Sprain Drains Monroe

Monroe’s George Garcia took the opening kickoff 45 yards Friday night against North Hollywood and sustained a severe sprained ankle upon being tackled.

Garcia, the second-leading rusher among area City Section players, limped off the field and did not return.

Without Garcia, Monroe’s vaunted double-wing offense, the region’s most productive through three weeks, fumbled four times and was limited to 153 yards.

North Hollywood’s All-City linebacker Brandon Hicks focused on stopping Garcia’s backfield mate, Vinny Walker, who gained only 51 yards in 11 carries, and the Huskies handed Monroe its first defeat, 21-18.

Garcia is questionable for Thursday’s game against Grant.

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Burroughs quarterback Chris Sontoyo threw three touchdown passes--his first of the year--in a 37-7 victory over Glendale.

In Burroughs’ first four games last season, J.K. Scott had 11 scoring passes. Scott, now at Washington, went on to earn All-Southern Section honors.

But despite the modest statistics, Sontoyo is doing the job. Burroughs is 3-1, same as last season.

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Paraclete Coach Steve Hagerty blames himself a 13-12 loss against Bakersfield Garces.

After driving 85 yards, Paraclete faced a second-and-18 situation at the Garces 19-yard line with about a minute to play.

John McMurtry, Paraclete’s kicker, already had a 31-yard field goal to his credit, but Hagerty was leery of him trying from 36 yards.

Instead, the coach called for a pass--which was intercepted.

“I think I went temporarily insane; why were we even sending in a pass play?” Hagerty said. “Our kids played their tails off and it was real hard to look into 36 pairs of eyes after that blunder.”

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The initial diagnosis when Mike Simo, a two-way starter for Newbury Park, suffered a knee injury against Oxnard on Sept. 19 was a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a season-ending blow.

Two weeks later, it is Simo delivering the blows. The injury was not as serious as was feared and the senior tailback and defensive back rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown in three carries and made a reception for 22 yards in the Panthers’ 42-7 victory last Friday over Channel Islands.