Valencia Juiced by Welch’s Return

Much to the chagrin of the William S. Hart Unified School District which tried in vain to stop it, Harry Welch is coaching football again.

At Valencia High.

Welch, who guided Canyon to a Southern Section record-tying 46-game winning streak in the mid-80s, made his surprise coaching debut for Valencia on Friday night, one day after receiving the go-ahead from his attorney.

And by all accounts, Welch is a perfect fit at Valencia under Coach Brian Stiman, Welch’s long-time assistant at Canyon.

“We definitely have a very good working relationship,” Stiman said. “I think it’s a pretty easy and natural transition for us.”

With Welch calling the plays, the Vikings’ offense cruised like never before, building a 57-0 first-half lead en route to a 64-8 victory over Burroughs in a Foothill League opener.

Coaching a Manuel White-led offense appears an easy task for Welch, who seems to find bigger woes in legal fields rather than playing fields.

For the second time this decade, Welch and the school district which employs him were at odds when Welch asked for its permission in February to become an assistant at Valencia.

The school district denied Welch’s request, instead enforcing upon Welch a long-standing rule which forbids its teachers and staff members at one high school from coaching at another. Welch teaches at Canyon.

Although the district has not enforced the rule in at least the last decade, it was clear no exceptions were to be made for Welch. Seems district members are not ready to forgive Welch, who felt forced to sue the district and Southern Section after receiving a one-year suspension for his team’s illegal use of blocking dummies and sleds in a 1991 spring practice.

Since Stiman changed the team’s offensive scheme in the summer to a more traditional pro set--which Welch used at Canyon--Welch had been helping out at Valencia through late July until he was told by the district to stop.

Within the last month, Welch hired an attorney to help him sort out the mess.

Following the letter of the law, Welch prevailed.

Rule 44919(b) of the California code of education, which supersedes district law, states that within a district preferential priority shall be given to teachers presently employed by the district for athletic positions.

Welch told district members, “Not only am I not getting preferential priority, you’re not even allowing me to apply for the job.”

At about 3:30 on Thursday, Welch received a phone call from his attorney telling him, “as of this moment, you are an assistant football coach at Valencia High School.”

Welch, with a record of 120-31-2 in 12 years at Canyon and two consecutive section titles, returned to the sideline for the first time since resigning in 1993.

Stiman cautioned Welch that he was going to work him into the Valencia fold slowly. But after Valencia stuffed Burroughs’ opening drive, Welch was thrown into the fire.

“[Stiman] said, ‘OK, I’ve worked you in slowly. It’s your ball,’ ” Welch said.

“I was afraid that I was going to be a curse on the Vikings. I was going, ‘Welch don’t blow this.’ ”

Instead, it was Vikings blowing through Burroughs at break-neck speed.

White had 269 all-purpose yards and scored four touchdowns in the first half.

“These kids at Valencia remind me a lot of the real good players I had at Canyon,” Welch said. “They’re hard-working and very receptive to discipline and hard work.”

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San Fernando (6-0), one of seven undefeated teams in the region before games Saturday, is enjoying its finest start since opening the 1991 season with seven consecutive victories.

But the Tigers of 1999 are altogether different from the team that lost to Sylmar, 31-7, in the quarterfinals of the City 4-A Division playoffs in 1991.

For starters, San Fernando ran almost three times as much as it passed in those days, and accounted for only 859 yards passing in 12 games.

Quarterback Thomas Hoohuli eclipsed that mark in half the time, passing for 275 yards Friday night in the Tigers’ 36-33 victory over Kennedy.

The Tigers have never been known as a passing team, so it’s a concept Coach Sean Blunt is still getting used to.

“Is that what we threw for?” Blunt asked after the game. “That was a great performance.”

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Two Pacific View teams which had only one victory between them in 10 games, find themselves atop the league standings.

Camarillo (1-4-1), which gave up an average of 37.2 points points in its first five games, used a strong defensive effort to defeat Hueneme, 20-19.

Channel Islands (2-4) defeated Rio Mesa, 24-6, winning its league opener for the first time in the 1990s.

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Listen up special teams players, one sure-fire way to get your name into the local newspapers is by blocking a potential game-winning field goal in the final minute.

That’s how Chris Marrero of Littlerock and Clark Goodwin of Ventura did it Friday night to preserve one-point victories.

Marrero blocked a 38-yard attempt by Quartz Hill in the final 11 seconds for a 9-8 victory.

Goodwin used his head to block a 32 yarder by San Marcos with 44 seconds remaining, the ball glancing off his facemask to preserve a 7-6 victory.