Rucker, Beatie to Sift Through College Offers

Now that their football season is over, Glendale College running back Pathon Rucker and offensive tackle Richard Beatie must get down to some serious thinking about their collegiate futures.

Rucker, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore, had a school single-season rushing record with 1,684 yards to finish second in the state behind Daymon Carter of San Francisco City (1,721). Rucker scored 14 touchdowns and set school records in career rushing with 2,900 yards and single-season and career all-purpose rushing with 1,727 and 3,129 yards.

Beatie (6-foot-6, 290 pounds) was remarkably consistent, not allowing a sack all season.

Both are being courted by first-rate Division I schools, Glendale Coach John Cicuto said.

“USC is calling (Rucker) all the time. Charles White (USC running backs coach) has been talking to him all year. But he has to get an AA (Associate in Arts) degree, so he’ll be with us in the spring,” Cicuto said.

Beatie is considered an impact player.

“I tell you, he might be the best offensive lineman in the country in junior college,” Cicuto said.

Among the schools recruiting Beatie, a sophomore from San Gabriel High, are USC, Texas, Washington, Ohio State, Oregon and Nebraska.

The Trojans might have the inside track. In this season’s Glendale yearbook, Beatie, a social science major, said he planned to transfer to USC.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

Change of Direction

Where are those domed stadiums when you need them?

The kickers and punters at the Glendale-Moorpark football game Saturday sure could have used one.

At least twice, the gusty winds howling through Moorpark’s Griffin Stadium played havoc with punts.

One even landed in the bleachers.

On fourth and six at the Glendale 29-yard line early in the third quarter, Glendale punter Mike Sierra watched his kick hook to the left like a weekend hacker’s tee shot and drop in the first few rows on the Moorpark side of the stadium.

The punt covered four yards. A few minutes later, it was Moorpark’s turn to be blown away.

On fourth and 15 at the Moorpark 15, Raider punter Joe Lafirenza sent one up and saw it slice out of bounds, three yards down field.

All either team could get from the good field position by the ill-fated punts were field goals.

*

No other basketball coach probably knows the stretch of Ventura Freeway from Los Angeles to Oxnard like Ron McClurkin.

McClurkin, the first-year coach at Oxnard, commutes from his home in Gardena and his job as a health and physical education teacher at Los Angeles City to coach the Condors.

That’s 120 miles each round-trip.

“I calculated that I’ll put 26,000 miles on my car before the season is over,” McClurkin said. “It’s not just the driving to the school and back, but the scouting trips too.”

He drives to Oxnard even when the team is going on trips to his neck of the woods.

“Last (week) we played at Trade Tech, which is about five miles from my home,” McClurkin said. “But I still drove to Oxnard and went to the game with the players. I got home around 1:30 in the morning and I had a class to teach at L.A. City at 9:30 a.m.”

At least the mood on the ride back to Oxnard was cheerful. The Condors (1-2) beat Trade Tech, 82-76.

*

Perhaps it was too much for the Ventura men’s basketball team to handle this early in the season.

Ventura, ranked No. 1 in the state preseason coaches’ poll and No. 2 in the country by Dick Vitale in his annual preseason magazine, promptly lived down those accolades.

The Pirates traveled to Kings River for its opener Nov. 12 and were upset, 63-61. Kings River, ranked sixth in the state preseason poll, rallied from a 10-point deficit with six minutes to play.

Ventura has won four games to improve to 4-1, but Coach Philip Mathews says the Pirates haven’t put it all together. “We haven’t played well yet,” Mathews said. “We are lucky to be 4-1.”

The Pirates will try to extend their winning streak at their three-day tournament that begins Friday.

*

Mark Sinderson of Antelope Valley was feeling better Tuesday about finishing ninth in the state junior college cross-country final in Fresno on Saturday.

Sinderson thought he had an outside chance of stealing the race, and even though he ran 19 minutes 59 seconds over the four-mile course, he was 61 seconds behind the winner.

Edgar De Oliveira of Cuyamaca timed 18:58. Three days later, it was discovered that the 26-year-old Brazilian is a world-class runner who ran 3:36 in the 1,500 meters last summer and represented his country in the World Championships in Stuttgart in August.

“I think (Sinderson) feels a lot better now,” Coach Mark Covert said. “I told him, ‘No matter how well you ran, you couldn’t have won that race.’ ”

*

Sinderson was one of only two American-born runners to place among the top 10 in the men’s race in the state championships. The eight foreigners among the top 10 were three Brazilians, two Tanzanians, a Briton, a Moroccan and a Mexican.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

Cassidy Has His Say

Since the NCAA placed further restrictions on basketball practice time two years ago, Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy has criticized the rule relentlessly.

Without fail, after each and every early-season game, he somehow snipes at collegiate policy makers.

Said Cassidy after an exhibition Monday against the U.S. International Stars:

“We have a long way to go still. We need at least two weeks of practice yet that we were cheated out of. Not cheated, that’s the wrong word. But it’s almost impossible to teach all the things that have to be taught. If we’d have had to go to a full-court, last-three-second play? We haven’t put it in yet.

“We put in one of our sideline plays today in shoot-around. That’s how far behind we are. We’re not really behind, it’s just that the NCAA puts you behind with their foolish rules . . . without first talking to coaches, people in the profession, about the educational process. . . . which is amazing to me because the NCAA is comprised of college presidents who should know about the educational process. . . .

“Now, what were we talking about?”

*

Northridge’s one-point victory over the Stars was less than impressive for an exhibition, but the Matadors were lucky to escape with a win.

The Stars, a contingent of former Division I players, were older and more prone to fatigue, but also extremely cagey. Cassidy described them as “gnarly, crafty veterans.”

Post player Peter Micelli agreed. Sort of. “They did seasoned-veteran stuff,” Micelli said. “When the ref wasn’t looking, they’d pop you in the mouth, stuff like that.”

*

A free throw by Chris Yard gave the Matadors their 93-92 win over the Stars, a notable accomplishment based on past performance. Yard, a 77% free-throw shooter in junior college, made only 49 of 112 attempts (43.8%) for Northridge last season.

Around the Campuses. . .

* Moorpark quarterback Todd Preston was named Western State Conference offensive tri-player of the week along with Santa Monica running back Mario Mattison and Harbor kicker Jon Williams.

* Valley quarterback Sean Fitzgerald was named WSC offensive player of the week four times this season, more than anybody else. Running backs Gil Carrillo of Moorpark and Pathon Rucker of Glendale each earned the honor twice.

* Ventura’s Tito Holguin led the WSC in interceptions with seven. Pierce’s Ron McKelvey tied with L.A. Southwest’s Darrell Cooley and Santa Monica’s Charles Towns with six each.

* Pierce wide receiver David Doyle led the WSC in receiving with 83 catches for 1,098 yards. Only Keyshawn Johnson of West L.A. (55 catches, 1,245 yards) had more yards.

* Outside hitter Aimee Stone has moved into second place on Cal State Northridge’s single-season list with 458 kills this year. Stone, who moved past Kathleen Dixon (448 in 1990), Marianne Dixon (434 in 1990) and Nancy Nicholls (433 in 1992) last week, is averaging a school-record 4.2 kills a game. The record of 4.17 was set by Kristy Olson in 1984.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.