Non-Players Treated Royally as ‘12th Man’

Before opponents deal with Royal High’s football team, they are greeted by the Highlanders’ “12th man” during the pregame coin toss. For every home game, Royal’s student body selects a student or faculty member to become a non-playing member of the team.

The 12th man, who wears a uniform that does not have a number, participates in the coin toss and stands along the sidelines during the game.

Against Channel Islands on Oct. 11, Sara Davis was selected to become the 12th man. Davis, 35, is a popular counselor at the school.

She joined captains Pat Ross and Eric Hambly for the coin toss. “The Channel Islands players were shocked to see a girl. They had no idea what was going on,” Davis said.

Davis said the most difficult part of being a football player was trying to figure out how to put on her uniform.

“The refs were giving me a hard time because I had an illegal jersey,” she said. “And the coaches kept saying, ‘Get ready, Davis, you’re going in on the next play.’ ”

On Wednesdays, three jars with nominees from the sophomore, junior and senior classes are placed on campus. Students place pennies in the jar of their favorite nominee; silver coins count as negative votes. The money is counted before a pep rally on Fridays.

Senior class president Mike Scanlan was selected for the first game. Also serving as 12th man have been junior Mike Alcaba, a developmentally disabled student, and senior Loretta Shows.

“They do everything with the football team except play, because of the liability,” said Terry Dobbins, the school’s athletic director and originator of the idea. “It has really worked out well. I thought maybe the coaches would think it’s an extra bother, but they enjoy it.”

As did Davis.

“Oh, I’d do it again in a second,” she said. “The best part was seeing the behind-the-scenes work the kids do. They are so supportive of each other and are like a big family. And it’s incredible how big these guys are!”

DON’T PUT IT THERE

Hart and Burbank’s Foothill League football game Friday night ended on a cold note when Burbank Coach Randy Stage instructed his players to forgo the traditional postgame handshake after Hart’s 41-29 victory.

Things heated up, however, between coaching staffs. Words were exchanged and, for a moment, it looked like open hands would become closed fists.

According to Stage, Hart offensive lineman Tim DeGroote, now attending Oregon, slapped a Burbank player during postgame handshakes last season. Moreover, Stage said, he has been hearing Hart players and coaches make derogatory remarks about Burbank for the past few years.

“What goes around comes around,” an irate Stage said after the game. “They should tell their kids to keep their mouths shut and show some class.”

Hart Coach Mike Herrington denied that any of his players raised anything but an extended hand after last year’s game. But he reviewed videotape over the weekend just to make sure. “Tim was the first one in line and the first one done shaking hands,” Herrington said. “We see (Stage) pulling one of his players away, but there’s no confrontation.”

IN MEMORY

Burbank players are wearing a black patch on their jerseys with the inscription “KC 37” this season in memory of sophomore linebacker Kenny Caldera, who was killed in August by a stray bullet fired by an alleged gang member. “He was a great kid and the players loved him,” Stage said. “He had nothing to do with gangs. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

AD-LIB EXCELLENCE

With Westlake leading, 26-20, in the fourth quarter against Channel Islands on Friday, the Warriors lined up to punt on fourth and six near midfield. Binh Hoang the up man, audibled a fake punt, which came as a surprise to Coach Jim Benkert.

“I heard it and thought, ‘Oh, God!’ ” he said. “We haven’t worked on that play for at least four weeks.”

The ball was snapped to punter Tim Wootton, who looked at wideout Larry Imel. Imel, who had not caught a pass all season, did not hear the audible.

“So Wootton screams, ‘Imel!’ and threw it to him,” Benkert said. “We needed six (yards) and got nine, but I could do without that kind of excitement.”

DOUBLE DIP

In recent seasons, Granada Hills has been the class of area City Section teams, winning a 4-A Division title in 1987, and Canyon has won three Southern Section championships and has been a consistent divisional title contender each fall.

Fall is the operative word, at least temporarily. Friday night, Canyon lost its second consecutive Golden League game for the first time in the 10-year tenure of Coach Harry Welch. The Cowboys are 3-3-1 overall, which isn’t bad for a hockey team, but abysmal by Canyon standards.

It’s happening at Granada Hills too.

Granada Hills lost to Kennedy, 14-12, Friday night. The preceding week, the Highlanders lost to San Fernando, 35-14. It marked the first time the Highlanders (3-3) have lost consecutive league games in six seasons under co-coaches Darryl Stroh and Tom Harp.

PINS AND NEEDLES

Kennedy’s victory over Granada Hills was the school’s first over its cross-town foe since 1982 and it prompted some major celebratory activity.

There were sparks beforehand too. In a spirited rivalry that never lacks for emotion, Kennedy found additional motivation in some of Coach Bob Francola’s clothing accessories.

All week in practice, Francola wore a Granada Hills spirit pin that pictured a brawny Highlander player holding two scrawny Golden Cougars by the neck and another pair by the tail.

A student with a friend at Granada Hills procured the pin and it was passed to Francola. It read, “Kougars Worst Nightmare is Back.”

“Whoever drew it did a good job,” Francola said. “But whenever our kids saw it, they were furious.”

After Kennedy held off a Highlander scoring threat in the closing moments, the dancing began. The perpetual trophy awarded to the annual winner, long in possession of Granada Hills, was produced.

“They wanted it right now,” Harp said.

TORA, TORA, TORIE

When Crespi quarterback Cody Smith was injured midway through the third quarter last week, tailback Torie Lee took over as quarterback.

Lee played quarterback for two series of downs--six plays, to be exact--and fumbled the exchange the first time he stood over center.

But heck, Lee never claimed to be a quarterback in the first place.

“Early on this year we knew we had to get somebody ready,” Coach Tim Lins said of the backup position. “Torie was one of our better athletes; not that he was necessarily willing.”

Smith, who suffered a minor concussion but returned to orchestrate the winning scoring drive against Chaminade, has been cleared to play in Friday night’s key Mission League game against Alemany.

PHI BETA CRESPI

Odds or evens, guys?

Can a team commit a turnover before the game begins? Crespi did on Friday.

First, Crespi’s team captains met at midfield for the pregame coin toss with Lins’ words ringing in their ears. Lins told the group that he wanted to receive the kickoff in the second half.

Crespi then won the coin toss, but instead of deferring, the captains elected to kick off. Of course, when it was Chaminade’s turn to choose in the second half, it elected to receive.

LAND OF ELAN

Ventura’s Elan Walshe intercepted three of Oxnard quarterback Larry Bumpus’ passes in the Cougars’ 37-14 win last week. That marked the second time this season that Walshe (5-foot-11, 180) intercepted three passes in a game. Not even former Ventura star Eric Turner (UCLA, Cleveland Browns) did that as a Cougar. Walshe has eight interceptions to lead the region. His three interceptions against Oxnard totaled 71 yards, and he also caught three passes for 50 yards and returned three kicks for 74 yards.

TRIPLE PLAY

Few Granada Hills players have walked in Joe Gurganus’ spikes.

“We’ve never made a living out of running trick plays,” Granada Hills co-Coach Tom Harp said.

Friday night against Kennedy, Gurganus and the fumblerooski play were mainstays of the Highlander offense. Gurganus, a 5-10, 210-pound offensive guard, ran the fumblerooski three times for 57 yards to lead all Highlander rushers.

On the play, the ball is placed on the ground and the quarterback continues as though a handoff has been called. While the rest of the team--and it is hoped, the defense--moves one direction along with the quarterback, Gurganus plucks the ball from the ground and rumbles the other way.

STEADYING INFLUENCE

There are many reasons why Antelope Valley has returned to championship form after enduring back-to-back losing seasons in 1989 and 1990. One of the biggest is junior quarterback Bayi Hilton.

Quietly, Hilton has piled up very efficient numbers for the Antelopes. He has completed 57.9% of his passes for 795 yards.

What’s more, Coach Brent Newcomb said, he’s playing like an experienced quarterback.

“We had plays in the Canyon game where he would scramble and pass the ball out of bounds instead of taking a sack,” Newcomb said. “A younger quarterback might take a sack and that hurts you.”

WING STREAK

Saugus’ shocking five-game winning streak has Golden League teams scratching their heads. What’s more, Saugus’ unorthodox wing-T offense has defenses scratching their heads.

First-year Coach Jack Bowman decided to install the offense at Saugus after spending the past two years as a defensive coordinator at Huntington Beach Marina.

There, he had the task of defending the Wing-T offense against Esperanza and Riverside Poly.

“I started to like it when I coached against it,” Bowman said. “I watched Esperanza with it last year and I became real interested in it.”

Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Brian Murphy and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.