BORNN RIDES OUT TOUGH FIRST YEAR.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON Community Sports

With powerful Canyon High next up for the Saugus football team in both teams' regular-season finale Friday, it appears likely Saugus will finish the year with seven consecutive losses.

And that means the Centurions will end up with a record of 2-8 for the second consecutive season.

On the surface, it doesn't look like first-year coach Jason Bornn has made much of an impact, even though ``immediate improvement'' was an important expectation, according to members of Bornn's hiring committee.

But in Bornn's defense, he signed on just three weeks before the first day of practice, inherited a program markedly less talented than other Foothill League teams, and he still doesn't have an offensive or defensive coordinator.

That said, it won't be as easy to stand up for Bornn if Saugus doesn't improve next season. The fact starting quarterback Travis Babin will return for a third year on varsity is reason enough to expect more victories - or at least more respectable losses, as six of this season's defeats have been by eight points or more - even if Babin's supporting cast has to be built from scratch.

At least Bornn's players haven't quit on him. Bornn, the former Muir of Pasadena coach, is impressed with the Centurions' level of commitment during trying times.

``I've been so pleased with the kids' effort. We're getting as much effort as we can get,'' Bornn said. ``The other teams have simply been bigger and physically better than us. If the other team's X's are better than our O's, there's really not a lot I can do. (The coaches) can't play the game for the them. We can only keep on going back to fundamentals like tackling and catching the football. Last week, the touchdowns Hart scored against us came on plays we had worked on 100 times in practice.''

Bornn won't criticize former Saugus coach Ron Hilton directly, but it was clear to Bornn from the outset that winning games would be a difficult, if not impossible, task this season.

``I don't know what they were doing here last year,'' Bornn said. ``Let's just say I've had to do a lot of things all over again that I wasn't expecting.''

--Valencia High football standout Geoff Tisdale was mistakenly not credited in the Daily News for an interception he returned for a touchdown against Burbank last week. The interception was especially significant because it was Tisdale's 10th of the season, tying the single-season Foothill League record set by Hart's Matt Moore in 2000.

--Speaking of Valencia football, four players - Shane Morales, Wes Middleton, Jeff Bomberger and Chris Wright - eventually could total 50 receptions or more in what is developing into a remarkably balanced corps.

All have at least 37 catches with a minimum of two games remaining - three if Valencia advances past the first round of the Southern Section Div. II playoffs.

``We've definitely never had a group of receivers like this. They're very unselfish and they know everything will balance out in the end,'' coach Brian Stiman said.

--It's been reported by more than one publication that Canyon football player Louis Montano, who scored six touchdowns last week to give him 26 this season, has broken Chris Peery's 1989 school record of 24 in a season. But Peery's record is actually 27 (a record 24 rushing TDs plus three additional scores), so Montano still needs one more touchdown to tie.

--Valencia High baseball standout Matt Aidem is off to another good start. He hit a long home run against Chatsworth's Jason Dominguez in the first Winter League game Saturday at Alemany High in Mission Hills. Dominguez has committed to Pepperdine and is considered one of the state's top pitchers.

--Hart High has ironed out its nonleague football schedule for next season. After an opening scrimmage against visiting South Bakersfield, Hart will play road games at Moorpark in Week 1, Westlake in Week 3 and Loyola of Los Angeles in Week 5. Hart's home games will be against St. Bonaventure of Ventura and Birmingham of Lake Balboa.

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First-year Saugus coach Jason Bornn has kept his head up during the Centurions' struggles this year.

David Crane/Staff Photographer