Golden Hawks

They say they'll probably get together for a game of golf today. Maybe have lunch, joke around, just hang out. Whatever it takes to ease the images of late Tuesday afternoon. It won't be easy. It never is. Visions of stranded baserunners and strikeouts don't fade away overnight. Nor does the score--Diamond Bar 5, El Dorado 4. Not when it was the same as the year before. A jinx? That's what some of the El Dorado players were calling it after the game.

For a championship baseball game, Thursday's Diamond Sports National Classic finale couldn't have produced a more dramatic ending. With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, Jack Colick of Encino Crespi hit a shallow fly ball to center fielder Adam Velez of Placentia El Dorado. Scott Heineman tagged at third base. "I was going no matter what," Heineman said. The throw reached catcher Drew Luther on one hop, just before Heineman tried to slide into home plate.

What do Bret Boone, Matt Luke, Phil Nevin and Brett Tomko have in common? In addition to being major leaguers, Boone, Luke, Nevin and Tomko played their high school baseball at El Dorado. Boone, a second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, was a standout infielder by his senior year in 1987.

The risk: more damage to an already severely injured knee, and a future of arthritis. The reward: a senior season of high school football. To Garret Dressel of Placentia El Dorado High, the risk is worth the reward. That's why Friday he will again strap a brace over the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and play in the Golden Hawks' Century League game against Tustin. He did the same thing last week and caught four passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in El Dorado's 24-7 victory over Villa Park.

It was a struggle, but El Dorado finally won its first Empire League game Thursday night, downing Cypress, 15-0, in front of 125 rain-drenched fans in Handel Stadium at Anaheim. Once, there were high expectations for the Golden Hawks as they entered the six-team league with a 5-0 record and a No. 5 ranking in the Orange County Sportswriters' Assn. poll. Among the five victories was an impressive 10-6 win over Valencia.

El Dorado High School's defense limited Troy to 81 total yards and quarterback Dan Sutherland threw two long touchdown passes to lead the Golden Hawks to a 20-0 victory Thursday night in nonleague play at Fullerton District Stadium. El Dorado, which dominated play for 48 minutes and didn't allow a first down in the second half, never let Troy quarterback David St. Clair get going. St. Clair, the senior who threw two touchdown passes and averaged 11.

Tyson DowDell, who had a baseball season to kill for in 1991, can only fidget and wait impatiently for '92 to begin. DowDell, a senior at El Dorado High School, was the Empire League co-most valuable player, hitting .400 with five home runs and 25 runs batted in last season. He also had an 8-1 record and a 2.10 earned-run average as a pitcher for the Golden Hawks, who were 20-7. In the summer, DowDell played first base for the West team during the Olympic Festival in Los Angeles. He hit .

For a championship baseball game, Thursday's Diamond Sports National Classic finale couldn't have produced a more dramatic ending. With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, Jack Colick of Encino Crespi hit a shallow fly ball to center fielder Adam Velez of Placentia El Dorado. Scott Heineman tagged at third base. "I was going no matter what," Heineman said. The throw reached catcher Drew Luther on one hop, just before Heineman tried to slide into home plate.

El Dorado 1992-93 RECORDS OVERALL: 7-18 LEAGUE: 1-8 COACH: RECORD AT SCHOOL Tim Tivenan: 0-0 RETURNING STARTERS: None TOP RETURNERS YR. HGT. P Jeff Moore Sr. 6-2 F Dante Spencer Sr. 6-4 F TOP NEWCOMERS YR. HGT. P Spencer Frost Sr. 5-10 G Tommy Knutson Sr. 6-1 F Dustin Miller Jr. 5-11 G Dan Simonsen Jr. 6-1 G Jim Walsh Jr. 6-3 F OUTLOOK Tivenan begins his first season with the Golden Hawks after seven successful seasons at El Modena. He was 100-76 and won four league titles with the Vanguards.

First they were on. Then off again. But El Dorado's Golden Hawks marching band is back on the circuit to perform at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Band members didn't show any hard feelings Tuesday toward the Olympic committee, which had wavered over the past few months on whether to let the Golden Hawks perform; they were too busy trying to rehearse and raise money for the once-in-a-lifetime trip this summer.

Placentia El Dorado on Saturday became one of the Southern Section's most unlikely softball champions. Twice beaten in the Empire League by rival La Palma Kennedy, facing a pitcher who had shut them out twice and had allowed only one run in her previous 129 innings, the Golden Hawks found a way to defeat Kennedy, 2-1, for the Division II title at Barber Memorial Park in Irvine. It is El Dorado's first championship since 1977, which was also its last appearance in a section final.

It was a victory that El Dorado needed and its big guns made sure it happened. Joe Turgeon scored on Brian Zurhellen's one-out double in the top of the seventh inning to break a tie and, one batter later, Brett Marro homered to break open the game as El Dorado beat Cypress, 7-4, in an Empire League game Wednesday at Cypress. "It's a huge win," El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. "If we lose this game, we're fighting for a playoff spot after only four [league] games, and that's scary.

The situation seemed dire for El Dorado, which trailed by two with a minute 22 seconds left to play in a Southern Section Division I-A third round game at Marina. The vocal Viking crowd made the prospect of a road victory even dimmer. But Evan Bull powered to the basket to tie the score and Mike Wulff hit a game-winning three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining and El Dorado escaped with a 59-54 victory.

First they were on. Then off again. But El Dorado's Golden Hawks marching band is back on the circuit to perform at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Band members didn't show any hard feelings Tuesday toward the Olympic committee, which had wavered over the past few months on whether to let the Golden Hawks perform; they were too busy trying to rehearse and raise money for the once-in-a-lifetime trip this summer.

El Dorado High's 27-12 victory over Canyon was far from perfect, but there were still plenty of bright spots for the Golden Hawks in their season opener Friday night at Valencia High. Senior running back Nick Zehner scored four touchdowns--one more than he had all last season--and rushed for 164 yards in 18 carries. Zehner and the Golden Hawks' running game flourished, producing 239 yards behind an offensive line led by returning starters Macky Bluth, Eric Rarey and Brad Roberts.

That bus ride to Placentia after a loss at La Mirada early last month wasn't a happy trip for the El Dorado softball team. With 10 experienced players, including eight starters, the Golden Hawks thought they had one of the best chances in recent school history to be among the top teams in the Southern Section. "It was very frustrating," pitcher Jill Jessen said. "We thought we would have a really successful team and here we were, having lost our first two games."

Terry Conley, who led El Dorado High School's basketball team to a 50-24 record and two Southern Section 3-A division playoff appearances in three seasons, has resigned. Conley, 37, said he decided to resign after a disagreement with officials in the Placentia Unified School District office. He would not expound. Conley served as an assistant for 11 years at El Dorado, then led the Golden Hawks to the co-championship of the Empire League in his first season as varsity coach in 1984-85.

El Dorado 1993 RECORDS: OVERALL: 14-12 LEAGUE: 8-7 COACH: Steve Gullotti RECORD AT SCHOOL: 231-106 RETURNING STARTERS YR. POS. B-T Trent Cuevas Jr. Inf R-R Benito Flores Sr. P/OF L-L Spencer Frost Sr. C/OF R-R Don Jamieson Jr. P R-R Jeff Moore Sr. P/1B R-L Glenn Posein Sr. P R-R Ryan Reyes Sr. OF L-R Jerry Weitzman Sr. P/OF R-R TOP RETURNER YR. POS. B-T Dave Perry Sr. P/Inf R-R TOP NEWCOMERS YR. POS. B-T Chris Beck Jr. P/Inf R-R Mike Castillo So. Inf L-R Jim Cox Jr. P/Inf R-R Eric LaGraffe Jr.

What do Bret Boone, Matt Luke, Phil Nevin and Brett Tomko have in common? In addition to being major leaguers, Boone, Luke, Nevin and Tomko played their high school baseball at El Dorado. Boone, a second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, was a standout infielder by his senior year in 1987.

As snubs go it was a minor one, but Kendall Benson and the El Dorado boys' water polo team took it personally. In the preseason Southern Section Division II coaches' poll, two-time defending Empire League champion El Dorado was ranked behind league rival Katella. "That was a total insult to us," Benson said. "We took that as an insult that the coaches would think that way." So he and fellow captain Robert Sellek called a team meeting.