COC ROAD, HOME OPENERS LOOM TOUGH NO. 2 PASADENA, THEN NO. 1 PALOMAR.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Two weeks before the start of the season, College of the Canyons football coach Chuck Lyon fielded a question in his office about the opening two games on the Cougars' 2003 schedule.

``You look at that schedule and just shake your head,'' Lyon said. ``But if you're No. 1 in Southern California, that's the schedule you should be playing. No complaints, right?''

After winning its first Southern California championship last December, Canyons (10-2) was handed the toughest schedule in school history as reward. It starts tonight at 7 with the Cougars, ranked No. 3 in Southern California, playing at No. 2 Pasadena (8-3).

The game is rich in subplots, featuring two of the highest-scoring teams in all of junior college football and the return of Lyon to Pasadena, where he coached for one season in 1995. But there's no break waiting the following week, either.

In its first home game, on Sept. 13, Canyons will host Palomar (10-1), which opens the season ranked No. 1 in Southern California.

Two games that in JC football circles are akin to Oklahoma playing Miami (Fla.) and Ohio State back-to-back.

``It's a big test for us,'' said preseason All-America center Shawn Huntsinger. ``We still have a lot to prove no matter how good we were last year.''

Outside Lyon's office, the current Southern California rankings are posted, with Pasadena, Palomar and Canyons all highlighted at the top. The importance of the opening games is implicit.

``We're a good football team but we could be 0-2 in a heartbeat,'' Lyon said. ``We're playing great teams. We could be 2-0. You never know how good those guys will be.''

Canyons has opened with a loss in either the first or second week of the past two seasons. The team also has won 20 games and two Western State Conference titles during that span. But the Cougars challenge for the opening week is to replace two departed standouts.

A year ago, sophomore quarterback Kyle Bauer rewrote the school record book, passing for 3,109 yards and 36 touchdowns. Meanwhile, sophomore running back J.J. Arrington rushed for 769 yards and accounted for 23 touchdowns. Bauer now is at Weber State, and Arrington is playing for Cal.

In their place, two transfers from Ventura College will start tonight. Sophomore Jason Beck will take over at quarterback and Marcus Crawford at running back. They will be hard-pressed to match last year's offensive output, when the Cougars averaged 53.5 points per game.

``We are traditionally not a very good-starting team,'' Lyon said. ``We are learning and we play a lot of guys and we try to get better as we go along. That's kind of where it's at for me.''

Lyon said freshman quarterback Will Savage likely will miss the game after injuring his knee in a team scrimmage last Friday. The coach had been planning on splitting time between Beck and Savage.

In addition, Lyon said that although Crawford will start, three other running backs likely will see action tonight. The game also will mark the debut of Canyons' two new cornerbacks, transfer Kevin Jones and Roshawn Marshall, a former all-Florida player in high school.

Pasadena, meanwhile, returns its starting quarterback and running back from last season, when the team lost to Moorpark in the Potato Bowl and averaged 42.1 points per game. Quarterback Darnell LoVett hails from Fort Wayne, Ind., and running back Jerome Harrison came to the school from Kalamazoo, Mich.

LoVett passed for more than 1,100 yards and ran for more than 600. Harrison rushed for 1,033 yards and 10 touchdowns on 121 carries. He became only the 11th running back in school history - a group that includes Jackie Robinson - to top the 1,000-yard mark.

Lyon is familiar with the school, having coached Pasadena to a 4-6 record in 1995. He took over the job in May and left after the season for Long Beach City College. Tom Maher succeeded Lyon and is entering his eighth season at the school.

Neither team will have had the ability to do much preparation. With the regional playoffs expanding from two to eight teams, the start of the season was pushed back a week. State budget cuts then eliminated the preseason scrimmage for all schools.

``We didn't scrimmage, there's no film of them,'' Lyon said. ``That's not the way the game is supposed to be played. But it's not just us, everybody is in the same boat.''

No matter who wins, both teams know they could face the other again in November or December. Both figure to be among the eight teams selected to the playoffs.

``I think we'll see either Pasadena or Palomar,'' Huntsinger said. ``This could be the showdown.''

Ross Siler, [phone]

ross.siler(at)dailynews.com