NOTEBOOK : Granada Hills Traces Defeat to Line Play

Unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the Valley during the regular season, Granada Hills High’s football team had never met an opponent whose defensive weaknesses it could not exploit.

A weak run defense? The Highlanders would give teams a double dose of running backs Brett Washington and Leon Glasgow.

A weak secondary? Quarterback Bryan Martin would wield the scalpel, usually carving out big chunks of yardage.

In Friday’s 16-9 playoff loss to El Camino Real, however, the Highlanders were on the receiving end of a mismatch.

“We never did control the line of scrimmage,” said Granada Hills co-Coach Tom Harp, who coaches the offense. “That was definitely one of the problems.”

One need not wonder why. The defensive front of El Camino Real has given teams fits all season. In two meetings with the Conquistadores, for instance, Granada Hills gained only 53 yards rushing.

El Camino Real defensive linemen Matt Thomas and Abdul Zaid are first-team All-West Valley League selections and two-way lineman Jesus Villanueva was a first-team selection on offense.

Linebackers Bobby Kim, Troy Snider and Chris Griggs were also first-team selections. Jamal Anderson, the team’s other starting linebacker, was named the West Valley co-Player of the Year.

Granada Hills landed 12 players on the All-North Valley team, but only one was from the trenches--defensive lineman Terrance Bito.

“I give them a lot of credit in the way they prepared for us,” Granada Hills co-Coach Darryl Stroh said. “They matched up well in certain areas and that never allowed us to take advantage of their main weakness: their secondary.”

Martin passed for 214 yards but was sacked four times for minus-32 yards and hurried on several other occasions. The Highlanders also had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown on their initial possession.

“We were in self-destruct mode from the start,” Harp said. “And we never got better. It’s tough to win them all. But we’re not disappointed in the season.”

Testimonial: Stroh said that if his team had to lose, he was glad it was to El Camino Real.

“We play a lot of ballgames, around 10 a year, and I see lots of things happen on the field,” Stroh said. “A lot of teams talk a lot of trash and a lot are just out of control. But there was nothing said between (our) two teams except positive things.

“They demand that from their players. If we’re going to lose, I’m glad to lose to a good, clean program.”

Stroh and El Camino Real co-Coach Mike Maio taught at Patrick Henry Junior High in Granada Hills in 1965, Stroh said.

“I’ve known Mike for a long, long time,” Stroh said. “He’s a good coach and a good guy. It’s a class program.”

Encouraging words: Cleveland Coach Marc Paez and Bob Braswell ran into each other last weekend, and Braswell--who coached Cleveland from 1985 to ’89 and now is an assistant at Cal State Long Beach--passed on a few words of encouragement.

Cleveland is 0-2 under Paez, and the losing margin in each game was three points.

“I told him that in my first year we lost four preseason games by a total of five points,” Braswell said. “And we made it to the City (Section) final.

“Sometimes it takes awhile for kids to get used to playing with one another or to get used to a new coach, his personality and the way he deals with things. The Cavs will be all right.”

Baby Magic: North Hollywood center Dana Jones, by virtue of his scorching start, has given Husky fans something interesting to cheer about every time he takes the court: the rare quadruple-double.

The triple-double came into vogue in basketball lingo when Laker star Magic Johnson posted double figures in three categories--scoring, rebounds and assists. Jones is aiming to post double figures in those three categories as well as blocked shots. Last week, in an 81-38 thumping of Canoga Park, Jones posted these numbers: 26 rebounds, 18 points, seven blocks and seven assists.

“One of these days,” North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said, “he’s gonna get it.”

Wolves’ woes: Although Van Nuys’ basketball team won a game last week--the Wolves won only three games last season--it lost starting point guard Robert McGee when he ran into a wall. McGee took stitches and the senior also suffered a contusion on his shooting shoulder. He will be sidelined until after Christmas.

For a team that was short-handed in both numbers and height before the season, what’s next for Coach Ken Lee?

“I guess I’ll just have to glue some guys together,” the first-year coach deadpanned.

Fancy footwork: Alemany junior guard Will Burr had more to think about in the Indians’ opener when he released a three-point shot at the buzzer that felled Taft, 48-46--such as keeping his size-14 high-tops behind the three-point stripe.

Burr’s game-winning shot was not even the play that Coach Rocky Moore diagrammed in the game’s waning moments. Richard Dice was inbounding the ball and was supposed to look inside. Instead, he found Burr.

Said Moore: “When that buzzer was going off and the ball was at its peak, I said, ‘This is going in.’ ”

Staff writers Steve Elling, Sam Farmer and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.