Cause of Fire Is Probed

Police are investigating possible arson in a fire that damaged a football storage shed and destroyed equipment last Tuesday at Moorpark High.

“We do have some leads and it appears that arrests will be imminent,” said Joe Braga of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The amount of damage was not included in the police report, Braga said. Moorpark football Coach Ron Wilford estimated the damage at $10,000.

Meanwhile, the Musketeers (8-1, 3-0 in the Frontier League) will be without practice equipment for at least part of the week while preparing to play Nordhoff (6-3, 3-0) for the league championship Friday night at Moorpark.

“Hopefully, insurance is going to replace it all,” Wilford said.

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Excuse Crescenta Valley for doing a little chest thumping in the wake of its 35-28 Pacific League victory over longtime nemesis Muir on Friday.

The Falcons have had solid seasons in the past, but always seemed to be measured by their failures against Muir.

“We better start getting some respect now,” linebacker Jesse Busta said. “The people who didn’t believe in us before owe us an apology.”

There were many.

Few believed the Falcons would unseat Muir, the five-time defending league champion. The Mustangs had defeated Crescenta Valley 18 consecutive times dating to 1979 while outscoring the Falcons, 545-79.

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El Camino Real tight end/inside linebacker Alex Perez will sit out the Conquistadores’ Northwest Valley Conference finale Friday against visiting Taft because he received two personal-foul penalties last week against Granada Hills and was ejected.

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Thousand Oaks nearly took advantage of an obscure rule Friday night against Agoura.

On the last play of the first half, Thousand Oaks called a fair catch on a punt at the Agoura 46-yard line, where the Lancers elected to take a free kick. The play is treated like a kickoff, with the opposing team 10 yards away from the ball, but a kick between the uprights counts as a field goal.

Steve Maccarone gave it a good effort from 56 yards, but the kick fell barely short and Agoura went on to win, 42-14.