CANOGA COACH LUGO LOVES HIS SCRAPPY `KIDS'.Byline: Patrick Hipes Daily News Staff Writer Canoga Park football coach Rudy Lugo pauses and crosses his arms when asked what makes the 1997 Hunters team special. His gaze takes in the entire practice field on this day, just more than 48 hours before Canoga Park finds out just how good it is - playing host to perennial power Sylmar on Friday in a game that will decide the best team in the Valley Pac-8 Conference. Finally, with a hint of carefulness that has come from 29 years on the Hunters sideline sideline See on the sidelines. (11 as head coach), comes the answer. ``The one thing about this team is that they love to play football,'' he said. ``They're still like kids putting on the uniforms for the first time.'' The operative word - and the one that makes people pause when the Hunters (6-2, 5-0) are thought of as part of the conference elite - is kids. Lugo is the first to admit Canoga Park is a young team. Last season, the Hunters finished 7-5, 5-2 in conference play before losing in the 3-A quarterfinals to North Hollywood. Canoga Park had senior leadership then - quarterback Brian Hickman threw for more than 1,700 yards, mostly to wide receiver Kevin Carlsen, who caught 18 touchdown passes. Now, players like sophomore quarterback Michael Spangle span·gle n. 1. A small, often circular piece of sparkling metal or plastic sewn especially on garments for decoration. 2. A small sparkling object, drop, or spot: spangles of sunlight. are being thrust into lead roles. He and junior John Hernandez have thrown for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns between them. It makes for a dangerous alternative to senior tailback tail·back n. Football The back on an offensive team who lines up farthest from the line of scrimmage. tailback Noun Brit a queue of traffic stretching back from an obstruction Junior Galvan, the Hunters' version of Pittsburgh Steelers
Galvan surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the second consecutive season last week at Reseda. He's caught a team-leading 19 passes for 265 yards and has a team-high eight touchdowns. ``We have some kids that are very talented,'' Lugo said. ``Junior will even jump on the scout offense or defense to help us out.'' Lugo has seen his team grow as the season has progressed. In week three, Canoga Park lost 55-7 to then-ranked El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
v. pon·dered, pon·der·ing, pon·ders v.tr. To weigh in the mind with thoroughness and care. v.intr. To reflect or consider with thoroughness and care. a long year. ``These kids never gave up,'' Lugo said. ``When we got beat by ECR ECR Efficient Consumer Response ECR European Congress of Radiology ECR Electron Cyclotron Resonance ECR El Camino Real (Kings Highway; California) ECR Electronic Cash Register ECR East Coast Radio (South Africa) . . . we got beat by a lot . . . it was bad. But these guys come back and win five in a row.'' The wins were close and hard-fought. After edging Grant 14-13 in the conference opener, Canoga Park beat North Hollywood, Poly, Van Nuys and Reseda to reach Friday's big game. That it comes against a Sylmar team that has allowed just 14 points in conference play is not lost on Lugo, but then again his team was supposed to be too young and too small when the season began. And besides, said the coach, his team is having too much fun to think about its chances against the Spartans. |
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