Mertes Had to Solve a Big Problem

Somebody please call Caltech.

There was an unexplained geological phenomenon last Wednesday, when the earth seemed to tilt toward the north end of the San Fernando Valley.

There, on the Chatsworth gym floor, were James Romero of El Camino Real and Brady Mertes of Chatsworth.

Have bigger area players ever squared off near the basket? Perhaps not. Romero is 6 feet 7, 320 pounds, and Mertes is 6-8, 225.

Mertes, a Times All-Valley selection as a junior, is used to pushing people around at will. Romero, a football lineman who was making his first start, made Mertes work considerably harder in the limited time they were on the floor together.

“I’ve played against guys that (tall), but not that big,” said Mertes of Romero’s girth. “I pushed him and pushed him in the post, but he wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Romero scored two points in limited action, and Mertes had 21.

Believe it or not, Romero isn’t the biggest whopper Mertes has faced. Last summer, Mertes took a charge from Emeryville Emery’s Darnell Robinson (6-11, 310) and was sent sprawling. Mertes wrenched his back on the play.

POINT, COUNTERPOINT

Coming soon to a gym near you: One-on-five basketball.

When Reseda plays at Kennedy today, neither team’s offense will be a mystery.

Kennedy senior guard Joe Wyatt is averaging 30.2 points, tops in the Northwest Valley Conference. Reseda junior guard Trenton Cross is averaging 24.6 points. The teams are a combined 8-18 and possess little in the way of scoring balance.

“We’ll clear it out for Trenton at one end and they’ll clear it out for Joe at the other,” Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern said. “Whoever scores most probably wins.”

FUN WITH NICKNAMES

The Crescenta Valley basketball program lists not only players’ nicknames, but their derivations. Among the more interesting are:

Senior center Zach Isaacs, who is nicknamed “Smack,” because of “the sound he made when breaking his wrist on a dunk,” the program stated.

Senior guard Jabe Washburn is nicknamed “Mr. Mature,” because “he has his own checking account.”

INJURY UPDATE

Eddie Miller, the touted freshman forward at Notre Dame who has missed the first half of the season because of broken bone in his back, is scheduled to be re-examined on Friday. Miller, who has been shooting on the side but not practicing, might receive clearance to return to action.

SUCCESS IS RELATIVE

Victories come in a variety of forms at Harvard-Westlake. Even losses.

The Wolverines lost, 103-78, to Loyola on Saturday, but Coach Greg Hilliard considered it a success of sorts because Harvard lost, 108-60, the first time the teams played.

“I thought we played pretty well,” Hilliard said.

The return of leading scorer J.W. Hobson, who had been out with mononucleosis, helped. The first game Hobson missed was the first Loyola game. He returned to score 15 against the Cubs.

MORE EXCITEMENT

When L.A. Baptist and Village Christian get together--the sport doesn’t matter--look out.

The teams met in a down-to-the-wire basketball game last week. Village Christian trailed by 13 at halftime, then led by nine with 1:37 to play, then trailed by one with 13 seconds to play, then won the game, 53-52, on a layup by David Gustafson.

“People who paid $4 to get in the door probably got a better show than those who go to the Forum most nights,” L.A. Baptist Coach Maury Neville said.

The schools met for the Alpha League championship in football last fall. Village Christian won, 21-19. The lead changed hands three times in the final two minutes, and the winning touchdown was scored on a 99-yard kickoff return.

HAIR WE GO AGAIN

Something about high school athletes and hair.

The members of the Notre Dame basketball team have added themselves to the list of area players who have, in the name of team unity, shaved their heads.

“I just felt like we should shave all our heads. I think it would bring our team closer together,” forward Monte Marcaccini said. “It didn’t help us win, though.”

The Knights had their mass shaving before they played Loyola last Thursday. Notre Dame, which was hoping to continue an 11-game winning streak, lost.

The shaving worked better for the Sylmar football team, which won the City Section 4-A title; the Crescenta Valley football team, which advanced to the Division II semifinals; and the Santa Clara basketball team, which has won eight consecutive Frontier League championships.

Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady sees no relation between shaved heads and team unity, though. He refused to go under the clippers.

“I’ll be with (the players) 100%, but don’t you dare touch my hair,” Cady said. “My wife is a hairdresser and she’d kill me. Besides, at my age, I’m not sure if it will come back.”

Village Christian basketball Coach Brian Gibson seems to be more of a sport. He told his players that he would get a flattop haircut if the Crusaders beat L.A. Baptist.

They did and he did.

“(My wife) says whoever’s cutting it better do a good job and make sure its even, though,” Gibson said before being sheared.

THUD!

The St. Genevieve basketball team came crashing back to earth on Friday night. The Valiants (10-8, 3-1) have improved, but, as they now know, they have some work to do to compete with Serra, the class of the Camino Real League.

Serra crushed St. Genevieve, 90-56. A day later, St. Genevieve Coach Dan Donovan was still marveling at the Cavaliers, who are ranked fifth in Division IV.

“I couldn’t tell their starting five from their next five,” he said. “They were a little upset they were only up by 12 at halftime. If they don’t win Division IV, I’d hate to see who does.”

RUNAWAY

At the beginning of the season, Foothill League coaches picked Hart’s basketball team to finish first.

So far, the Indians have done nothing to disprove the assessment.

Hart (12-5, 5-0), winner of 10 consecutive games, is alone at the top of the league standings. In fact, no other Foothill team has either a winning league record or overall record. Burbank is second at 6-9, 2-2.

“I think we’re right at the point we need to be,” Hart first-year Coach Mike May said. “Defensively, we really are doing the things we need to do. That helps us stay in every game even if other things go wrong.”

However, opposing coaches are not ready to concede the title to Hart.

“Everybody kind of thought they would be the team to beat,” Burbank Coach Fred Cook said. “The rest of us are playing catch-up. But it’s not over.”

Said Canyon Coach Greg Hayes: “They are out in front, but we don’t think it’s over. There are still some games to be played. There is still time left.”

DECORATING

How much fun can a 10-game winning streak be?

Well, several members of the Hart basketball team are so happy they decided to help decorate May’s house. Only one problem: The coach did not want his house done in toilet paper.

“A bunch of the kids put toilet paper all over the place after we got done with a game one night,” said an amused May. “The kids are relaxed and having fun, so I wasn’t upset or anything like that.

“They are all good kids, it was all in fun.”

So May cleaned the mess up himself, right?

“Oh, no way,” May said. “I had a special practice session for that. We worked a lot on raking.”

FINALLY

These have been trying times for the Saugus basketball team.

The Centurions (4-12, 1-4 in the Foothill League) have lost three players to injuries at varying times this season.

They have had even more problems in close games, losing five by four points or fewer in the waning seconds. Last week, however, Saugus finally got a break: The Centurions defeated Canyon, 52-48, for their first Foothill victory.

First-year Coach Eric Olsson could not be happier.

“It felt good to finally get one--to finally pull out a close game,” Olsson said. “It just eats you alive when you stay in a game for the whole game and then you can’t pull it out.”

Olsson said the victory did a lot for the Centurions’ confidence.

“It was just crazy that we couldn’t win one,” he said. “It’s like that old thing when people say you’re good enough to stay in a game but you’re not good enough to win. The kids now know they can win a close one. I think we’ll be really hard to beat from now on.”

BETTER THAN EVER

Opposing coaches don’t worry about stopping Michelle Palmisano or Sasha Scardino when facing the Thousand Oaks girls’ basketball team any more. But it is little consolation that those two standouts have moved on to UCLA and UC Santa Barbara.

The Lancers are 19-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, leading some observers to believe the 1992-93 Thousand Oaks team is stronger than last season’s group that won its second consecutive Southern Section Division I-A title.

“This Thousand Oaks team is better than last year’s Thousand Oaks team, because they play as a team,” Westlake Coach Len Locher said after a recent loss to the Lancers. “You don’t have one player out to get her points first this year.”

Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown refuses comparisons, noting that, “Every team is different. They have to establish their own identities.”

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Palmdale quarterback Terrence Zenno has been tossing passes to receiver Al Corney since the two forged a friendship in the seventh grade six years ago.

Last season, 36 of Zenno’s passes were caught by Corney, the Golden League’s leading receiver who garnered all-league honors as both a receiver and defensive back, while Zenno was named the league’s player of the year.

Colorado State recruiters took notice and opted to keep the successful combination together. Both committed last week to play football at Colorado State.

“It’s going to be just like high school,” Corney said. “Everybody thought the show was over, but it isn’t. We’re just taking it someplace else.”

David Coulson and staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Paige A. Leech and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.