SIDELINES : Candy Man Sweetens the Pot for Cal Lutheran Football Fans

Twelve years ago, Karsen Lundring brought candy left over from an office party to a Cal Lutheran football game.

His plan was to distribute the sweets among friends and fans. Then, in the excitement of a touchdown, he started tossing it. A tradition was born.

Lundring, a 52-year-old financial planner and Cal Lutheran graduate, brings $50 worth of assorted candy to football games, throwing handfuls after every Kingsmen touchdown.

And, since his son Erik started playing defensive end for Cal Lutheran, Lundring sometimes doesn’t even wait for a score.

“Now when the defense makes a big play, I throw a little,” he said.

Verbal volleys: Fingers have been pointing and tongues wagging ever since Valley defeated Hancock, 36-25, Saturday in a Western State Conference football game in Santa Maria.

Valley Coach Jim Fenwick is miffed that Hancock Coach Barney Eames ordered his players not to shake hands after the game. Eames is ticked at Fenwick because he claims Valley players were “talking smack on every freaking play.”

Fenwick responded by saying that what Eames was really miffed about was that Valley had varied its snap count, drawing Hancock players offside seven times.

Eames gave Fenwick an earful after the game, but the Valley coach claims his adversary is blasting him without ammunition. “There was not one unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty called in the game,” Fenwick said.

Really? What about after the game?

Handyman: Making his first start at quarterback for Calabasas High last week, Zak Lovenson completed his first nine passes. Then, on the last play of the first half, Lovenson suffered a broken right thumb while making a handoff.

Since he can’t throw with a fractured thumb, Lovenson will start at wide receiver tonight against St. Monica. He also will be the long snapper on special teams, hiking the ball with his left hand.

The long run: Moorpark High Coach Rob Dearborn is caught in a pleasant dilemma. Tyler Dritz, the quarterback who last season guided the Musketeers to a Frontier League title, has recovered from a shoulder injury. But Bryan Paul, who has completed 25 of 54 passes for 491 yards, has guided the team to a 4-0 start.

Dritz, whose father is Moorpark’s principal (and Dearborn’s boss), has been playing wide receiver, where his contributions have been significant.

“He’s not totally happy,” Dearborn said, “but he’s making the big plays.”

Is he ever. Dritz has scored touchdowns on a 75-yard kick return, a 66-yard run and two fumble recoveries. On another play, Dritz stripped the ball from a runner and bolted 80 yards for a score that was called back.

Boldface: The Van Nuys High girls’ volleyball team was sporting intimidating, new black uniforms for Wednesday’s Valley Pac-8 Conference showdown against previously undefeated Sylmar.

“We’ve been waiting for these for two years,” senior Connie Chae said. “We’ve always wanted the black uniforms.” Like Van Nuys needed help. The reigning two-time City Section 3-A Division champions won easily, 15-6, 15-1, 15-0.

Stats

The Highland High football team has won consecutive games for the first time in 16 games, a run of success that prompted Coach Lin Parker to fully commit to a newly installed passing offense. “Now we’re changing our junior varsity and freshman offenses from the I formation to the (pass-oriented) one-back offense in the middle of the season,” Parker said.

Trendsetter: When Kennedy High’s Waking Bailey intercepts more than one pass, the Golden Cougars win.

Five of Bailey’s six interceptions came in victories over Inglewood and North Hollywood. He had one interception in a loss to Sylmar and last week, against pass-happy Granada Hills, Bailey was shut out. Kennedy lost, 7-6.

Good Knights: How good is the Notre Dame High defense? Ask Royal’s Jerome Lee. In Royal’s three victories, Lee rushed for, in order, 94, 185 and 116 yards. The Knights held him to 26.

Grounded: Since being called up from the junior varsity, replacing the injured Randy Iaccino, St. Genevieve quarterback Vince Pisano has completed 39 of 66 for 418 yards and a touchdown. However, he also has thrown 10 interceptions--including seven last week in a 21-6 loss to Daniel Murphy. That’s one shy of the Southern Section record for most interceptions in a game by a team.

Doubling up: The Cal State Northridge football team rushed for 286 yards last week against Cal State Chico--12 more than it had in its first three games.

Big foot: Cal Lutheran’s Jeff Shea, second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with an average of 41.5 yards a kick, had punts of 60 and 62 yards last week against Occidental.

Trading places: Since switching positions two weeks ago, Burroughs quarterback Scott Boldvich has completed 22 of 41 for 282 yards and four touchdowns, and receiver Mike Barrett has seven receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

Things to Do

Today, 3:15 p.m., at the Agoura High swimming pool: Royal puts its 66-match Marmonte League water polo winning streak on the line against Agoura, which defeated the Highlanders, 16-7, last week in a tournament.

Tonight, 7, North Campus Stadium: Cal State Northridge (6-3) will play host to San Diego State (6-4) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s soccer opener. The Matadors are also home Sunday, at 6 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton.

“We lose both (games) and it’s death,” Northridge Coach Marwan Ass’ad said. “We lose one and it’s not too good.”

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Kennedy Cosgrove, Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad and Michael Lazarus.