HIGH SCHOOLS : East Coach McCamy Flips For Czernek in All-Star Game

Roger McCamy, coach of the East team for Saturday’s Ventura County All-Star football game, relied on a highly scientific process to determine a starting quarterback.

He flipped a coin.

“Scott McEwan called tails and it came up heads,” McCamy said with a laugh. “So Chris Czernek will start, Scott will play the second quarter and we’ll see after that.”

Czernek, the state’s career passing leader and McEwan, a UCLA recruit, have impressed McCamy with their skills and personalities.

“They’re natural leaders, not just put in that position by a coach,” McCamy said. “These kids make gentle corrections when someone screws up. And they read defenses very well; they’ve picked up the offense very quickly.”

McCamy said the East will utilize a scaled-down model of Simi Valley’s run-and-shoot attack, with five running plays and variations of four passing plays.

“We’ve put in some audibles, although we’ll probably live to regret it,” McCamy said.

Add All-Stars: Twenty-eight of the East’s 34 players are from the Marmonte League but McCamy said he has been impressed with several players from smaller schools in the Frontier and Tri-Valley Leagues.

“[Santa Paula offensive lineman] Ryan Wadkowski came out the first day and really took it to people,” McCamy said. “He was making a statement.”

McCamy said Wadkowski will start at left tackle and Oak Park tight end-linebacker Dan Wasserman and Moorpark outside linebacker Jeff Medina will see significant playing time.

Making statement: Twins Larry and Lawrence Jones were nursing sore shins, but that couldn’t prevent the Taft boys’ 1,600-meter relay team of the Joneses, Sedric Hurns and Blaine Bussey from breaking the school record Saturday in the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

The foursome placed fourth with a time of 3:15.22 to break the school mark of 3:16.06 set by a Quincy Watts-anchored squad in 1987.

“I knew it was only a matter of time,” Taft assistant Kenny Mitchell said. “We were looking to get the record all year.”

Taft ran 3:16.57 in its qualifying heat of the state meet Friday after clocking 3:16.94 to win the City Section title on May 29. The Toreadors’ season best before that was 3:17.35, which they ran to place second in the Pasadena Games on March 29.

The Joneses and Hurns are juniors and Bussey is a sophomore.

“We should be able to run 3:10 or 3:11 next year,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we’ll be shooting for if everyone is healthy.”