Zack Hernandez

The new look to Cal Lutheran's football team isn't confined to the the team's first-year head coach, Scott Squires. The Kingsmen will sport recently redesigned headgear in their opener against the University of San Diego tonight at 7 in San Diego. Cal Lutheran's helmets used to be solid gold. The new look includes lances and a knight's armored face mask above each earflap. The design is the work of Tim Hengst, a medical illustrator and Cal Lutheran graduate who lives in Thousand Oaks.

While the Cal State Northridge football team practiced Thursday, two fires broke out within a few hundred yards of the practice field. No one connected with the football team was hurt. To the contrary, the fire might have helped, Coach Dave Baldwin said. "There were helicopters flying right over us just as we were doing a two-minute drill," Baldwin said. "It helped us with crowd control."

There was an air show going on at the Kennedy High football stadium Saturday night and no one enjoyed it more than the pilot himself--L.A. Baptist High quarterback Zack Hernandez. Hernandez completed 25 of 39 passes for 336 yards and a touchdown to help the Knights beat rival Village Christian, 31-18, and clinch the Alpha League title. It was the regular-season finale for L.A. Baptist (9-0, 3-0 in league play), which has a bye this week, and the Knights' first league title in football.

In a game that was never close, Valley College unleashed its high-power passing attack to beat Mt. San Jacinto, 44-21, in a nonconference game Saturday night at Monarch Stadium. Aaron Flowers, a sophomore transfer from Utah State, completed 20 of 32 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown for the Monarchs. Valley (2-0) was not threatened by a Mt. San Jacinto team that generated no offense until the fourth quarter. The Monarchs kept Mt.

Cal Lutheran could not overcome six missed field-goal attempts and fell to Pacific Lutheran, 20-14, in double overtime Saturday in a nonconference game before 3,100 at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup, Wash. The Kingsmen (1-1) capped a 67-yard drive on a one-yard touchdown run by Dorian Stitt with 56 seconds to play in regulation to pull within 14-13. Ryan Geisler's extra point forced overtime.

L.A. Baptist '93 RECORD OVERALL LEAGUE 19-6 10-2 * COACH YEAR Mark Bates 4th * TOP RETURNEES YR POS Matt Hernandez Sr. RHP Ryan O'Connell Sr. C Zack Hernandez Sr. SS Dana Berg Sr. CF Nate Laufer Sr. RHP Trenton Mooney Sr. 1B Chad Ruffner Sr. OF Matt Barker Sr. 2B Jeff Baumsteiger Sr. 3B Greg Wells Sr. LHP * TOP NEWCOMERS YR POS Marc Lacson Jr. C Tony Marek Jr. 1B Matt Beck Sr. OF OUTLOOK With 10 starters returning, L.A.

Defending champions: Division X--Big Bear. Division XI--Templeton. Top teams: Division X--Los Angeles Baptist (9-0), Ontario Christian (8-2), Brethren Christian (8-2), Bishop Union (9-0-1). Division XI--Boron (10-0), Templeton (7-3), Hamilton (7-2) and Mammoth (7-3). Dark horses: Division X--Cerritos Valley Christian (7-3). A strong at-large team. Division XI--Southern California Christian (7-2). The Flames gave up only 16 points in their last three games.

Civility lives at Cal Lutheran, where Saturday the home crowd was asked by the public address announcer to "Please rise and give a warm welcome to our opponents, the University of San Diego Toreros." Scott Squires coaches the Kingsmen with a measure of etiquette as well. A starter doesn't lose his job unless he really deserves it. For example, not until Ryan Geisler missed eight consecutive field-goal attempts the last three weeks was he finally replaced by Mark Kevern.

Make yourself at home. Cal Lutheran football coaches have exhorted their players to do it all year long. The result was a perfect home season that the Kingsmen wrapped up with a 38-31 victory over La Verne in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game Saturday at Mt. Clef Stadium. "We've made a point of emphasizing this," Coach Scott Squires said. "We're trying to build something here.