Last Chance for Stars to Shine

If Garrett Lepisto, a multi-sport standout for Agoura High, didn’t know his way around a basketball court and a football field so well, he might have needed a compass to make his way through the past couple of weeks.

Last weekend, he played for the South in a Ventura County all-star basketball game. Friday night, he participated in another all-star basketball game pitting Ventura County standouts against Santa Barbara-area players.

And at 7 tonight, he will play wide receiver for the East in the 26th annual Ventura County East-West All-Star football game at Moorpark High.

“It’s been busy, but I’m glad,” said Lepisto, who will try to walk on to UCLA’s football team in the fall. “I’ve been doing this for years. I’m used to it, and I wanted to do all of it. It’s an honor just to be selected, so I want to play.”

That feeling--and a busy schedule--is shared by many of the senior standouts participating in tonight’s game.

“Everybody’s getting along well, they’re having fun and they’re working hard,” said East Coach Mike Kelly of Thousand Oaks. “But we’re to the point now that we’ve had 12 practices, and everybody’s busy. It’s just a busy time.”

The 32 East players and 36 for the West have squeezed practices around school awards programs, proms and grad nights. But they’re still anxious for a final night of high school football.

“This game means a lot,” said East quarterback Tim Bird of Simi Valley, who is bound for New Mexico on a partial scholarship and will split time tonight with Nick Czernek of Newbury Park.

“I love everything about it, just getting out here, throwing the ball around, even the hitting. Last week, there was a Valley all-star game. That was fun, and it had players from more schools in it.

“But this is all Ventura County players, and we’re all from here, so I think this game means more to us. We all kind of know each other, and we’re getting a chance to play together, instead of against each other.”

The players relish the opportunity.

“It’s kind of weird to find out all these guys who you’ve been going against all these years are great guys,” said Czernek, who plans to attend Ventura College.

The East won, 13-12, last year when Marcus Helfman of Agoura scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 20 seconds to play. The East leads the series, 14-9-2, and has won six of the last seven games.

“We’re having fun, but we’re taking it seriously, too,” Lepisto said.

Whether the East prevails again depends if its speed and depth at the skill positions can overcome the West’s size and strength on defense.

Besides quarterbacks Bird and Czernek, who combined for 5,226 yards and 47 touchdowns passing last season, the East boasts running backs Wes Cobos of Thousand Oaks, Art Garcia of Moorpark and Ryan Antzoulatos of Agoura. The trio rushed for 3,353 yards and 33 touchdowns last season.

“We think we have the best quarterbacks in the county, and the three best running backs in the county,” Kelly said.

The West counters with running backs Donald Thompson of Hueneme, The Times’ 1998 Ventura County back of the year, and Russell Patton of Channel Islands. Thompson rushed for 1,993 yards and 28 touchdowns, and Patton ran for 1,323 yards and 15 touchdowns last season.

“They’re just both very, very fast,” said West Coach Eliseo Miguel of Santa Clara. “Our offense is geared to gaining a lot of yards on the ground, with a lot of breakaways.”

Helping the West prevent big plays will be Washington-bound middle linebacker Jerome Stevens of Rio Mesa.

“We’re very strong defensively, and Stevens is the man,” Miguel said. “I’m glad he’s on our side.”

The West defense also includes Rio Mesa tackle Kevin Mack, who has signed with Oregon, and 5-foot-8 Hueneme cornerback Dwight Norman, who has impressed Miguel with his speed and aggressiveness.

“He’s not big, but he’s one of the fastest players out there and just a great athlete,” Miguel said.

The athleticism and experience of the players has made their coaches’ jobs simpler.

“It’s so easy to just let them go,” Miguel said. “The coaching is fun and it’s easy with the talent that these players have.”

VENTURA COUNTY ALL-STARS

EAST

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. School 4 Noah Happe TE/LB 6-6 210 Simi Valley 8 Tim Bird QB 6-1 188 Simi Valley 12 Nick Czernek QB 6-1 170 Newbury Park 16 Jeremy Shoop R/DB 5-8 165 Moorpark 18 Jesse Nicassio P/DB 6-2 165 Oak Park 20 Scott Sims WR/DB 5-9 165 Agoura 22 Wes Cobos RB/DB 5-8 150 Thousand Oaks 24 Zachary Schwartz WR 5-11 165 Oak Park 26 Dan Schneider WR/DB 5-10 165 Oak Park 28 Art Garcia RB/DB 5-7 150 Moorpark 32 Jesse Beaird DL 5-7 160 Agoura 34 Gary Murchiand RB/LB 5-11 190 Agoura 36 Ryan Antzoulatos RB/DB 5-11 190 Agoura 38 Jeff DiNapoli LB 5-10 220 Moorpark 40 Robert Espinoza DB 5-11 165 Royal 42 Isaac Oseguera DB 5-11 160 Fillmore 48 Dan Cuadra DL 5-11 200 Thousand Oaks 50 Justin Weniger LB 6-3 210 Oak Park 52 Jose Torres OL 6-0 235 Moorpark 54 Matt Warman LB 6-1 220 Westlake 56 David Oviedo OL/LB 5-10 205 Moorpark 58 Eric Frey OL/LB 6-2 230 Thousand Oaks 62 Jeremy Dion OL/DL 6-1 215 Royal 64 Mike Wertheimer OL 6-3 235 Newbury Park 66 Dan McMillin OL/DL 6-1 265 Simi Valley 68 Brian Montesanto DL 6-5 240 Royal 70 Brice Redmond OL 6-1 225 Thousand Oaks 72 Danny Brockdorf PK 5-11 230 Agoura 76 Chris Jansen OL/DL 6-2 250 Thousand Oaks 78 Michael Gergis OL 5-11 210 Thousand Oaks 80 Garrett Lepisto WR/DB 6-3 185 Agoura 82 Kenny Davis WR/DB 6-1 190 Simi Valley 84 Chris D’Ascenzo TE/DL 6-1 220 Thousand Oaks 88 Evan Panas TE 6-1 210 Royal

*--*

****

WEST

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. School 5 Mike Anderson QB 6-0 185 Ventura 7 Garrett Valencia QB 6-0 185 Camarillo 11 Jeff Garcia QB 6-3 155 Hueneme 19 Kevin Mack DL 6-3 230 Rio Mesa 21 Russell Patton RB 6-0 184 Channel Islands 23 Jaime Reyes SS 5-10 160 Camarillo 25 Adam Holiday TE/K 6-4 215 Santa Paula 27 Rashe Hall FS 6-0 195 Ventura 29 Dwight Norman DB 5-8 160 Hueneme 31 Donald Thompson RB 5-10 160 Hueneme 33 Jerome Stevens LB 6-2 250 Rio Mesa 35 Jose Resendiz RB/LB 6-0 210 Santa Clara 37 Desi Rodriguez DB 5-8 165 St. Bonaventure 39 Reggie Curry DL 6-2 210 Rio Mesa 41 Al Navarro DL 6-2 240 Nordhoff 43 Matt Brown LB/K 6-2 195 Nordhoff 45 Henry Otineru FB 5-9 260 Hueneme 47 John Fleener FB/LB 6-0 225 Oxnard 49 Tyler Wade DL 6-1 220 St. Bonaventure 51 Manny Cervantes OL/LB 5-7 215 Channel Islands 53 Eddie Dominguez OL 6-1 215 Santa Clara 55 Mark Martinez LB 6-1 20 Ventura 59 Ernie Carrasco OL/DL 6-1 290 Channel Islands 61 George Tapia OL/DL 6-3 260 Hueneme 63 James McCullah DL 6-2 230 Nordhoff 65 Aron Oppliger OL 6-0 228 Buena 67 Brian Blackshear OL 6-3 295 Santa Paula 71 Steve Dummer OL/DL 6-2 190 Santa Clara 73 Jorge Napoles OL/DL 6-1 300 Oxnard 75 Lucien Eagle-Jack OL 6-2 240 Nordhoff 77 Bobby Winson OL/DL 6-4 240 St. Bonaventure 79 Shaun Klannert OL/DL 6-2 260 Santa Paula 81 John Coleman DB 6-1 160 Rio Mesa 83 Moses Gonzales TE/LB 5-9 195 Hueneme 85 Tiloi Tuitama DL 6-2 195 Hueneme 87 Andre Malloy DL 5-10 195 Rio Mesa 89 Terrance Dotsy TE/DE 6-4 276 Santa Clara

*--*