Sports

FINAL ACT

Record-setting quarterback Steve Sarkisian will play in his last game for El Camino College on Saturday night when the Warriors (9-1) meet College of the Desert (8-2) in the Southern California Bowl at Desert.

Because statistics from bowl games are not credited toward season totals, Sarkisian won’t get a chance to add to an impressive list of passing records. His 3,659 yards this season ranks second on the all-time national community college list behind Tom Luginbill, who passed for 3,701 yards in 1993 at Palomar. Luginbill, son of former San Diego State coach Al Luginbill, plays at Georgia Tech.

Sarkisian also ranks second on the all-time national list in career yards (6,629) and touchdowns (58). He is third in career completions (455).

This season Sarkisian became the first community college quarterback to finish with a passing efficiency rating of over 200. He completed 72.4% of his passes (228 of 315), with 37 touchdowns and only eight interceptions.

“Phenomenal, just phenomenal,” El Camino offensive coordinator Fred Petersen said of Sarkisian, who broke virtually all of the school passing records.

Petersen, who coached seven All-Southern Section quarterbacks in 20 seasons at West Torrance High and has worked with four JC All-American quarterbacks in 11 years at El Camino, says Sarkisian has a great feel for the game.

“I’ve had quarterbacks with a little better arms, guys with better size and guys with more quickness,” Petersen said. “But for the overall package, he’s the best. He understands coverages and (defensive) alignments, and he hardly ever runs us into a bad play. He sees stuff as quick or quicker than I do. Teams try to blitz us a lot, and he burns them.”

Petersen expects the same against an aggressive Desert defense.

“They’re a blitzing, stunting, try-to-get-you-upset type of team,” he said. “They’re pretty good, but Sark hasn’t had that much trouble with blitzing teams. I think we’ll be all right.”

Sarkisian has given an unwritten commitment to Brigham Young University, but Petersen said the sophomore still plans to take recruiting trips to Kansas State, Fresno State and BYU.

“It’s still up in the air a little,” Petersen said.

NOSTALGIA

Before this season, the last time a Mary Star football team reached the semifinals of the Southern Section playoffs was in 1977.

Dino Andrie remembers because he was a junior that year at Mary Star and played on a team that featured Tim Wrightman, who went on to play tight end for UCLA and the Chicago Bears.

Andrie, in his first season as Mary Star’s coach, says the spirit of ’77 is alive and well at the San Pedro school this week as the Stars (11-1) prepare to meet top-seeded Orange Lutheran (10-2) in the Division X semifinals Friday night at Daniels Field.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the air right now,” Andrie said. “The kids have played well and brought back the winning tradition.”

The 1977 team lost in the semifinals to Norwalk, which went on to win the Central Conference title. It figures to be just as difficult for Mary Star to get past Orange Lutheran, champion of the competitive Olympic League.

“They look good,” Andrie said of his team’s opponent. “They have an explosive offense and they run a lot of different formations and shift into a lot of different sets. They try to create mismatches.

“But to be the best you have to beat the best. At least we have them at home. I’m looking forward to the game.”

HONOR ROLL

Several outstanding defensive performances were turned in by area players last week in the quarterfinals of the prep football playoffs. The highlights:

* Serra defensive backs Ademole Turner and David Burr returned interceptions 82 and 55 yards, respectively, for touchdowns in a 19-10 Division III victory over Rowland. Turner leads the area with 10 interceptions, three returned for scores.

* Peninsula linebacker Jeremy Sparling had a team-high 11 tackles as the Panthers limited Arcadia to 136 yards in a 17-0 Division II victory. The Panthers lead the area in scoring defense, giving up 7.2 points a game.

* Mira Costa linebackers Dennis Hughes and Ricky Saunders continued to make life miserable for quarterbacks, combining for four sacks in a 15-7 Division VII victory over South Hills. Hughes leads the area with 21 sacks.

* Mary Star linebacker Phillip Trutanich had 12 tackles and defensive back Iggy Galaz intercepted his eighth and ninth passes of the season in a 27-7 Division X victory over Ontario Christian. The Stars are giving up an average of eight points a game.

HOME COOKING

For the second year in a row, Mira Costa’s football team spared itself a trip to Lompoc by winning a coin toss to determine the home team. The Mustangs (11-1) will play host to Lompoc (11-1) at 7:30 Saturday night in the Division VII semifinals.

Mira Costa beat Lompoc, 15-8, in the quarterfinals last season at home. Afterward, Lompoc Coach Robin Luken addressed Mira Costa’s size advantage.

“A Volkswagen and a Mac truck just don’t mix,” he said.

Luken was mainly referring to fullback-nose guard Phil Fonua, who rushed for two touchdowns and was a disruptive force on defense. Luken won’t have to worry about Fonua this time because the senior has been sidelined all season after suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm last summer.

But Mira Costa’s defense is still a force, having held 10 opponents to 12 points or less. The linebacking corps of Hughes, Saunders and Isaac Marin is regarded as the best in school history.

ILL WIND

Peninsula’s football team not only has to prepare for a formidable opponent this week, the Panthers also must prepare for the bone-chilling weather they expect to encounter Friday night in a Division II semifinal at Antelope Valley.

Coach Gary Kimbrell said he ordered thermal tops for his players and was looking into the possibility of bringing portable heaters to the game. The temperature is expected to be in the 30s, and the usual heavy winds in the high desert can add to the windchill.

But it will take more than inclement weather to bring down the area’s hottest football team. Peninsula (11-1) has outscored opponents, 383-55, in winning its last 10 games.

If anything stops the Panthers, it will be Antelope Valley (9-2), which has cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

POSTSCRIPT

Yes, it was ugly.

But it wasn’t all that surprising to Leuzinger football Coach Fred Boehm, whose team was blown out by top-seeded Hart, 51-0, last week in the Division II quarterfinals.

Boehm said he sensed the Olympians were spent after back-to-back emotional victories over Hawthorne and Burroughs of Ridgecrest.

“Those last two games took something out of our kids,” Boehm said. “The players tried to talk it up during the week, but I could tell it wasn’t there. The week started off badly when our quarterback (Rob Fredrickson) smashed his finger in a door and couldn’t practice for a couple of days. And we lost some kids to ineligibility.”

And then Hart showed up.

“Yeah, they’re pretty awesome,” Boehm said. “But we’re not that bad.”

NOTABLE

* Bishop Montgomery is looking for a new football coach to replace Matt Giacalone, who has resigned to devote more time to his family and job as the school’s dean of boys. The Knights were 6-14 with no playoff appearances in two seasons under Giacalone.

* Peninsula, the area’s top girls’ basketball team, opened the season Wednesday night in the 16-team Capital City Shootout in Sacramento. The Panthers return four starters from last season’s 25-5 team, led by senior guard Allison Fortner and 6-foot senior center Katharine Foster-Keddie, and have added 5-11 sophomore forward Mo-nique Langston, an all-state freshman at Bakersfield Foothill last season.

* Bishop Montgomery and Mira Costa were both eliminated in the semifinals of the State girls’ volleyball playoffs Tuesday. Mira Costa lost to St. Mary’s of Stockton, 15-4, 13-15, 15-8, 15-10, in a Division I match, and Bishop Montgomery lost to Centennial of Bakersfield, 15-2, 15-12, 17-15 in a Division II match.