Kase Got Sick of the Screaming After a Tackle in the Open Field

George Kase, UCLA nose guard, had a feeling in a 27-25 loss to Cal that might have been shared by many Bruin fans.

With the Bears jumping to an early 14-3 lead and UCLA looking overmatched, Kase went to the sidelines and vomited.

“I made an open-field tackle right in front of our bench,� said Kase, a sophomore from Hart High.

“It was a clean solo on (standout running back) Lindsey Chapman. I looked up, our bench was going crazy. Guys were jumping up and down, screaming. The fans were going crazy. There were 60,000 people up there.

“It was ridiculous. This wasn’t Hart-Canyon, where you get maybe 7,500. I couldn’t deal with it. I had to come out. I went to the sidelines and lost my lunch.�

The Bruins and Kase were repeatedly pushed off the line of scrimmage in the first half as Cal outgained them on the ground, 112-29, and took a 24-13 halftime lead.

But UCLA lost the game only when an interception with 15 seconds remaining thwarted a possible game-winning field goal.

It was a tough defeat at the Rose Bowl, as was the 14-13 loss to Nebraska at home two weeks later. But Kase said he lost the

sick feeling by halftime against Cal. So did his teammates on defense. “I was scared to death before that (Cal) game,� said Kase, 20, who was pressed into his first starting assignment after Sale Isaia suffered a back injury and Bruce Walker was removed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

“I had all the reps in spring ball. I was experienced in practice. But the whole defensive unit is young.

“The first half we were nervous and we played really poorly. But the way we came back in that game gave us a lot of confidence and we’ve played well ever since.�

Still, the 1993 season at times has been a survival mission for Kase, a 6-foot-2, 245 pounder recruited as an outside linebacker but since thrown into the trenches against blockers bigger and usually more experienced.

Kase said he gets a lot of trash talk early in most games but the offensive jabber usually stops by halftime. “They say, ‘You don’t look like a nose guard . . . get out of here,’ � Kase said.

“After a while, they quiet down. (Beating bigger linemen is) all about leverage and good hand placement. I have good technique, and if I didn’t have it, I’d get lost. But I bust my tail in practice and I’m really optimistic about my future.�

Kase, whose job is to stop the run, has quietly become the Bruins’ third-leading tackler (first among linemen) with 23 stops, including three behind the line of scrimmage.

With Kase in the middle, UCLA (2-2) held Stanford and San Diego State to a combined 63 yards rushing. The Bruins rank 25th in the NCAA against the run and have allowed only two rushing touchdowns. “It’s tough to lose the way we did (against Cal and Nebraska),� Kase said.

“We should be 4-0 and like No. 8 in the nation. But we’ve had a lot of injuries and some bad luck.�

*

A war off the field, too: Running back Ontiwaun Carter (Kennedy) and his Arizona teammates got the victory they wanted over USC Saturday, 38-7. Carter rushed 16 times for 74 yards in the game, helping the Wildcats move to 5-0, 2-0 in the Pac-10.

Arizona has more Valley players (eight) on its roster than USC (seven). The Trojans naturally have far more players from Southern California (60). But Arizona has taken 41 players from this region, which accounts for 35% of the Wildcats’ 116-man roster.

Why go to Arizona?

Carter said he and many of his teammates from Southern California were turned off by the Trojans.

“USC did too much harping on tradition,� he said. “Going to other schools was a challenge, and we’re accepting it.�

*

Checking the fax: Kase is not the only area product to play a role in a UCLA defense that allows only 117 rushing yards per game. Free safety Travis Collier (Palmdale), linebacker Carrick O’Quinn (Agoura) and defensive tackle London Woodfin (Sylmar), out with a knee injury, are starters. . . .

Nevada Las Vegas punter Brad Faunce (Hoover), a junior college All-American at Glendale College, is averaging 45.1 yards per punt, eighth-best in the country. Faunce and the Rebels play host to Cal State Northridge on Saturday night. . . .

At last weekend’s massive Stanford Invitational cross-country meet, five former members of the 1990 Bell-Jeff boys’ cross-country team competed for a handful of college teams.

On hand were freshmen Leonard and Joe Diaz of USC, sophomore Bob Morgan and junior Bob Heath of Cal State Long Beach, and sophomore Terence Flynn of Occidental. Bell-Jeff Coach Jim Couch also was in attendance.