Antelope Valley Teams Can’t See Light at the End of the Tunnel Teams in the Antelope Valley are in a dark mood these days.

Because of the statewide energy crisis, school days have been shortened by rolling blackouts instituted to conserve electricity.

In the same way that teachers scramble to fit lesson plans into shorter class times, basketball coaches struggle with condensed practices and rescheduled games that must fit rigid parameters.

Coaches are scratching their heads. And rubbing their eyes.

At Littlerock, players and coaches are enveloped in darkness if they don’t exit the locker room at a predetermined time.

“There is no blackness like there is blackness in that room when the lights go out,” said Littlerock boys’ Coach Ben Dale, who keeps a lantern in his locker.

With little relief in sight, Antelope Valley Union High School District officials are in a quandary.

The district reached a deal with Southern California Edison in 1988 that offered low-cost energy in return for agreeing to curb power usage during heavy-use periods.

In an effort to keep overuse fines at a minimum, school ended at noon last week and this week. Students rarely stick around for basketball games, which now start at 3 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.

“We’re losing tons of money,” Dale said. “We’re losing concession sales, ticket sales and support. It’s like a D league park and recreation game. It’s horrible. We all have the same problem [in Antelope Valley]. Nobody is exempt.”

Practice times have also suffered. Two-and-a-half hour practices are shoe-horned into half that time.

“As a coach, you want to practice as much as possible to get your team prepared,” Quartz Hill Coach Bernard Nichter said.

“It’s been tough, especially because we probably aren’t the most talented team in the league. We’re a team that has to execute really well and we need that time together.”

Until the crisis ends, nobody is getting that time.

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The game was hotly contested and, in a departure from the past, not hot-headed.

The final score was 62-60, La Canada over Crescenta Valley, but there was another victory: The absence of bitterness that had defined the soured rivalry between the neighboring schools.

The annual basketball and football games were canceled after the 1995-96 season.

“The rivalry got too intense,” La Canada Coach Tom Hofman said. “You had police out there and were always worried about security. There was an old-time hatred.”

Saturday at Pasadena City College, the only tension found was on the court. La Canada battled back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

“We haven’t made our schedule yet for next year, but we’re going to play this game again, it looks like,” Hofman said.