HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : A Week Makes the Difference for Ruggiero

Two weeks ago, Crespi receiver-defensive back Joe Ruggiero had the kind of game that could have wrecked a player for months.

In a 14-0 loss to Loyola, Ruggiero dropped a potential scoring pass at the goal line. As the team’s long snapper, he also centered the ball high to punter Cody Smith, who was tackled for a big loss. The miscue allowed Loyola to march for an easy touchdown.

Last week, though, Ruggiero righted the ship on both sides of the ball. Talk about the pit and the pendulum.

Ruggiero, a senior, scored on a 13-yard pass from Smith and intercepted a pass as Crespi downed previously undefeated Bishop Montgomery, 28-14.

“As (former Coach Bill) Redell used to say, Joe went from the outhouse to the penthouse,” Crespi Coach Tim Lins said.

ROAMIN’ ON DEFENSE

Brandon Gabriel (6-foot-4, 195 pounds) has size in common with his father, Roman, a former NFL quarterback with the Rams and Eagles.

Other than that, however, Brandon is his own man--he plays mainly on defense.

A defensive end at Notre Dame, Gabriel displayed speed that his father never possessed when he returned a fumble 73 yards for a touchdown last week against Chaminade.

The family giveth and taketh away. Roman once held the NFL record for fumbles in a season.

HALFWAY BACK

After a lackluster start, Glendale’s Pathon Rucker is beginning to show last year’s form. He rushed for 1,878 yards and scored 31 touchdowns in 1990.

Rucker has rushed for more than 100 yards two games in a row after playing sparingly in week two because of an injured shoulder. He now has 406 yards in 60 carries.

JUST MY IMAGINATION

Russell Gordon had kicked 13 consecutive extra points before Highland’s 54-7 victory over San Jacinto two weeks ago.

But Gordon, who previously had kicked through imaginary goal posts at practice, missed two of eight attempts in the Bulldogs’ victory, ending his streak at 16. There is one simple reason for Gordon’s misses, according to Coach Lin Parker.

“You want to know why he missed?” Parker said. “It’s because they installed the goal posts on Thursday, and he was practicing on them before I could get out to practice (to stop him).

“Before I could get out there, it was like a new toy. The offensive line was kicking through them, the coaches were drop-kicking through them. . . . and look what happened.”

Although the goal posts are securely in place at Highland’s practice field, Parker said Gordon will not be allowed to use them. He will go back to using his imagination instead. “You may think I’m kidding, but I’ve already told the kicking coach to have him kick toward the 50-yard line (at practice),” Parker said.

SHARING THE BALL

Highland (4-0), which has outscored opponents, 185-39, is pooling its resources to earn victories in its debut season at the varsity level.

Eleven players have carried the ball at least once, and of the five running backs who have carried 10 or more times this season, four are averaging better than seven yards a carry: Cleveland Williams (32 carries, 394 yards, 12.3), Mike Borja (22 carries, 186 yards, 8.5 ave.), Derrick Smith (11 carries, 92 yards, 8.4 ave.), and Donte Daley (20 carries, 153 yards, 7.7 ave.).

While some players might resent having to share playing time and the spotlight with teammates, this quartet does not.

“When they score, I’m just as proud as when I score,” said Daley, a sophomore transfer from Mississippi. “It’s hard to put one in and let him stay in because we have a lot of good running backs. That’s why our team is so good.”

ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

The Bell-Jeff girls’ volleyball team has come a long way in five years under Coach Hal Krug.

The Guards have just completed an 8-0 nonleague schedule and were third in Saturday’s Royal Classic. And with the strong hitting combination of senior outside hitter Andy Ferchaw and senior setter Louella Lovely and a solid supporting cast, Bell-Jeff might be ready to make its move in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

Krug was asked to take over the program in 1987. “I didn’t know a thing about volleyball when I started,” said Krug, who had retired after 15 years of coaching baseball and nine years of directing the Bell-Jeff football team. “But you go to clinics, you watch and you read.”

Krug said there are a lot of differences between coaching boys and girls, but the major one is: “You can’t yell at the girls.”

KEEPING THE CROWN

The Royal water polo team traveled to the prestigious San Luis Obispo tournament last weekend as defending champion. The Highlanders returned as two-time defending champions and Coach Steve Snyder said the team, ranked eighth in the Southern Section 3-A poll, came out of the tournament ready for more.

“I truly believe that in the right time and in the right place, we can beat anybody in the CIF,” Snyder said.

Apparently the Sinsheimer Aquatic Center in San Luis Obispo was one of the right places. It was there that Royal (9-3) defeated South Pasadena, the defending 2-A champion, in the championship game, 11-7. Senior Mike Radka and junior Jack Kocur led the team in scoring, and Royal won the title without starters Ryan Duncan and Chad Templeton, who were injured.

PRESIDENTIAL FLASHBACK

Harvard-Westlake’s water polo team was left to prepare for the San Fernando League season after an emotional 10-9 loss to La Serna of Whittier two weeks ago, the only team ranked ahead of the Wolverines in the Southern Section 3-A poll.

The game was the final of the La Serna tournament, and Harvard Coach Rich Corso said he was overwhelmed by the fan turnout.

“They had stands on both sides filled all the way,” Corso said. “There must have been three or four hundred people there. It looked like all of Whittier was there. Man, I thought Nixon was gonna show up.”

WHO IS NO. 1?

Subscribers of The Harrier magazine might well see a rarity when the next issue is delivered some time next week: An unranked girls’ cross-country team jumping to the top of the national rankings.

The Agoura girls’ team handily defeated second-ranked Escondido San Pasqual, 34-57, in the Woodbridge invitational Sept. 21, but the Sept. 30 issue of The Harrier included only meets through Sept. 14.

In the magazine’s preseason rankings, Agoura was not listed among the nation’s top 25 high school teams after ending the 1990 season ranked second nationally behind Mountain View of Orem, Utah. That will change by next week based on the Chargers’ cumulative team times being faster than those of last year’s Agoura team, which won the state Division I championship.

In the Woodbridge invitational, Agoura’s first five runners combined for 89 minutes 43 seconds, 2:01 faster than last year’s team. On Saturday the Chargers broke their year-old meet team-time record of 94:43 in the Kenny Staub invitational, running 93:21.

“They’re easily the best team in the country,” said Doug Speck, a correspondent for California Track & Running News. “They’ll go to first.”

All that stands in Agoura’s way once again is Mountain View, currently ranked No. 1.

OVERSIGHT

Somehow, somewhere, the Newbury Park boys’ cross-country team got 24 points more than it bargained for in the Royal invitational Sept. 28.

Newbury Park, a Division III team, was on the verge of breaking up a five-team pack of Division I juggernauts in the boys’ large schools race when a scoring error dropped the Panthers to sixth place.

Left out of the Panthers’ cumulative scoring was 30th-place finisher Brent Burnett and included was sixth-runner Jason Gurbitz, who finished 54th. Had Burnett’s finish been counted the Panthers would have tallied 121 points instead of 145 and placed second ahead of Peninsula, the No. 2-ranked Southern Section Division I team.

Hart still would have won with 28 points, but Peninsula (123), Camarillo (127), Quartz Hill (131) and Channel Islands (140) would be pushed back to third through sixth.

“The kids were saying, ‘Let’s get the trophy,’ ” Coach Ed Linglebach said. “I said, ‘Hey, we know.’ ”

MEDIC! MEDIC!

Perhaps the best performance turned in at the Royal Classic girls’ volleyball tournament Saturday was not by a player, or even a coach, but by Royal trainer Bob O’Hanlon. “The most overworked person here was Bob O’Hanlon,” Royal Coach Bob Ferguson said.

O’Hanlon had to treat a rash of five ankle sprains and also had to treat Royal’s Jill Enright, who suffered lacerations on her chin that required four stitches to close. With O’Hanlon’s help, Enright missed just 2 1/2 games and made it back in time to help Royal win its tournament for the fourth consecutive year--a 15-6 championship-match victory over Ventura.

BACK TO PRACTICE

In his eight years as volleyball coach at Royal, Ferguson has enjoyed participating with his teams in scrimmages, but tendinitis of the knee--the result of years of wear and tear as a basketball and volleyball player--had slowed Ferguson and forced him to undergo arthroscopic surgery eight months ago.

Perhaps inspired by Royal’s 6-1 start this season, Ferguson let his inhibitions go in a recent practice session and returned to the court. “It felt good,” he said. “We were short two players in practice. I just put on my knee brace and did it. It seemed all right over the weekend.”

Ferguson said he likes to get more personally involved in practice to help keep things interesting.

“It sparks something different in practice. The kids have fun and I’m a firm believer in having fun,” he said.

RESERVE LIST

Ventura girls’ volleyball Coach Mike Russell did not know what to expect when two of his best seniors, middle blocker Danielle Braun and best passer Kristen Orr missed Saturday’s Royal Classic to take college visitation trips.

But with Sarah Mahoney and Jeseca Lepper filling in with surprising effectiveness at middle blocker, the Cougars went undefeated until losing, 15-6, to host Royal in the final.

Mahoney, a steady 5-9 senior, won all-tournament honors and Lepper, a 6-1 sophomore, showed the ability that Russell hopes to build his attack around in the next three years. Senior setter Wendy Ward joined Mahoney on the all-tournament team.

David Coulson, Mike Glaze, Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.