THE HIGH SCHOOLS / STEVE ELLING : Welch Dressing Down With Choice of Conservative Tie

It is, indeed, the age of new conservatism.

Harry Welch probably doesn’t run yellow traffic lights or drive 80 m.p.h., even if the fast lane is wide open. He no doubt returns library books on time, drinks bottled water, recycles newspapers and obtains licenses for his dogs each year at City Hall.

If blackjack is the game, he won’t take a hit on 16.

“If you haven’t seen any face cards and the dealer’s showing nine, no way,” Welch said.

With the storm trooper haircut and wraparound sunglasses, Welch might seem like a cross between Harry Callahan and Al Davis, but beneath the suntan and gritty voice beats the heart of a . . . librarian?

Just tie, baby?

“A lot of people have misconceptions and stereotypes of people they don’t know,” Welch said.

After Friday’s loss at Quartz Hill, type-cast Canyon downcast.

With 1 minute 11 seconds left and Canyon trailing, 14-7, the Cowboys gained only two yards on three consecutive running plays beginning at the Quartz Hill three-yard line. On fourth down, Mike Torres managed to squirm into the end zone on his second effort to cut the lead to one point.

Based on Welch’s 10-year track record, most bystanders assumed that Welch would go for the two-point conversion and the victory. Instead, Welch, after watching an offensive line that had not exactly been moving around Quartz Hill bodies at will, sent in the kicking team to shoot for the tie.

But the snap from center was high and bounced off the hands of holder Chad Engbrecht. The kick never took place. Canyon (3-2-1) walked away with a head-scratching loss in its Golden League opener.

Twice in the game Welch elected not to punt on fourth-down situations and twice Canyon succeeded in gaining first-down yardage. On this occasion, Welch preferred to play the percentages.

And anyone who views Welch as a high-rolling risk-taker is just plain myopic, he insisted.

“I just didn’t see it,” Welch said of Canyon’s chances of scoring on a two-point conversion. “It took us four shots to get into the end zone from the same spot as the conversion.”

Canyon twice rallied from seven-point deficits and Welch conceded that the prospects of a tie on the road against the defending league champion sounded darned, well, acceptable.

“I thought that if we could come from behind and leave without a loss in league play, we’d be in pretty good shape,” he said.

Those who expected Welch to roll the dice include Quartz Hill Coach John Albee.

“I’d have went for two to try and beat ‘em,” Albee said, putting himself in Welch’s shoes. “Harry’s always a gambler, isn’t he? I was really surprised at the call.”

The situation, Welch said, did not warrant aggressive play selection. “I don’t have a lack of faith (in the team),” he said. “I’m being more of a realist. If we’re moving the ball, we may go for it.

“I don’t always go for it on fourth down. When they (the team) believe in themselves, I believe in them.”

If this sounds a tad contradictory, perhaps it is because Welch also has questioned the decision.

“I’ll second-guess it always,” he said. “But I was just being objective about our chances.”

In a similar situation five years ago, Canyon’s 46-game win streak was halted at Antelope Valley when quarterback Ken Sollom’s dive toward the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt came up inches short. Canyon lost, 21-20.

On-deck circle: Next up for Quartz Hill is another Golden League opponent that survived a conversion scare in the final seconds and came away with a ‘W.’

As in Whew.

Saugus’ 14-13 win over Ridgecrest Burroughs was preserved when linebacker John Lopata tackled quarterback Todd Mather on a two-point conversion attempt with 18 seconds remaining. Lopata’s mitts were definitely the wrong ones to run toward--in the spring, he is a catcher on the baseball team.

Saugus is 4-2 and has won four consecutive games for the first time in at least 10 years. First-year Coach Jack Bowman said he was told last week that Saugus won three games in succession in 1981.

Before that, nobody seems to know. Concerns are firmly rooted in the present.

“There’s an attitude now that we can play with people when we keep our poise,” Bowman said.

Lopata was not the only defensive player to knock the cotton out of Mather. Defensive end Chris Finicle recorded four sacks Friday and has 15 for the season.

All-American connection: If the right hand doesn’t get you, then the left hand will.

Last season, tailback Terry Barnum rushed for six touchdowns as Alemany spanked Chaminade, 41-7. Receiver Richard Dice, who like Barnum this year was selected to several preseason All-American lists, did not score.

The pair combined forces Friday as Alemany (4-2) handed Chaminade its first loss, 13-3. Barnum, hobbled by a sore right ankle, threw a 35-yard halfback-option pass to Dice that gave Alemany a 7-3 lead.

“If a college is looking for a quarterback, his pass to Dice looked pretty good,” Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson said.

For the second week in a row, Dice scored all of Alemany’s touchdowns. Dice, filling in for Barnum at tailback, scored on a 15-yard run in the fourth quarter for his fifth touchdown in two games.

In parts of two games at tailback, Dice has 126 yards and two touchdowns in 18 carries. Overall, as a receiver, he has caught 28 passes for 489 yards and eight touchdowns.

Rarefied heights: A.D., meet L.T.

What kind of year is San Fernando tailback LaKarlos Townsend experiencing? Let the record speak for itself. Townsend has scored 11 touchdowns in his past three games and has 16 overall to lead City Section players.

He is well within striking range of the school’s single-season touchdown record of 26, set by Anthony Davis in 1970.

Doing swimmingly: For the past few seasons, when victories were nonexistent, the term deep six at Simi Valley meant the team had taken another plunge. Sunk to the bottom. Foundered again.

Senior receiver Dave Romines has rewritten the meaning.

The improbable season of Simi Valley--and deep threat Romines in particular--continued with the Pioneers’ 41-21 victory over Agoura on Friday. Simi Valley (5-1) was winless last season and Romines averaged 11.2 yards on his 39 receptions.

Romines caught four passes for a more-than-noteworthy 127 yards against Agoura and his per-catch average increased a whopping one yard. It has been that kind of year. Romines (5-foot-8) has caught 23 passes for 656 yards (28.5 average) and eight touchdowns.

Whose turn is it?: Can’t tell the players without a score card? Must be watching Grant.

The Lancers are six games into the season and they have yet to score a touchdown through the air, but it isn’t for a lack of trying. And we mean trying anybody.

Jason Arnold, Roy Rodriguez, Eddy Moreno, Alvin Rose and Doug Spiro each have attempted at least one pass. Combined, the sextet has thrown nine interceptions and passed for 346 yards.

If this sounds as though it might make for confusion in the huddle, Grant is just getting warmed up. Fifteen players have had at least one rushing attempt.

Title search: Granada Hills co-Coach Darryl Stroh’s assertion Friday that San Fernando might be talented enough to “go all the way” seems particularly sound in light of Carson’s continued struggles.

The Colts, the defending City Section 4-A Division champions, lost to Washington, 30-27, on Thursday and fell to 3-3.

What’s more, Carson blew a 21-0 lead and the loss was the team’s first in Southern Pacific Conference competition since the conference format was adopted in 1988. Carson last lost three games in a season in 1980.

Record-breaker: Buena sophomore George Keiaho became the school’s all-time leading rusher in the third quarter of the Bulldogs’ 31-28 win over Oxnard.

Keiaho, who finished with 191 yards in 30 carries, has rushed for 2,135 yards in only 15 games. He eclipsed Tom Nance’s record of 2,026 set in 1979-80. Keiaho also holds the single-game rushing record with 234 yards.