Son Had to Defend ProudFather

In 24 years as Cerritos College’s football coach, Frank Mazzotta has experienced almost everything.

Among his highlights are coaching his sons, Casey and Frank Jr., and watching them begin coaching careers.

On Saturday, when Mazzotta’s Falcons avoided an upset by defeating Fullerton, 26-23, he called offensive plays against Casey, who is in his first season as Fullerton’s defensive coordinator.

“It was really tough because [Casey’s] just starting his career out and I want him to succeed,” Mazzotta said. “He calls me every night and we talked about our teams. Obviously, we didn’t give any strategy out.

“After the game, he said to me, ‘What do you think?’ He always seems to want my approval. I think he’s already made an impact with that defense.”

A former Brigham Young safety, Casey, 30, has been a head coach at Bellflower and Foothill highs. Now he appears on the fast track to another head coaching job, perhaps to succeed Fullerton’s Gene Murphy or even his father, if or when either retires.

“He is head coach material,” Mazzotta said of his son. “Casey has got that personality. He’s like the Pied Piper. Everyone just gravitates toward him.”

As far as the game, the person who had the most difficult decision was Helen Mazzotta. What side did she sit on?

“There is no choice,” Mazzotta said. “Casey is her baby.”

*

Touchdown maker: Freshman wide receiver Ricky Moore is making an impact for Riverside. In the Tigers’ 52-17 victory over Saddleback on Saturday, Moore tied a school record with three touchdown receptions. Moore caught seven passes for 168 yards during the game. For the season, he has 21 receptions for 352 yards and six touchdowns.

Warriors reign supreme: Art Diaz and Ernesto Bernal were among the top five finishers and led El Camino to a victory in the Golden West Invitational cross-country meet in Huntington Beach. Diaz was third and Bernal fourth, while Mt. San Antonio’s Ozzie Pina was first with a time of 20:00.04 over four miles. Jennifer Bell, last season’s state runner-up, led Mt. SAC to an easy victory in the women’s race. Bell ran 18:54.82 over 5,000 meters to finish ahead of teammates Orella Gonzalez and Alejandra Contreras.

Getting defensive: Mt. San Antonio’s defense, which gave up 75 points against Chaffey and Ventura in the first two weeks, was dominant in its 21-14 victory over previously undefeated Santa Ana. The Mounties gave up only seven first downs and just 154 yards. Mt. SAC also intercepted three passes, and Santa Ana quarterbacks Kelly Coburn and Greg Farrell completed seven of 24 passes.

New date: Canyons, which postponed its Sept. 15 nonconference football game against Cerritos after the terrorist attacks, will play the Falcons on Oct. 13.

Nose for the net: Heather Collins has scored goals in all nine games for the Canyons women’s soccer team. Collins, a freshman from Chatsworth, has 13 for the season for the Cougars (8-0-1, 3-0 in the Western State Conference), who are ranked fifth in Southern California.

Soccer rankings: The Southern California regional rankings, as of Sept. 19, have Long Beach (7-0-0) at the top with Cypress (7-0-2) second. Canyons (8-0-1) and Orange Coast (7-1-0) are tied for fifth, Ventura (5-2-1) is seventh, Pasadena (7-3-0) eighth and El Camino (6-4-0) at No. 10.