HIGH SCHOOLS: CAMPBELL HALL AT EASE ON BIG STAGE.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON

GITTELSON BITS

SACRAMENTO - How relaxed and loose was the Campbell Hall of North Hollywood boys' basketball team heading into its 70-34 victory Saturday over Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa to win the CIF Div. IV state championship?

About as carefree as a team can be, considering the scope of the event.

"When we first drove up, I said to the kids, 'Wow, there's Arco Arena,'" coach Terry Kelly said afterward. "And (point guard) Robert Ford says, 'It's just another game.' I had to eat my words because he was right."

All 12 players got into the act for Campbell Hall, even though a running clock was implemented in the final minutes because of a state-mandated mercy rule.

It was Campbell Hall's third game at a large arena this season, which began in November and has stretched through six weeks of playoff competition as the Vikings roared through the Southern Section divisionals, the Southern Section regionals and, finally, the CIF Div. IV state championship.

"I look back now and it seems like the season has gone by so fast," Ford said. "We just kept playing as hard as we could every game, all the way to the state championship."

Campbell Hall has traveled so much that staying in a hotel isn't a big deal anymore.

"We've been on the road 17 days this season, so our kids are used to it," Kelly said. "We did a bed check last night, and every kid was asleep, so that was easy."

Campbell Hall stuck to its usual routine Friday with a shootaround, which was highlighted by a one-on-one game between Kelly and guard Dallas Rutherford.

"I challenged him, and I beat him 7-6," Kelly said.

A luxury coach filled with Campbell Hall students hit the road at 2 a.m. Saturday for Sacramento, but it wasn't the party bus some expected.

"We were all exhausted, so a lot of us slept," senior Katarina Reveche said. "We just played some movies, and hardly anyone stayed up all night, I don't think. It was pretty peaceful."

By the way, Reveche, a top tennis player, is headed to Wake Forest.

Cardinal Newman first gained notice in local circles in December by almost upsetting high-powered Oaks Christian of Westlake Village's football team in the CIF state Div. III championship in Carson, losing 27-20 in overtime, an outcome that was much closer than expected.

To challenge Campbell Hall in basketball would have been equally surprising -- threeCardinal Newman players participate in both sports -- so was coach Kelly concerned?

"Nah, we didn't even pay attention to that," he said.

Campbell Hall's 33 victories ranks No. 2 all-time among area schools behind Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, which won 35 in 1997.

In 2005, Campbell Hall finished 32-0 and won a state title for the first time.

Campbell Hall, Harvard-Westlake and Montclair Prep of Panorama City are the area's only boys' programs to win a state title.

A running clock was implemented in the fourth quarter once Campbell Hall's lead stretched to 40 points -- a mercy rule that's supposed to protect the losing team -- but Cardinal Newman coach Russ Gardiner didn't like it.

"It makes it hard, because I wanted everyone to play and not to just be on the court for 30seconds," he said. "It is what it is, and I don't disagree with it, but it's hard when you put yourself in the position of a player."

Perhaps the only ones more confident than Campbell Hall's players were their parents, many of whom bought plane tickets at the beginning of the season in anticipation of making it all the way to Sacramento.

"I couldn't even get on the 6:30 flight going home because the parents bought up all the tickets," Kelly said.

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