The Colleges : Moorpark Wins in a Close Shave

Fortunately for Moorpark College, linebacker Scott Yurek tackles running backs better than he cuts hair.

Yurek and several teammates sported shaved heads for Moorpark’s game last Saturday against Santa Monica City College. Yurek and defensive back Troy Thomas buzzed their teammates as a show of unity for the Raiders’ home opener.

“We wanted to be different, so we went bald,” Yurek said.

Yurek does not plan to stop with a simple shave, however. He plans to sport a different haircut for each Moorpark game, which might be difficult considering he has to grow some hair first.

But who could argue with the results? Moorpark defeated Santa Monica, 28-6.

Win of the decade: Northridge’s 34-23 victory over Idaho State in a nonconference football game last Saturday was the school’s first over a Division I-AA opponent in 10 years.

CSUN defeated Portland State, 42-27, in October, 1978, when the Vikings were members of the Big Sky Conference. Portland joined the Division II Western Football Conference in 1981.

Looking ahead: Bob Burt referred to CSUN’s win over Idaho State as one of the biggest in his three years as coach. Later, he put it in better perspective.

“Right now it’s a huge win,” he said. “Tomorrow, it doesn’t mean squat.”

Only the facts: Idaho State might be a Division I-AA team, but the bottom line is the Bengals are 0-3.

San Francisco State, CSUN’s opponent two weeks ago, also is winless in three games. Cal State Hayward and Sonoma State, the Matadors’ other opponents, have losing records as well. The combined record for CSUN’s opponents: 2-11.

Crabby attitudes: Several Cal Lutheran football players planned crab dinners at Fisherman’s Wharf after the Kingsmen’s game Saturday against St. Mary’s in Moraga.

A 30-23 nonconference loss apparently took that craving away.

“The feeling of the team after the game was that there was not much reason to celebrate,” Coach Bob Shoup said.

So instead of cracking crab in San Francisco, the Kingsmen settled for a buffet dinner during the bus ride back to Thousand Oaks.

Free substitution: After Occidental built a 29-0 lead against Claremont-Mudd on Saturday, Coach Dale Widolff skipped over the Tigers’ second-team defensive unit and replaced the starters with the third string.

Alejandro Carter, a second-string defensive end, was miffed at being left out. . He wanted to tee off on Greg Beckman, the Stags’ backup quarterback.

So instead of bothering Widolff, the sophomore simply walked over to third-string nose tackle Bennie Phillips and informed him that he need not take Widolff’s instructions to heart.

“I said, ‘I’m going in for you,’ ” Carter said. “He’s only 165 pounds so it wasn’t too hard to tell him.”

Carter’s audacity paid off--he sacked Beckman twice. “In passing situations I’m hell-fire,” he said.

Career kickoff: Joey Kirk, an All-American forward on CSUN’s soccer team last season, leaves this morning for Wichita, Kan., to begin his professional career with the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Kirk was originally selected in June by the Minnesota Strikers. The Strikers folded shortly thereafter and Kirk was taken by Wichita as the No. 1 pick in a special dispersal draft.

Sam Farmer and staff writers Mike Hiserman, Gary Klein, Ralph Nichols and Chris J. Parker contributed to this notebook.