Ragsdale Carries Redlands Everywhere but the Playoffs

Danny Ragsdale not only led the Redlands football team to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crown with a 5-0 SCIAC record, but broke almost every school passing record, putting together one of the most prolific seasons in NCAA Division III in 1999.

Yet, he couldn’t feel worse about the season.

On Nov. 14, the Bulldogs were looking to reach the Division III playoffs. With Division III’s third-best offense in both scoring and yards, and a six-game winning streak to end the season, they thought they were in. But the phone call they got that morning was a rejection, not an invitation.

“This has been a tough week for me,” Ragsdale said. “I feel a lot of regret.”

But there wasn’t much for Ragsdale to regret about the season he put together.

The senior averaged 428.3 total yards a game, second in the nation. He was third in the nation in passing with a 170.4 efficiency rating. He averaged 404.3 yards passing a game. He had the best single-game mark for yards passing, 602. He also had the fourth-, fifth- and seventh-highest single-game marks for yards passing.

All this by a guy who, at the end of last season, wasn’t planning on playing at Redlands again.

A senior academically but a junior in eligibility last season, Ragsdale was a converted receiver playing quarterback. He was planning to go to law school this fall.

But his team’s failure to make the playoffs in 1998 and its prospects for doing so in 1999 were enough to lure him back.

“I thought, ‘I’ve got one more year to play football,” said Ragsdale, a finalist for Division III player of the year. “Why hurry up and grow up and go to law school? I want to go to the playoffs.’ ”

With only two units left to graduate, he took the spring off to refocus on football. Then he came back and gave Redlands perhaps its greatest football season.

The Bulldogs finished 7-2, going 6-0 after a 1-2 start. Ragsdale broke the school single-season records for passes, 380; completions, 247; yards, 3,639; touchdowns, 33, and completion percentage, 65%. All that, and he played only four full games, sitting out the fourth quarters in five others because the lead was so great.

Junior receiver Chad Hustead also had a banner year, setting Bulldog receiving records for catches, 72; yards, 1,150, and touchdowns, 18. And Redlands won at least a share of the SCIAC title for the third time in four years, a fact not lost on Coach Mike Maynard.

“We’re thrilled to have won the conference,” he said. “But we spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday pouting. Now we’re picking ourselves up, saying, ‘Hey! We’re conference champs!’ ”

Indeed, calling the season anything but a success would be incorrect. In time, Ragsdale probably will see that.

“I’m sure one day I can sit back with my grandkids and think about how great a season it was,” he said. “But not right now.”

Ruth Van’t Land, the all-time leading scorer in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. soccer history, scored in the second overtime to lead Cal Poly Pomona over Texas A&M; Commerce, 2-1, Sunday at Pomona. The victory earned the Broncos a trip to the Division II Final Four, where they’ll play at Barry of Florida on Dec. 2.

In the Division II women’s volleyball tournament in Hawaii over the weekend, 12th-ranked Cal State Bakersfield defeated Hawaii Pacific in four games before being swept by host BYU Hawaii in the Pacific regional final. BYU Hawaii reached the final by sweeping Cal State Los Angeles, whose senior middle blocker Caryn Sale was named CCAA player of the year. Golden Eagle Coach Bill Lawler was named conference coach of the year.

Other players of the year:

SCIAC men’s soccer: Pomona-Pitzer senior midfielder Eric Dugan; SCIAC women’s soccer: Redlands senior goalkeeper Kim Stafford; SCIAC women’s volleyball: La Verne junior outside hitter Amy Brummell.

Cal State Dominguez Hills’ Donna Mills finished 48th in the Division II cross-country championships last weekend. In Division III, Pomona-Pitzer’s Adam Boardman and Anastasia Finnegan finished 35th and 76th, respectively.

In its season opener, the UC Riverside women’s basketball team, playing its first game since the school began a two-year transition to becoming a Division I program, defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 80-71, Saturday. It was the program’s first victory over a Division I opponent.

UNIVERSITY DIVISION

The UCLA women’s cross-country team finished 30th in the NCAA championships at Bloomington, Ind., Monday. The Bruins were led by sophomore Kate Vermeulen, who finished 90th with a time of 17 minutes 57.40 seconds. . . . Loyola Marymount freshman Arturo Torres was named to the West Coast Conference men’s soccer first team after scoring 16 goals. Coach Paul Krumpe was co-coach of the year.

The UCLA women’s volleyball team (17-1) clinched a tie for the Pacific 10 title Friday night with a four-game victory at USC. The Trojans finished third at 13-5. . . . In West Coast Conference women’s volleyball, Pepperdine finished conference play 14-0, with a five-game victory over Santa Clara on Saturday. Loyola Marymount finished fourth. . . . UC Santa Barbara’s Roberta Gehlke was named Big West women’s volleyball co-player of the year, and teammate Brooke Niles was named freshman of the year.

Colorado state high school golf champion Kate Waggoner signed a letter of intent with Pepperdine and will attend the school next fall. . . . The Loyola Marymount men’s water polo team finished third at the Western Water Polo Assn. championships last weekend.