Saint Bonaventure High School

All that remains is for Darrell Scott to sign his name. Scott, a star running back at Ventura St. Bonaventure High, is among the nation's top football prospects. He will sign a national letter of intent today, ending a college recruiting process that was understated by Internet-age standards. Unlike most top high school players who answer as many phone calls from information-hungry recruiting experts as they do from college coaches, Scott has mostly been mum.

A teacher at a Catholic high school in Ventura has pleaded not guilty to charges of having sex with a 17-year-old student several years ago, according to court records. John E. Statham, 55, entered the not guilty plea Tuesday during arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court. Statham, an English teacher and track coach at St. Bonaventure High School since 1994, is charged with two counts of oral copulation with a person under 18.

Many high schools go years without playing a football game in December, when only the best teams are left in the playoffs. Then there is Ventura St. Bonaventure, which seems to make nearly as many December appearances as that guy with the white beard and red suit. The Seraphs' 34-3 semifinal victory over Agoura on Friday night kept alive their pursuit of a fifth consecutive Southern Section title.

The Ventura St. Bonaventure football team, No. 13 in The Times' preseason rankings, will try to extend its winning streak to 43 games at 7:30 tonight when it plays Dos Palos, a small-school Central Section power, at Ventura High. St. Bonaventure, which won the Division IX title as a member of the Tri-Valley League last season, moves into the Division IV Channel League this season.

Brian Stevens passed for a school-record six touchdowns and wide receiver Whitney Lewis scored two touchdowns to lead Ventura St. Bonaventure High to a 52-0 victory over Dos Palos on Saturday night in season-opening football game at Ventura High. The win was the 43rd in a row for St. Bonaventure, the three-time defending Southern Section Division XI champion that was playing its first game in four years without record-breaking running back Lorenzo Booker. Booker is redshirting at Florida State.

Let the record show that 15-year-old sophomore cornerback, Ryan Wolfe of Newhall Hart, went toe to toe with speedy receiver Whitney Lewis of Ventura St. Bonaventure and came away Friday night feeling as if he were ready to conquer the world. "Wolfe is for real," Hart defensive coordinator Rick Herrington shouted after the Indians' secondary held Lewis to two receptions for 35 yards in a 31-6 rout Friday night at College of the Canyons before a sellout crowd of 9,000.

He has an exceptional combination of size, speed and strength, but the thing that distinguishes wide receiver and running back Whitney Lewis of Ventura St. Bonaventure is his approach to the game of football. Jon Mack, St. Bonaventure's coach, says that superb genetics have allowed the 6-foot-2, 218-pound Lewis to run a hand-timed 4.34 seconds in the 40 yard-dash, bench-press 305 pounds and squat 590. But he has extraordinary drive and determination.

Cinderella doesn't have a thing on the St. Bonaventure High softball team. Six weeks ago, not even the Seraphs expected to attend the Big Dance. They were too busy bickering among themselves and struggling to stay above .500. A handful of defensive changes later and . . . poof. As if covered in magic stardust, the Seraphs are enjoying the most unlikely run through the playoffs of any team in recent memory. "It's been seriously like a miracle season," first baseman Shannon Fink said.

"Big kick, hard hit; big kick, hard hit; big kick, hard hit." Right on cue, after the national anthem and before the opening kickoff, Kathy Mack's mouth goes into action. As her blond ponytail bobs up and down while she paces along the railing in white sneakers at Ventura High's stadium, she screams, yells, pleads and cajoles with a piercing verbal barrage directed at St. Bonaventure football players. It goes on and on, until the final second of the final play.

Bobby Otani would have fit in perfectly with the ancient ritual of a Samurai laying down his sword at the end of battle. Otani, an inside linebacker for St. Bonaventure High, fancies himself a modern-day warrior in the tradition of the Samurai he has tattooed on his biceps to honor his Japanese heritage. His partner is fellow inside linebacker David Garza. The two grew up a few doors from each other in north Oxnard and have known each other since they were 5. They've been side by side at St.