Get Ready for Some Mud Bowls

My first official El Nino warning is being issued to all high school football coaches who plan on having teams in the playoffs.

There’s no need to panic, though. Don’t rush to buy umbrellas for your assistant coaches. Hold off ordering jerseys that glow in the mud. Don’t tell your players to break out the snorkels just yet.

But do declare a yellow alert and start preparing for a muddy, rainy playoff run.

No one in sunny Los Angeles knows how to handle rain, from freeway drivers to football players. If this El Nino effect is really going to happen, teams had better get ready.

Rain and mud are great equalizers. Just like race horses, there are teams that thrive on inclement weather. And there are teams that flop, too.

“I played my entire football career in rain and in mud and at the end of the year, in snow,” said Taft High Coach Troy Starr, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. “You have to be prepared.”

Starr won’t be squirting quarterback Steve Alvarado in the face with a hose while he takes snaps during practice, but he intends to create game conditions.

“We’ll practice with our worst footballs soaking wet,” Starr said.

Hart Coach Mike Herrington needs no reminder how rain can adversely effect a team’s performance.

“When I was defensive coordinator in 1987, we lost to Arroyo Grande in the slop at [College of the Canyons],” he said.

Herrington has put together a check list of items and ideas for dealing with rain.

“We will have a million towels,” he said. “We will have three sets of balls. We will have a change of clothes. And we will have some of the greatest ball boys.”

Mothers are always willing to offer a hug and a kiss to their sons after football games--except when it’s muddy. Suddenly, they go on strike when they realize they’re the ones responsible for cleaning the muddy uniform afterward.

“I pulled off my uniform and my mom said, ‘I’m not washing that,’ ” Westlake cornerback Travis Campbell recalled after playing Crescenta Valley in a mud bowl last season.

Campbell enjoys playing in mud.

“It’s fun because it’s like the stereotype of football--guys coming up with mud on their faces, jerseys so full of mud you can’t see the numbers,” he said.

Asked for his mud strategy, El Camino Real quarterback Aaron Fredette said, “It doesn’t bother me. I just spit it out. I look at my linemen, they have mud all over their faces and you can’t help but giggle.”

The conventional wisdom is that poor field conditions hurt passing teams. On the contrary, mud is good for passing teams but rain isn’t. Last season, there were muddy fields for the first week of playoff action. Taft ended up passing for 371 yards while Hart threw for 359 yards.

The advantage on muddy fields is with the receiver because he knows where he’s going and the defensive back doesn’t.

If it’s really a muddy December, bet the house on Taft winning a City 4-A title. Besides their coach having mud experience, cornerback Airabin Justin played last season in Kirkland, Wash., and he can’t remember a game in which it didn’t rain.

“It’s going to be fun because a lot of guys slip in the rain,” Justin said. “You have to keep your footing. No big steps. If you take big steps, you’ll fall right away.”

Hart linebacker Scott Hunt said he hates mud because of the trouble with traction.

“You go to make a big hit and your legs are flying everywhere,” he said.

Sportswriters don’t mind rain or mud. All we do is head for cover in the press box and laugh at all the players and coaches getting drenched in a downpour.

Of course, after the game, when we courageously come down to the field to get comments, sometimes a player tries to become a comedian by offering a handshake full of mud.

That’s the only time sportswriters make a hasty retreat.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.