Pack Trying to Catch Up to Notre Dame

Gary Thran is sympathetic to the plight of San Fernando Valley League football programs feeling the squeeze after Notre Dame was admitted to the league last season. The Harvard coach recalls a headline from the past decade:

Harvard Loses, But Scores in Pioneer League.

That was written after Harvard’s first league touchdown, which came late in the 1974 season, Thran’s second. Harvard, winless in its first two years in the Pioneer League, was overmatched and overwhelmed by other league schools, including Redondo, El Segundo, Lawndale, Lennox and Leuzinger.

In 1983, Harvard won the league championship and posted a 12-1 overall record. The Saracens shared the title again two years later.

Thran, who is beginning his 16th year at Harvard, sees a similar scenario unfolding in the San Fernando Valley League. Notre Dame, which dropped from the Division I Del Rey League to Division VII last season, is now the ogre. The Knights, second in the Southern Section preseason rankings, did not lose a football or basketball game in league play last season. The league football title was the first in school history.

But take heart St. Genevieve, thumped, 35-0, by Notre Dame last season. Take heart Bell-Jeff, waxed, 48-7. According to Thran’s logic, this too will pass.

“You have your ups and your downs and Bell-Jeff and St. Genevieve are going through their down periods,” Thran said. “We’re going to have them. Notre Dame is going to have them.”

Although his team has to commute to a local park to practice, Bell-Jeff Coach Doug Woodlief is prepared to weather the Notre Dame reign.

Said Woodlief: “You gotta play the hand you’re dealt. We knew the (inclusion of Notre Dame) was coming around and we have to put our faith in what we can do.

“Personally, it’s a challenge. I don’t mind adversity. We’ve got to feed what we believe in to our players. Sometimes you get it across, sometimes you don’t.”

Mark Lovett, who is beginning his first season as St. Genevieve’s coach, isn’t as resigned. His opinions are about as sugar-coated as granola.

“I think it’s horse crap that they are in the league,” he said of Notre Dame, pointing to enrollment disparities that favor the Sherman Oaks school. “With our school and Bell-Jeff and Harvard, all of us fight for our lives and it’s a fair fight. But when I look at Notre Dame, unless the numbers in our schools increase, we’re always outmanned.

“I think that they should have stayed in the Del Rey or at least dropped to Division II.”

Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney can commiserate with Lovett. “I don’t blame guys for feeling that way,” he said. “It’s the same boat that we were in in the Del Rey League.”

Rooney’s team finished 5-5 in 1987 and 3-8 the year before and a quick turnaround was unlikely. Then the San Fernando Valley League was formed and the Knights were instantly dominant. They ought to be so again--13 starters return. Among them are four all-league players: running back Errol Small, defensive linemen Matt Henry and Owen Taylor and defensive back Guillermo Eguez. In addition, the school’s junior varsity was 10-0 last season.

Those numbers tickle Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson, a 1973 graduate of Notre Dame who was an assistant for the Knights from 1978 to 1980. He welcomes the challenge.

“I think it brings credibility to our league,” he said. “Even though it was a six-division drop, I welcome the chance to play them, and, now, it means a little more than a preseason game.

“Six or seven years ago, if you said Notre Dame was playing Chaminade for the league title, someone would have looked at you like, ‘What, are you crazy?’ ”

That is precisely what happened last year, however. Chaminade lost the final game of the regular season to the Knights, 28-22, with the championship in the balance.

Notre Dame went on to lose to Lompoc in the first round of the playoffs--a defeat due in part, Lawson says, to the Eagles.

“I’d like to think that we had something to do with that,” he said. “I’m not sure if they peaked for us little guys out here in the West Valley, but I think we played them very tough and I don’t think they were prepared mentally for the playoffs.”

Lawson kiddingly suggested that the supernatural may intervene in this year’s game between Chaminade and Notre Dame, which will be played Friday, Oct. 13. “If you’re superstitious, this might just tilt the scale and give us the edge,” he said. “There might be that psychic phenomenon. We’ll have to see.”

Consultation with the other world might not be necessary for Lawson. The Eagles have a handful of standouts such as Jeff Burdick, a receiver and defensive back who had 30 receptions and led Valley-area players with 10 interceptions. Other threats include tailback Colin Havert (672 yards in 82 carries, eight touchdowns) and fullback Felix Goodson (535 yards in 78 carries, six touchdowns).

Lawson says that the Knights will provide a litmus test for his team. “If you enjoy competition, you want to play the top competition you can play,” he said. “In the back of my mind, I know that we’re playing a potential Big Five Conference team and that’s the way I view them, even though they’re in our league.”

Wednesday: the Frontier League.

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY LEAGUE FINAL 1988 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Notre Dame 8-3, 4-0 Notre Dame Chaminade 8-4, 3-1 Chaminade Harvard 7-4, 2-2 Harvard Bell-Jeff 1-9, 1-3 St. Genevieve St. Genevieve 1-8, 0-4 Bell-Jeff

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Greg Andrachick Notre Dame QB 6-0 170 Sr. Jeff Burdick Chaminade DB 6-0 175 Sr. John DiSante Notre Dame OL 6-4 255 Sr. Felix Goodson Chaminade RB 6-1 175 Sr. Colin Havert Chaminade RB 6-0 185 Sr. Matt Henry Notre Dame DL 6-3 190 Sr. Dominic Mueller St. Genevieve QB 6-0 185 Sr. Mike Reyes Bell-Jeff OL 5-10 215 Sr. Errol Small Notre Dame RB 6-3 205 Sr. Iheanyi Uwaezuoke Harvard WR 6-2 175 Jr.