Big performances, big blowouts

I can’t say I’m very surprised RB Delano Howell had a standout performance in Hart’s 50-10 victory over Claremont on Friday.

Yes, everybody knew going into it that it’d be a lopsided affair and, like most of Hart’s games, Howell played a big-time role, rushing for 231 yards and three TDs, the first of which came on a 49-yard run less than a minute into the game.

Normally, a game like that would be something to rave about. Unfortunately, all I’m going to say is let’s see if Howell can do something like that against Loyola this week.

But Howell wasn’t the only guy who played a role in a blowout.

QB Graham Wilbert over at cross-Santa Clarita Valley rival Valencia completed 23 of 33 passes for 241 yards in the Vikings’ 56-7 victory over St. John Bosco. I’ll cut Valencia a break for playing this one, though. After all, they played Birmingham and Orange Lutheran on consecutive weekends this season.

- Austin Knoblauch

Lancers rising in the Marmonte League

You have to give Thousand Oaks credit for putting up a gutsy performance in its 37-26 Marmonte League victory over Agoura on Friday.

Even though starting RB John Lister went down with a leg injury early in the game, the Lancers utilized the talent of QB Ian Shultis and RB Evan Yabu to comeback from a 13-3 deficit and post an important victory. Shultis completed 15 of 20 passes for 188 yards and a TD and Yabu rushed for 160 yards and a TD to prove the Lancers are capable of challenging for a playoff spot in what will be a hotly contested battle for top-three honors in the Marmonte League.

I think Thousand Oaks will be hard-pressed to win the race for the league’s final playoff spot, but who knows? The Lancers hung tough with Loyola and Atascadero and they beat a pretty good Camarillo team as well, so Moorpark and Simi Valley should definitely not underestimate them.

- Austin Knoblauch

The O.C.: Reruns

Some Orange County things that jumped out at me in Week 4:

• Chad Miller of Foothill passed for two touchdowns and rushed for three, and Michael Camacho ran for three, in a 56-38 victory over El Modena. Both offenses made the defenses look offensive.
• Ryan Wertenberger of Laguna Hills passed for 170 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-0 victory over Woodbridge. Laguna Hills’ new stadium gets christened with style.
• Andy McDonald of Newport Harbor completed nine of 11 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown during a 28-14 victory over Dana Hills. Repeat those numbers back slowly and let it sink in.
• With Wes Fletcher of Placentia Valencia out of the lineup with an ankle injury, Rickee Collins rushed for 167 yards in a 28-9 victory over Capistrano Valley. Maybe we ought to give that Tigers’ offensive line some love, eh?
• Brad Curtis of San Clemente passed for three touchdowns -- all in the second quarter -- and ran for another in a 35-14 victory over El Toro. That’s a good night in just one quarter.
• Derek Orman of Western scored on a 40-yard run and a 45-yard pass reception in a 28-3 victory over Tustin. I’ve always been a fan of long distance.
• Noah Molnar of Corona del Mar intercepted four passes in a 22-14 victory over South El Monte. A junior, Molnar caught almost as many balls on defense as he has all season on offense (six).
• Ramon Mejia of Anaheim kicked a 33-yard field goal with 39 seconds left to give the undefeated Colonists a 13-10 victory over Loara. Game-winning field goals seem like such a high school rarity.
• Reid Williams of Esperanza rushed for 98 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-7 victory over Tesoro. You know, I sometimes wonder what kind of damage I could do in that Esperanza backfield.

- Martin Henderson

Fast finishes

Fine fourth-quarter form resulted in significant victories for Redondo and West Torrance in the fourth week of the season.

Redondo (2-2) earned a 20-13 decision over previously unbeaten Gardena Serra (3-1) after breaking a 13-13 tie with a nine-yard scoring run by senior fullback Joe Rubio with 46 seconds left in Friday's game, according to a story in the Daily Breeze. The victory is the Sea Hawks' second in a row and made up for a loss to Serra last season.

West Torrance (4-0) also broke a fourth-quarter deadlock, at 17-17, to beat rival South Torrance, 31-17, after senior running back Brian Baucham caught a 49-yard scoring pass and then rushed 61 yards for another touchdown in the final minutes.

The teams had tied, 14-14, last season, with West winning in 2005, and South winning the 2004 and 2003 meetings.

The latest edition of the annual game, it seems, was befitting a great rivalry.

- Lauren Peterson

Belmont is no Northern light

Coach Rob Levy, in his 21st season at Belmont, said he can't recall another year when the Northern League race, on the surface, could be more wide open than the state of Montana.

"All six teams could win it," Levy said. "There are no weak links."

That includes his team. The Sentinels, now 4-0 after defeating South Gate, 47-21, on Friday, are off to their best start since 1993, when they went undefeated in the regular season.

Levy is quick to point out that Belmont has benefited from a soft schedule. The Sentinels' four opponents -- Contreras, Bell, Grant and South Gate -- are a combined 1-16, with Grant claiming the only win.

And should they get past winless Hollywood this week, they would open league play the following week against another 5-0 team, Eagle Rock.

"We have to play them one at a time. We're not good enough to look past anybody," Levy said. "But our defense has been a pleasant surprise. We didn't have any returning starters but it is improving every week. And we have some excellent skill guys. Six different players have scored touchdowns for us."

Among those standout skill players is quarterback Emilio Franco. The 5-9, 156-pound junior completed 12 of 19 passes for 164 yards on Friday. He threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score against South Gate.

"As a team, this group is playing as well as it can, and in some ways is exceeding its potential," Levy said.

Still, the Sentinels should have a better idea where they stand in two weeks.

- Mike Terry   

Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran top the Pac-5

With all due respect to Crespi, Mission Viejo and Long Beach Poly, it sure looks like the favorites for the Pac-5 Division championship are coming from the Trinity League.

Did two teams make a more convincing statement Friday than Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran? Mater Dei's victory over Edison, 42-14, and Orange Lutheran's victory over Los Alamitos, 31-8, was complete in every way.

For what it’s worth, Edison and Los Alamitos are the front-runners from the Sunset League.

Sure, Poly is still out there, and on a good night the Jackrabbits might beat one of the elite teams. But so far, Poly hasn’t exactly established itself as a team that can play four quarters against such competition.

Mission Viejo? The Diablos have beaten their one Southland opponent, 34-14, but last I looked, no one was comparing Redondo to Edison -- or Los Al.

Crespi continues to be impressive, despite the loss of quarterback Kevin Prince. But can a team that gave up 41 points (albeit to Corona Centennial) produce the kind of balance it takes to beat Mater Dei or Lutheran?

Something tells me that as long as Mater Dei and Lutheran remain healthy, the state’s best division is going to come down to these two teams.

I’ll get my first in-person look at Mater Dei (4-0) this week against Centennial, but there wasn’t anything unimpressive about Lutheran (5-0). Tight end Blake Ayles said his team’s offense can still step it up. He’s right, if the Lancers really need to score on every possession. Which they don’t. Against a quality program, senior quarterback Blake Hyepock –- who is as underrated as they come -– looked like the highly touted QB instead of his opponent, Clark Evans. Hyepock was sharp as a razor.

“I thought we rose to the occasion against the best team we’ve played, by far,” said Jim Kunau, Lutheran’s coach. “They’re a much better team than the score indicated.”

And that just goes to show how good Lutheran is. That’s not to say it couldn’t stumble. Remember, it was beaten in overtime last season by Servite. But I came away so impressed with the Lancers.

And this is a team that lost quarterback Aaron Corp (USC), defensive end Michael Reardon (USC) and receiver Austin Pettis (Boise State). They really were an unknown quantity coming into this season in terms of how good they really are. They’re not unknown any more.

And Mater Dei? The Monarchs finally played an opponent befitting their reputation –- and lived up the expectations. There’s a lot of football to be played, including Nov. 2 when they Mater Dei and Lutheran meet at Santa Ana Stadium. My guess is that it’s a preview of what’s to come a month later at the Home Depot Center.

- Martin Henderson

Venice not conceding City to Birmingham

Angelo Gasca acknowledges his Venice team hasn't won "the big one" yet, as in a City Section championship. And, he said, defending champion Birmingham deserves all the attention and respect it has received for its performance so far in 2007.

But Gasca also wants some attention for his undefeated team, especially after the Gondoliers overcame a 28-9 halftime deficit Friday to defeat Oaks Christian, 41-35, on the Lions' home field.

"We won a game we probably should have lost," said Gasca, as Venice improved to 4-0. "We down big at halftime, arguing among ourselves. The game, the season, could have easily been torn apart at the seams.

"But we come out, have a 17-play, 91-yard drive, and score a touchdown to start the third quarter. It took up 10 minutes. We score a touchdown to start the fourth quarter. We wound up scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter."

Pulling out a road win against a defending Southern Section champion gives Gasca another reason to believe Venice is a legitmate threat to Birmingham's reign.

But he and his coaching staff will do everything possible this week to keep the Gondoliers from feeling too satisfied with what they have accomplished.

"Beating Oaks Christian was a big win for our program," Gasca said. "I felt if we didn't beat Oaks Christian, people wouldn't be talking about us for a long time. People have grudgingly given us some respect. But if we want to be in the conversation with Birmingham we have to do something special.

"We want to do well in our league, try and get to the finals and take a shot. But there is so much more football to play. We will not look past Banning this week, who is playing well. I guarantee we will not be flat or down for Banning. Because we know a loss to Banning will negate a lot of what we've done."

- Mike Terry    

There's a new foot in town

So, who's this kid with the golden foot over at Chaminade? You know, the guy who knocked off defending Division I state bowl champs Canyon, 24-21, after he kicked a 37-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in the game?

Well, it turns out he's a freshman named Matt Goudis and he is, at least for this weekend, the most popular guy over at Chaminade.

Of course, none of this comes as a surprise to Chaminade Coach Anthony Harris. He already has put a level of trust on Goudis' shoulders that is normally reserved for battle-hardened seniors.

"I knew he was good when we did an OT session in a scrimmage against Agoura and he made a bunch of [field goals]," Harris said. "He also made one against Chatsworth last week, so I knew he could make it when he went out there."

Harris didn't bother getting preachy with his new kicker. As the clock winded down and the Eagles got into field-goal position, all Harris told him was to get ready. With a self-assured, "OK, coach," Goudis went to the practice net to warm up. He then trotted onto the field and won the game.

"He's hit every extra-point attempt [19] for us and he's two for two on field goals," said Harris, who said Goudis has a soccer background, although Harris isn't sure if he's going to try out for the school's soccer team.

But Goudis is already giving his foot plenty of work -- besides his varsity role, Goudis is spending his Thursday afternoons this fall as a kicker and wide receiver on the Chaminade freshman team.

With so much practice, it's kind of frightening to think how good this kid can be once he's a junior or senior.

- Austin Knoblauch

Three-And-Out

This week will feel more like futbol, than football. On Friday, one game ended in a draw and another ended early because of a bench-clearing brawl near the end of the game. English Premier League, you got nothing on the SGV.

Onto Three-And-Out.

First Down: Ties, they are only good as an accesory, not as a final result. Charter Oak 14, Damien 14 is a horrible result. I can't believe coaches are given the option of overtime or not before a game. It should be a statewide rule that there are no more ties. The pros don't do it, the colleges stopped doing it a few years ago and it's about time the high schools did the same. Ban the tie.

Second Down: Duarte laid down the smack, literally. The Falcons (4-1, 1-) didn't make any friends last week by beating Ganesha 85-0, and they made even fewer friends this week by going for two with a 34-3 lead in the fourth quarter against Gladstone (1-3, 0-1). The game was stopped early by the officials with 3:28 left because of a benches-clearing brawl. The SGVT has a tremendous report on the account, and it has great comments from both coaches going at it. "He's a coward," Duarte Coach Wardell Crutchfield said about Gladstone's Albert Sanchez. "And you can put that in the paper." Hope Solo thinks Crutchfield comments went too far.

Third Down: Diamond Ranch (3-1). Are they the best in the SGV? Are they ready for Oaks Christian (2-2)? Roddy Layton has one of the toughest schedules in the SGV and things don't get any easier this week when they host a Lions program that has lost two in a row. The Panthers started the season with a hard-fought loss to Edison, then a terrific win against Chino Hills, but have tailed off in back-to-back close victories since. Are they the best in the SGV? Are they ready for Oaks Christian? IMO, those questions will remain unanswered until this Thursday.

Punt: "As you can see, we don't have a lot of bullets," Los Altos Coach Greg Gano after his Conquerors lost, 35-21, to St. Francis, "but we'll bounce back."

Los Altos faces Western in Anaheim next then will host South Hills after that.

- Jaime Cardenas

Final thoughts on St. Francis-Los Altos

For the second week in a row, a team in the SGV used press clippings, message board fodder and blog comments as motivation. Charter Oak did against Glendora last week and St. Francis did it against Los Altos this week.

Is too much talk becoming, well, too much?

I mean, this is only high school sports we are talking about. And I know preps have become a big deal -- I mean, I'm writing on a blog about prep sports -- but when do we go Mike Gundy on this whole thing and say, these are just amateur athletes we are talking about?

Is there a line where we go too far? Would Charter Oak and St. Francis have won their games if they would not have been told they couldn't win by hundreds of people in print or online? Should we, the media, play a role in motivating teams at the high school level?

Answers: Yes. No. No.

And hey, listen, I'm as guilty as the next guy, so it's not like I'm on my soapbox or anything like that. I'm just saying that their is a huge probability that the outcome of the game was affected by us dissecting these games as if they were college-level events and that's not cool -- not to Glendora and not to Los Altos, at least.

- Jaime Cardenas