Swarm Topples Fresno

The Simi Valley Swarm rallied from a 17-0 deficit to beat the defending Minor League Super Bowl champion Fresno Bandits, 21-17, in a Pacific Football League opener Saturday night at Simi Valley High.

A fumbled punt with about six minutes left in the third quarter led to a two-yard run by Larnell Sykes to give the Swarm its first score, then Thaddeus Massey scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help Simi Valley win.

Massey scored on a 10-yard run to cap one drive and caught a 20-yard pass from Darren Del’Andrae to put the Swarm on top.

HIGH SCHOOLS

Notre Dame High Athletic Director and football Coach Kevin Rooney said Friday the Knights’ opener against Alemany has been moved up a day and will be played Thursday, Sept. 11, at Notre Dame.

Rooney said the move was made to allow the game to be televised locally on Fox Sports West 2.

Notre Dame defeated Alemany, 41-7, last season and finished 12-2 after winning the Mission League and advancing to the Southern Section Division III title game.

Alemany was 1-9 last year.

The game will mark the coaching debut of Jim Bonds, a former Hart High and UCLA quarterback who formerly was offensive coordinator at St. Francis High.

One Birmingham coach is on record as being opposed to a Los Angeles Unified School District decision to change the school’s mascot.

“We’re the Braves until someone gives us uniforms that say we aren’t,” Birmingham High football Coach Dave Lertzman said regarding the decision to force Birmingham and two other schools to change their mascots because they depict Indians in a demeaning matter.

The change was put on hold this week by the district in part because of the overwhelming cost and objections from school officials that the decision was made without due process.

COLLEGES

Former Hart offensive tackle Mike Wambolt has gotten a taste of the unconventional coaching methods of Colorado Coach Rick Neuheisel.

Wambolt, along with the rest of the Buffalo freshmen, thought they were being punished after Neuheisel “discovered” a hole in the wall at the players dormitory.

After a two-mile run in the foothills near Boulder, the players stumbled onto Neuheisel armed with a bunch of innertubes.

Wambolt spent the rest of the day floating down Boulder Creek on the innertubes, a yearly ritual Neuheisel uses to increase team unity.

“This is great,” Wambolt told the Denver Post. “I mean, they got us. We started that run and we didn’t stop. And then we kept going. . . .I thought we were in for it. I never had a practice like this.”

For the record, there never was any vandalism.