at times this season. The last time the Quartermans were together they built a 174-6 record over three years competing in the American Roundball Corp.

Both are looking to the future with hopes that Ron Jr. will play in college. Ron Sr. claims his son is better than he was at this age, which is high praise considering Ron Sr. averaged 20 points per game over two seasons at Rockie Mountain College in Billings, Mont.

“When he tells me that, I kind of can’t believe it,” Ron Jr. said. “It makes me feel good, but it’s kind of weird to hear that I’m better than he was.”

Wrestlemania: Cristobal Gonzalez of Ventura, Ray Torres of Royal, Armando Torres of Newbury Park, Dylan Hull of Agoura, and Weslee Mattison and Jacob Waasdorp of Quartz Hill earned top seedings in their divisions for the Southern Section individual finals today and Saturday.

Gonzalez (36-0), who advanced to the state finals last season as a sophomore, is seeded first at 189 pounds in the Division I finals at Canyon Springs High. Senior Jesse Bautista of Rio Mesa (35-1), sixth in the state as a sophomore, is seeded second to defending state champion Carlos Blanco (33-0) of Canyon Springs.

Ray Torres, defending Southern Section champion, is 38-2 at 160 entering the Division II finals at Westlake High.

Armando Torres of Newbury Park, a Marmonte League champion, is seeded first at 130. Hull (31-4), selected outstanding wrestler among upper weights at the Marmonte League finals, is first at 189.

Mattison (52-3) and Waasdorp (37-3), both Golden League champions, earned top seedings in the Division IV meet at Santiago High.

The top six wrestlers in Divisions I and II, and the top three in Division IV, advance to the Southern Section Masters meet March 1 at Fountain Valley High. Top qualifiers from the Masters advance to the state meet March 7-8 in Stockton.

Budding Pioneers: The Simi Valley boys’ soccer team finished 20-4-3 and second in the Marmonte League. The Pioneers host Arroyo Grande today in a Southern Section Division I first-round match.

The future looks just as bright for the Pioneers, whose junior varsity was 16-0-2, including 13-0-1 in league play.

Big addition: Sylmar strengthened its bench--and its future--at the start of the spring semester when 6-7 sophomore Joey Youman transferred from Lancaster High.

Youman, who enrolled at Sylmar about two weeks ago, did not play at Lancaster because he felt “that it wouldn’t do him any good,” Sylmar Coach Bort Escoto said. “He’s out of shape and he plays in spots [for us] now.”

Youman has three points in two games, but is earmarked for the future. He is one of four talented sophomores for Sylmar (14-9), which faces Huntington Park (10-12) today in a first-round 3-A Division playoff game.

At a loss: After two consecutive subpar seasons, Grant Coach Howie Levine still isn’t used to losing.

“I feel like for the last two seasons we’re on the outside looking in,” he said. “I just don’t like the feeling. I’ve been moping around all weekend.”

In Levine’s 11 seasons at Grant, the Lancers made the playoffs in his first nine.