Oaks Christian football coach is in tough spot

Is Bill Redell in a pickle or what?

The venerable coach and master of marketing at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) intimated after his team's 33-32 victory over St. Bonaventure-Ventura that Trevor Gretzky would remain the starting quarterback for the Lions. When you're nicknamed "Celebrity High", having the son of the NHL's Great One as the starting quarterback is a smart idea.

The problem is that after losing the opener to Alemany while scoring only one offensive touchdown (Gretzky's 18-yard carry) and trailing 19-0 at halftime against St. Bonny, backup Richie Harrington entered the game and threw four touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Lions to victory.

"Harrington obviously showed he can play, and we would have no trouble going to him again if we can't move the ball, but Gretzky is still the starter," Redell told the Los Angeles Daily News earlier this week, noting that the two seniors are splitting reps in practice. "Normally it would be 80-20, but now it's closer to 50-50."

What's a coach to do, especially one who auctioned off a sideline pass for the Westlake-Oaks Christian game in two weeks and the winning bidder – who took it for $6,000 – was Janet Gretzky, Trevor's mom. It's unlikely she got it so that she could stand next to her son watching Harrington play (although I am guessing the Gretzkys do have a fair amount of disposable income).

Tricky situation indeed.

Redell called this win one of the greatest comeback victories in Oaks Christian history, but probably should go one bigger: It's one of the greatest victories, period, even surpassing the epic 59-13 blowout of St. Bonaventure in 2006. Oaks Christian had easy opponents and a bye week prior to that historic game, but this victory came without a bye, came after playing a credible and equitable opponent the week beforehand, and it came over a St. Bonny team coming off a victory over Long Beach Poly. No question that this victory exceeds the one four years ago, and likely all other victories before it.

WHERE DID THAT, THAT AND THAT COME FROM?
Everyone knows that games aren't played on paper. Ultimately, you have to play the game. And on any given day, any team can win. Some of the outcomes that emerged from the weekend's games weren't huge surprises.

It was the scores that were stunning.

A week after losing a turnover-plagued game to Tesoro, Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) drop-kicked Carson – which opened the season with a victory over Mater Dei and appeared to be one of the City Section's leading contenders – by a 56-14 count. It's the second time the Eagles scored 56 points, but no one was confusing their first opponent, Diamond Ranch-Pomona, with Carson.

The jumps in level of play at Santa Margarita, which is adjusting to first-year coach Harry Welch (who has won two CIF State Bowl championships with different teams), are likely to be larger rather than smaller as players buy-in and/or mature enough to execute what he wants. Quarterback Adam Young and running back Ryan Wolpin did much of the damage: Young passed for 121 yards and three touchdowns, and Wolpin rushed for 113 yard, ran in two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass as the Eagles built a 42-7 lead by halftime. It was the most surprising score of the weekend.

Tustin made its mark on Orange Lutheran in 2005 when the Tillers upset second-seeded Lutheran 42-23 in the first round of the Southern Secion playoffs; the following season that group of Lutheran juniors won the Pac-5 and Division II State Bowl championship. Two years ago, Lutheran – which went to the Pac-5 semifinals – escaped with a 10-0 victory.

Over the weekend, Tustin's double-wing was flying high as the Tillers rushed for 473 yards, including 170 by Tyler Siudzinski and 147 by Diego Mendoza, in a 46-29 victory. This was a Lutheran team that held La Habra – before standout quarterback Cody Clements got hurt – to just 17 points.

Centennial (Corona) delivered one of the worst beatings of the Bruce Rollinson era when his Mater Dei (Santa Ana) squad was beaten by the Huskies, 44-13. It was 37-0 at halftime and eventually 44-0 as Michael Eubank and Barrinton Collins had a field day. Eubank passed for two touchdowns and ran for three, and accounted for 380 yards of offense. Collins rushed for 160. It was complete and total domination.

Coincidentally, all three of those games included teams from the highly-touted Trinity League – and two of them lost.

WRESTLING COACH DIES SUDDENLY
Kent "K.J." Bentley, who coached Woodbridge (Irvine) wrestling for 12 seasons, died Monday of heart disease while in his classroom. The popular coach and English teacher was discovered by a colleague with whom he often ate lunch but checked on him after failing to appear; attempts to revive him failed.

The Orange County Coroner determined Tuesday that Bentley, who wrestled with his athletes and otherwise appeared fit, had clogged arteries. He was 46.

MISSION VIEJO WITHOUT MADDEN
Tre Madden, the outstanding linebacker and the seemingly unstoppable force at quarterback in Mission Viejo's wildcat offense, will miss the next few weeks because of fractured foot. It won't be easy on the Diablos while he's gone. They play Long Beach Poly this week, Carson the next and Redlands East Valley after that.

Madden told the Orange County Register he expects to be ready for the league opener on Oct. 15 against Dana Hills.

SOUTHERN SECTION HAS A NEW RIDE
The CIF-Southern Section has switched title sponsors for its championship. The sanctioning body has traded in Toyota for Ford. Such sponsorship accounts for about 20 percent of the operating budget, and the Southern California Ford Dealers Assn., will now be contractually included in the CIF-Southern Section Ford Championships presented by Farmers.

THREE DOTS AND A CLOUD OF DUST
Dennis Taylor of Kaiser (Fontana) returned a fumble for a touchdown, caught a pass for another, and intercepted a pass in the end zone as the Cats shut out Riverside North, 28-0. Kaiser had been shut out itself for three of the past four seasons by North. ... B.J. Lee, a West Covina junior, carried six times for 126 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-27 victory over rival South Hills. That's 21 yards per carry. ... Montclair Prep (Van Nuys) committed eight turnovers and, despite outgaining its opponent by 350 yards, lost 25-24 to Vasquez (Acton). ... Chadwick (Palos Verdes Peninsula) and Los Angeles Baptist (North Hills) turned up the offense and turned off the defense as the teams combined for more than 1,000 yards and 127 points in Chadwick's 68-59 victory. Hank Trumbull led the way with as he threw for 337 yards and five touchdowns, and Chudi Iregbulem rushed for 233 yards and three touchdowns, and added a fourth on an 85-yard kickoff return. All told, Chadwick outgained Baptist 606-460 and the teams combined for 18 touchdowns – an average of one touchdown every 2 minutes, 40 seconds. ... Erick Martinez forced two fumbles and returned them 64 and 75 yards for touchdowns, and also caught a pass for another score as Poly (Sun Valley) scored a 43-20 victory over San Fernando. ... Poly (Riverside) fullback Troy Cannon is out for the season after breaking his leg in a 29-20 loss to Arlington-Riverside.

RECRUITING NEWS
Isaac Neilsen, a 6-10 center at Mission Viejo, has committed to Brigham Young to play men's basketball. ... Ryan Anderson, a 6-8 forward at Long Beach Poly, committed to Boston College.

Martin Henderson began covering Southland preps in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times. He contributes to the Orange County Register, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun, and offers up motorsports opinions at Racescribe.com. You can reach him at southlandpreps@yahoo.com.