Valencia Must Overcome More Than Whiteout

Losing Manuel White to a knee injury might be enough to give fits to Coach Brian Stiman of Valencia, but Stiman has more pressing concerns than losing the leading rusher in the region for a week.

The Vikings committed eight penalties for 93 yards in a 27-22 victory over Burroughs on Friday night. Not only that, quarterback Brian Hamilton fumbled on the Valencia 38-yard line with 8:14 left in the game and the Vikings leading, 27-10.

“If we quit shooting ourselves in the foot, we’d be a lot better off,” Stiman said. “We’ve had a rash of penalties and turnovers this year--that will stop. I guarantee that will stop. End of story.”

White, who has 951 yards rushing, will probably not play Friday against Burbank.

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Corey Neal was supposed to be the man of many positions for Sylmar this season, but he is doing fine at just one.

Neal, an All-Valley Pac-8 Conference safety as a junior, played wide receiver and running back in the preseason, but settled in at tailback for conference play.

Neal and fullback David Contreras have rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the last two games.

“[Neal] was playing three positions, none of them very well,” Coach Jeff Engilman of Sylmar said. “This is working much better.”

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With a 34-21 loss to Serra last week, Crespi (5-1) botched the possibility of a clash of unbeaten teams this week against Notre Dame (6-0).

“We kind of blew that one, didn’t we?” Coach Tim Lins of Crespi said.

Crespi plans to unveil a new electronic message board for the Notre Dame game, though Lins has other things on his mind.

“[Notre Dame] hasn’t lost that many games the past few years,” Lins said. “They’re as solid as they’ve ever been.”

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Getting the ball into the hands of Calvin Bell as often as possible appears to be the strategy of Coach Ron Veres of Simi Valley. And sound strategy it is.

Bell, a junior transfer who lines up at wingback in the Pioneers’ modified run-and-shoot offense, has 40 receptions for 532 yards and four touchdowns, 224 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 37 carries, 172 yards and two touchdowns in six punt returns and 97 yards in five kickoff returns.

He averages 31.2 yards per punt.

“He’s the best athlete we’ve faced,” Coach George Hurley of Newbury Park said. “He looked good against us in summer passing league, and he looks even better in pads.”

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Quarterback Jason Jacobs, who rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns in Lancaster’s first five games, ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns last week against Palmdale.

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Defensive back James McCowan of Oxnard set a school record Friday with what Yellowjacket Coach Wes Morimune describes as a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.

“On the film, you see his back foot touch the goal line when he catches the ball,” Morimune said.

The previous Oxnard record for a touchdown on an interception return was 90 yards, set by Bud Carty in a 1935 game against Santa Barbara.

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Running back De’Andre Scott of Alemany left the Loyola game in the fourth quarter because of chest pain stemming from an asthma attack, he said.

Scott, who ran for 32 yards and a touchdown in nine carries, is expected to play this Saturday against Harvard-Westlake.

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Camarillo (4-2) has won four consecutive games and Coach Carl Thompson credits the defensive trio of Eric Foster, Scott Korell and Jaime Reyes for leading the Scorpions’ revival.

Foster, 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds, essentially is a linebacker but has played four positions including tackle and end. Korell has returned both his interceptions for touchdowns and Reyes has been impressive at safety despite weighing 160 pounds.

“We’re kind of a no-name team,” Thompson said. “We don’t have a lot of guys with great [statistics] but they play hard.”

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Almost every season, the game between L.A. Baptist and Village Christian, known as the Bible Bowl, has decided the Alpha League championship.

With Paraclete (5-1), defending Division XI champion, now in the league, that might change.

Village Christian (2-4) meets L.A. Baptist (4-2) Friday night at Alemany High in a game that might determine second place, at best.

“But it’s always a big game, regardless of whether we’re playing for first place, third place or last place,” said Coach Mark Bates of L.A. Baptist, which had its 13-game league winning streak ended last week in a 36-18 loss to Kilpatrick.

“These kids have played against each other in several sports, both in junior high school and high school. Many of them attend the same churches. This is still big.”

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Calabasas has remained unbeaten with balance, led by quarterback Dallas Enoch, who has passed for 993 yards and eight touchdowns, and rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns against St. Monica.

Enoch has scored 24 points, and tailback Shawn Abdi and receivers Matt Bernstein, Evan Rosenblum and Matt Lowenstein each have 20 points.

The Coyotes spread the wealth around on defense, allowing 213.5 yards per game, tying for 10th-best in the region.

“It just means everybody’s contributing, and that we’re all playing together as a team,” Enoch said. “We can depend on each other, and we’re real proud of that.”

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Drew Coppola of Calabasas enjoyed a breakout game against Santa Clara when he rushed for 124 yards in 22 carries.

“A lot of the credit has to go to the line,” said Coppola, who had 125 yards in 28 carries previously after returning from a bruised pancreas three games ago. “A lot of times, I wasn’t getting touched until I was already five or six yards down the field.”

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Tailback Gary Sonkur of Montclair Prep (4-1) has rushed for 252 yards in eight carries and scored three touchdowns in victories over Warner Springs and Southern California Christian the last two weeks.

“He has surprised us,” Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini said of Sonkur, who has 523 yards rushing and is averaging 8.8 yards per carry.

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Staff writers Michael Lazarus, Peter Yoon, Eric Sondheimer, Steve Henson, John Ortega, Tris Wykes and correspondents Dave Desmond and Lauren Peterson contributed to this notebook.