Jim Benkert

From the day Jim Benkert walked to the front of the Westlake High theater and introduced himself to skeptical parents and players 11 years ago, he has bucked the stereotype of a football coach. No crooked nose. No gruffness. No oversized muscles gone soft. The blond Benkert looked more like Dennis the Menace than Don Shula. No one was thinking Boy Wonder. "They all figured I'd be a one-year wonder," Benkert said. Looks deceive.

Hold off on the coronation of Anaheim Servite as Southern California's No. 1 football team and the likely representative against Concord De La Salle in next month's Open Division bowl game at the Home Depot Center. The Westlake Warriors are 10-0 and stating their case week after week that they deserve to be in the mix for No. 1. With junior running back Dashon Hunt rushing for 187 yards in 16 carries and scoring two touchdowns, Westlake Village Westlake knocked off Ventura St. Bonaventure, 35-14, on Thursday night to win the Marmonte League championship at Moorpark College.

Hold off on the coronation of Anaheim Servite as Southern California's No. 1 football team and the likely representative against Concord De La Salle in next month's Open Division bowl game at the Home Depot Center. The Westlake Warriors are 10-0 and stating their case week after week that they deserve to be in the mix for No. 1. With junior running back Dashon Hunt rushing for 187 yards in 16 carries and scoring two touchdowns, Westlake Village Westlake knocked off Ventura St. Bonaventure, 35-14, on Thursday night to win the Marmonte League championship at Moorpark College.

Westlake Coach Jim Benkert spent three sleepless nights wondering whether his team was ready. He said that usually doesn't happen before games, but then the Warriors' Marmonte League showdown against Oaks Christian on Friday night wasn't your usual high school football game. It was the first meeting between the two schools that are separated by less than a mile, a matchup of a head coach (Oaks Christian's Bill Redell ) versus his former assistant (Benkert), and a sold-out crowd of more than 6,000 was expected.

Jim Benkert smiled. For once, he wasn't the one getting soaked by ice water after the game. That honor, if it can be called that, was bestowed upon defensive coordinator Mike Leiben of Westlake High, who was shivering but smiling because his defense stymied Royal during a 33-15 victory. The Warriors held Royal to 192 yards--only 40 on the ground--and all but wrapped up a second consecutive Marmonte League championship Friday night at Royal.

Call it a kinetic anomaly. That's what happens when receiver Nelson Spruce of Westlake Village Westlake decides to twist, turn or contort his body, then somehow make a catch while defying gravity. He's always doing something to counter the defender when the ball is in motion, whether that means slowing up, speeding up or changing directions. "It's an ability to adjust to the football without the defensive back having an opportunity to make a play," Coach Jim Benkert said.

OFFENSE *--* Pos. Name School Yr. Ht. Wt. B James Bethea Cleveland Sr. 5-11 180 B Curtis Brown Paraclete So. 6-0 170 B Matthew Hicks North Hollywood Sr. 5-11 200 B John Sciarra St. Francis Jr. 6-2 185 B Jason Winn Granada Hills Sr. 6-2 185 B Ruben Zaragoza Kennedy Sr. 5-10 150 R Steve Carballo Crescenta Valley Sr. 5-10 170 R Nathan Steele Saugus Sr. 6-1 170 L Chris Burgess Notre Dame Sr. 6-1 260 L Rusty Colburn Crescenta Valley Sr. 6-5 275 L Brook Emelio Alemany Sr.

Percolating with the supercharged subplot of a cross-town rivalry, Thousand Oaks' 25-21 victory over top-ranked Westlake before an overflow crowd of 8,000 was a game the players will never forget. Yet its aftermath was especially revealing of the coaches, Mike Kelly of Thousand Oaks and Jim Benkert of Westlake. Moments after the momentous victory on Friday, the Lancers inexplicably made a mad dash for the locker room. "Hey, where are you going?," Kelly yelled. "Stay here and enjoy it!"

Debate continues to rage among sports fans in Southern California about what transpired in the final minute of the USC-UCLA football game. Was it appropriate for UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel to call a timeout with 54 seconds left after USC took a knee leading, 21-7? Did USC Coach Pete Carroll make the right call to let quarterback Matt Barkley throw a 48-yard touchdown pass on the next play? Was the taunting from players just part of a rivalry game? Michael Josephson, who runs the Josephson Institute and created the "Character Counts" movement in high school sports competition, said, "I think this is sort of a sideshow.

When they said Coach Gene Uebelhardt pulled one out, they weren't kidding. Right from his back pocket. The year was 1990. To make the playoffs, Royal High needed at least a tie against perennially powerful Thousand Oaks in its final Marmonte League football game. And with 13 seconds left, Royal needed something close to a miracle. The Highlanders, trailing by seven points, had the ball at their own 35-yard-line, fourth-down, 10 yards to go. On the sideline, Uebelhardt reached back and . . . fished for his notes on a play that his team had practiced only once--earlier that evening, just before they boarded the bus. Quarterback Ryan Fien faded back and lofted a short pass to tight end Carlos Gonzales, who had settled behind a wall of blockers behind the line of scrimmage.

There was a time last summer when it seemed as if Westlake was not merely just a year away but perhaps not capable of getting there. The Warriors had only three returning starters on each side of the ball. Their defensive line was composed of two sophomores and two juniors with no varsity experience. "We didn't have any leadership on defense at all," Coach Jim Benkert said. Fortunately for Westlake, direction wasn't a problem when it came to coaching. The Times' coach of the year shifted hard-hitting senior Adrian Muguerza from free safety to linebacker before the season and instantly, Benkert said, "we were a better football team."

Debate continues to rage among sports fans in Southern California about what transpired in the final minute of the USC-UCLA football game. Was it appropriate for UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel to call a timeout with 54 seconds left after USC took a knee leading, 21-7? Did USC Coach Pete Carroll make the right call to let quarterback Matt Barkley throw a 48-yard touchdown pass on the next play? Was the taunting from players just part of a rivalry game? Michael Josephson, who runs the Josephson Institute and created the "Character Counts" movement in high school sports competition, said, "I think this is sort of a sideshow.

Call it a kinetic anomaly. That's what happens when receiver Nelson Spruce of Westlake Village Westlake decides to twist, turn or contort his body, then somehow make a catch while defying gravity. He's always doing something to counter the defender when the ball is in motion, whether that means slowing up, speeding up or changing directions. "It's an ability to adjust to the football without the defensive back having an opportunity to make a play," Coach Jim Benkert said.

Jim Benkert smiled. For once, he wasn't the one getting soaked by ice water after the game. That honor, if it can be called that, was bestowed upon defensive coordinator Mike Leiben of Westlake High, who was shivering but smiling because his defense stymied Royal during a 33-15 victory. The Warriors held Royal to 192 yards--only 40 on the ground--and all but wrapped up a second consecutive Marmonte League championship Friday night at Royal.

OFFENSE *--* Pos. Name School Yr. Ht. Wt. B James Bethea Cleveland Sr. 5-11 180 B Curtis Brown Paraclete So. 6-0 170 B Matthew Hicks North Hollywood Sr. 5-11 200 B John Sciarra St. Francis Jr. 6-2 185 B Jason Winn Granada Hills Sr. 6-2 185 B Ruben Zaragoza Kennedy Sr. 5-10 150 R Steve Carballo Crescenta Valley Sr. 5-10 170 R Nathan Steele Saugus Sr. 6-1 170 L Chris Burgess Notre Dame Sr. 6-1 260 L Rusty Colburn Crescenta Valley Sr. 6-5 275 L Brook Emelio Alemany Sr.

From the day Jim Benkert walked to the front of the Westlake High theater and introduced himself to skeptical parents and players 11 years ago, he has bucked the stereotype of a football coach. No crooked nose. No gruffness. No oversized muscles gone soft. The blond Benkert looked more like Dennis the Menace than Don Shula. No one was thinking Boy Wonder. "They all figured I'd be a one-year wonder," Benkert said. Looks deceive.

There was a time last summer when it seemed as if Westlake was not merely just a year away but perhaps not capable of getting there. The Warriors had only three returning starters on each side of the ball. Their defensive line was composed of two sophomores and two juniors with no varsity experience. "We didn't have any leadership on defense at all," Coach Jim Benkert said. Fortunately for Westlake, direction wasn't a problem when it came to coaching. The Times' coach of the year shifted hard-hitting senior Adrian Muguerza from free safety to linebacker before the season and instantly, Benkert said, "we were a better football team."

Unfortunately for Moorpark High, this reunion didn't include submarine sandwiches, a friendly game of volleyball and lots of chitchat. It did involve two coaches--Tim Lins of Moorpark and Jim Benkert of Westlake--who were on the same field for the first time since they were assistants at Crespi in 1988. It also included a 46-0 rout by Westlake, which shut out a Marmonte League opponent for the second consecutive week, Friday at Moorpark.

Unfortunately for Moorpark High, this reunion didn't include submarine sandwiches, a friendly game of volleyball and lots of chitchat. It did involve two coaches--Tim Lins of Moorpark and Jim Benkert of Westlake--who were on the same field for the first time since they were assistants at Crespi in 1988. It also included a 46-0 rout by Westlake, which shut out a Marmonte League opponent for the second consecutive week, Friday at Moorpark.

When Jim Benkert shows up for his 25-year high school reunion in 2001, he might want to keep the events of Friday night under wraps. The Westlake High coach returned to his alma mater, El Camino Real, and despite superior talent on his squad, endured a rough three quarters in a confusing, almost surreal nonleague football game that offered quirky game-clock operating and officiating.