Last Sunday, 8:45 p.m.
Most of the West Coast watched the Prime Time Emmy Awards.
Not Grant High football Coach Bill Foster. His wife, Tracie, was within hours of childbirth.
Then the phone rang at the Foster house. Of all persons to call, a sportswriter!
Foster remained calm. "My wife's getting ready to go into labor," he said politely. "Can you call me tomorrow?"
At 11:20 that night, Tracie gave birth to Ashlie Yvette Foster, the Fosters' third child.
Later, Foster gave some insight as to why he wasn't panic-stricken when he answered the phone.
"I'm a football coach," he said, laughing. "I'm used to stress."
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Hawaiian players treated their guests from Newbury Park to some traditional activities the day following Newbury Park's 43-20 victory at Waimea, Kauai:
Wild boar hunting and cliff diving into a river.
Fun, but also a tad dangerous for a Panther team that suited up fewer than 30 healthy players for the game.
"I'm not sure the coaches were too aware of it," said quarterback Chris Czernek, who passed for 376 yards.
Czernek & Co. returned in good health.
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For Westlake fans wondering who snagged the precious few parking spaces on the same level as the new stadium entrance, the answer is: Boosters who shelled out $300 apiece.
The hefty donation gave fans preferred parking and two tickets to each home game, an ad in the Westlake game program, two tickets to the season-ending banquet, a T-shirt and cap, a seat cushion, and tri-tip sandwiches and drinks at each game.
Every one of the 43 preferred parking spots was sold.
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Receiver Alex Kalinowski who made a leaping catch for the go-ahead score in Cleveland's 21-14 victory over Poly, almost didn't make it to the beginning of the season.
Less than a month before the start of fall practice, Kalinowski was in a serious automobile accident. After playing in a summer passing league tournament that day, he saw his football life pass before his eyes.
"I was thinking about that last pass I caught," Kalinowski said. "I thought it might be the last pass I ever caught."
Kalinowski escaped the accident with a minor back injury and was cleared to play just before the start of practice.
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St. Francis quarterback John Carnevali passed for 210 yards and a touchdown in a 28-7 victory over Harvard-Westlake. Not exactly a rout. Then again, if it was a karate bout, they probably would have stopped it.
Carnevali (6 feet 2, 185 pounds), a part-time starter last season, is a second-degree black belt who teaches karate in his spare time. Having studied the sport since age 9, Carnevali draws on his karate education to enhance his skills as a quarterback.
"It helps me keep my head level and with the feeling that someone is coming from behind," he said.
Carnevali became a black belt in eighth grade and earned his second degree as a high school freshman. At each level, he has had to demonstrate his skill to earn a belt.
"One of the things you have to do is break boards with your feet or your hands," Carnevali said. "I use my feet."
That way he doesn't hurt his throwing hand.
AROUND THE LEAGUES
* EAST VALLEY
Last season Canoga Park played City Section 4-A finalist Crenshaw in Week 2. This season the Hunters have Valencia, which is in its first season of varsity football. Canoga Park Coach Rudy Lugo is nonetheless concerned. "It'll be their first varsity game on their home field," he said. "They're going to be sky-high." . . . Reseda, which last year lost its opener against Chatsworth, had little trouble with the Chancellors last week, building a 20-0 first-quarter lead en route to a 36-20 victory. . . . Durell Price, one of the nation's top running backs, also is valuable at linebacker for Sylmar. "As soon as we pulled him out, [Taft] had a few long runs and we had to put him back in," Spartan Coach Jeff Engilman said. . . . Van Nuys Coach Mark Pomerantz seemed more stunned than excited after the Wolves defeated Palisades in his first game as coach. "I was kind of in a strange funk," he said. "It'll probably become more passe as I get more used to it."
* MID-VALLEY
Monroe doesn't pass much, but when the Vikings do, they do it efficiently. Monroe completed only four of seven passes for 67 yards against Hoover, but two of them went for touchdowns--both from Aaron Arnold to Kenyatta Burris. . . . Next up for North Hollywood is Franklin, which employs the run-and-shoot, the same offense the Huskies junked during the off-season in favor of a more conventional pro-set offense. . . . Poly quarterback Jelani Ogle wasn't entirely at fault for killing a Parrot rally by spiking the ball on fourth down against Cleveland last week. "He couldn't look at the scoreboard," Poly Coach Tim Feeley said. "They had the wrong down all night."
* NORTH VALLEY
