SIDELINES : At Least Di-Onte Doesn’t Need an Asterisk Beside His Name

He spells his first name Di-Onte. His coach spells it Di’Onte.

Perhaps it ought to be spelled Di?Onte.

“It’s D, i, then, you know, one of those little marks,” said Bill Foster, football coach at Grant High.

Any little mark will do, apparently.

Di!Onte rushed for 352 yards against Marshall on Friday and has 495 in two games.

Di+Onte is a real plus, having scored all five Grant touchdowns.

Di%Onte has contributed 92% of the team’s offense, 511 of 557 yards.

Di$Onte is a money player on defense as well, forcing a fumble with one minute to play to preserve Grant’s 20-15 victory over Marshall.

Di*Onte clearly has emerged as a rising star in the City Section.

His last name is Smith, that much is clear. And by any spelling, Grant’s senior tailback can dash with the football.

Period.

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As luck would have it: With a defender draped over him, Littlerock High quarterback Bruce Johnson lobbed a desperation pass that was pulled in by Hoa Le for a touchdown with 19 seconds left, giving the Lobos a 12-10 victory over Oxnard on Friday.

A Hail Mary? Nope. More like a Happy Birthday.

Littlerock Coach Jim Bauer celebrated his 44th birthday the following day.

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The right connections: When Ricky Rauth took an elbow in an eye Saturday during the semifinals of the Millikan High water polo tournament, he knew where to go. To dad.

Rauth’s father, a physician, closed a gash that required four stitches right there at poolside. Four hours later, Rauth, a Harvard-Westlake junior, played in the tournament title game, which Harvard won, 13-10, over Villa Park.

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Ratings game: L.A. Baptist was unranked in preseason girls’ volleyball polls despite outside hitter Darcie Frazier and setter Tunde Hrotko, who played on a team that advanced to the Southern Section Division V quarterfinals last season.

There is, however, a perfectly reasonable explanation. “I was sent a questionnaire but I totally forgot to fill it out,” Coach Sue Newcomb said. “I never sent it back.”

After a 3-0 start, including a victory over Notre Dame, L.A. Baptist undoubtedly will receive mention when new polls are released at the end of the week.

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Bring on the ‘Huskers: Care to underscore the idiocy of comparing the scores of common football opponents?

Here’s some tongue-in-cheek reasoning, courtesy of Bob Burt, Cal State Northridge’s football coach: First, Northern Iowa defeated Iowa State, a member of the Big Eight Conference. Second, Southwest Texas State, which plays host to Northridge this week, defeated Northern Iowa.

Which means? Said Burt: “If we beat Southwest Texas, we should take Iowa State’s place in the Big Eight and play Nebraska, right?”

Uh, wrong.

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Open wide: He spent much of the early part of his life opening holes. Now he fills them.

Chuck Arrobio, who coaches offensive linemen at St. Francis High, is a prominent Pasadena dentist. He also was quite a football player.

Arrobio played tackle for USC from 1963-65, paving the way for tailback Mike Garrett in his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign of 1965.

His professional career with the Minnesota Vikings cut short after two years because of a knee injury, Arrobio enrolled at USC dental school. His part-time job tutoring the St. Francis line marks his coaching debut.

“I love it,” Arrobio said. “It’s giving to the kids. And I’m giving back to all the coaches who gave to me.”

As a dentist, Arrobio counts several former teammates and other former Trojans among his patients, including Ron Yary, Rod Sherman and Anthony Munoz.

Bill Redell, St. Francis’ head coach, is another customer. “He’s a big baby,” Arrobio said.

Stats

On the strength of its 52-13 blowout of UC Davis, Northridge this week leaped 37 places up the USA Today NCAA Division I and I-A national computer rankings. Northridge is ranked 137th among 224 teams.

Davis is ranked 157th by the computer--even though the Aggies play in Division II .

The American West Conference, of which Northridge is a member, is ranked 16th among the 25 Division I-A and I-AA conferences nationally.

For openers: The Northridge football team has won 12 consecutive home openers and has lost six consecutive season openers.

Block party: With 22 blocks in the Northern Arizona women’s volleyball tournament, Northridge’s Heather Anderson moved into fourth place on the school’s career list. The 6-foot-2 senior has 293 blocks, trailing only Kathleen Dixon (449 from 1987-90), Nancy Nicholls (398 from 1989-92) and senior teammate Ana Kristich (343).

Honors

With two interceptions and a fumble recovery against UC Davis, Northridge safety Joseph Vaughn was named American West Conference defensive player of the week. Matt Ornelaz, Northridge’s kicker, was the conference’s special-teams player of the week after converting seven of seven point-after attempts and adding a 37-yard field goal.

Top defender: Ventura College nose guard Shawn Popkin was among three Western State Conference players honored for their defensive efforts last week. The freshman from Buena High had 10 solo tackles, six assists, two sacks and an interception in a 20-12 nonconference win over Antelope Valley.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega and Bryan Rodgers.