Oak Park’s Smith Out With Injury

Oak Park High’s starting forward Jeff Smith suffered a dislocated shoulder Friday in the Eagles’ Tri-Valley League boys’ basketball loss at Bishop Diego and is out indefinitely, Coach Rob Hall said.

SOCCER

Boiling in Burbank: The spirited rivalry between Burbank High and cross-town rival Burroughs has heated up after several incidents in a 1-1 tie in a Foothill League boys’ game Jan. 9 at Burbank.

A Burbank player was ejected for head-butting Burroughs standout Miguel Meneses and a scuffle broke out when a Burroughs player slid out of bounds into the Burbank bench area.

In the bench incident, Burroughs Coach Mike Kodama said Glen Calzadilla was struck with a crutch when he went out of bounds. Dave Kemp, Burbank’s athletic director, said a Burbank player with a broken leg was trying to avoid being knocked down.

In the postgame handshake line, a Burroughs player Kodama declined to identify spit on a Burbank player. Kodama said the Burroughs player was suspended for two games but was responding to mud thrown on him by the Burbank player.

Kodama, in his 11th year at Burroughs, said the rivalry has become mean-spirited in the past two seasons.

“It just isn’t the same; you have to watch for [trash-talking] and late hits and everything,� Kodama said. “I know my kids aren’t angels either, we all have to work on it.�

Said Kemp: “There’s isolated incidents but this isn’t the norm. These kids grew up together and have been going at each other for years. This is just a carry-over.�

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Pushing the envelope: Proper nutrition and hydration have been increasingly stressed to athletes in recent years, but North Hollywood High’s Najib Benjelloun has been playing without ingesting much food or water this month.

Benjelloun, a junior forward who has four goals for the Huskies, fasts each day from sunrise to sunset in observance of the Islamic holiday Ramadan, which began Dec. 31 and ends Jan. 28.

Coach Rick Pally said Benjelloun wore down during practices earlier this month but has become accustomed to the routine.

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Say what?: Confusing is the best word to describe the finish and outcome of a Tri-Valley League boys’ soccer game Friday between Carpinteria High and host Oak Park.

The teams tied, 2-2, in regulation and the players began to take off their gear.

After a 10-minute consultation, officials David Corsandy and Joe Varley had the teams play a 20-minute overtime period. Midway through the session, Oak Park scored on a Nick Henderson penalty shot to apparently claim a 3-2 victory.

One problem. A league rule instituted for this season prohibits overtime.

“I didn’t think [the league] had overtime but they showed me a rule book so we had to play,� said Carpinteria Coach Serafin Mora, who is recording the game as a tie. “The book must have been old.�

Fillmore Coach Kevin Jauch said Saturday that six ties have been recorded in league play this season,including an earlier draw between Carpinteria (2-5-4, 0-2-2) and Oak Park (3-4-3, 1-0-1) Jan. 7 at Carpinteria.

“[The league coaches] had a [preseason] meeting with one of the head referees in the area and we went over the no-overtime rule,� Jauch said. “This is a soap opera.�

Oak Park Coach Zoran Lomic said Henderson and Rick Spelman, who were ejected in the overtime period, will sit out the Eagles’ next game Wednesday at Bishop Diego.

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It’s official: Several recent games in the region have been called at halftime because of rain. Karen Hellyer, Southern Section administrator for soccer, said a game called at the half stands as an official result, in accordance with National Federation of State High School Athletic Assn. rules.