VALENCIA HIGH INVITED TO NIKE PASSING CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM JOINS TOURNEY CHAMP HART.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON

Valencia High's football team has been added to the fourth annual Nike 7-on-7 Passing Championships on Friday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, joining a prestigious eight-team field that includes rival and reigning tournament champ Hart.

Also playing are annual powers Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, Mission Viejo and Long Beach Poly.

The Nike fest, which comes during the final weekend before most programs take a three-week summer break, is among the nation's elite passing tournaments.

At first, organizer Greg Biggins said he was hesitant to invite back Valencia, which participated last year, because star quarterback Michael Herrick graduated and is now at Mississippi. But with one spot remaining, Valencia's status improved last weekend with its championship victory at the large-scale Bonita High tournament in La Verne.

Juniors Jimmy Baughman and Graham Wilbert have been sharing quarterback duties for Valencia, which returns standout running back Shane Vereen, who's an All-America candidate.

Hart also has performed well this summer, winning a competitive tournament at Edison High in Huntington Beach on Saturday. Alex Pettee, a returning senior who passed for 536 yards and six touchdowns as a reserve last season, is the new quarterback. Pettee has staved off competition from promising junior B.R. Holbrook.

``Alex is the No. 1 quarterback right now, but we'll see what happens when we put the pads on,'' Hart coach Mike Herrington said.

Trevor Habberstad, a top track athlete at Canyon High as a junior last season, won the decathlon at the regional championships of the USATF Multi-Event Junior Olympic Championships at Home Depot last month, qualifying for the 40th USATF National Championships in Baltimore on July 25-30.

Habberstad, who's top event at Canyon was the hurdles, came back from second place after the first day, finishing with a time of 4 minutes, 59 seconds in the 1500 meters and 14.78 in the 110 hurdles. He also long jumped 20-10 and high jumped 5-7.

Castaic is the Santa Clarita Valley's last Little League team still alive in the District 40 tournament in Woodland Hills. After an opening 23-0 loss to Sherman Oaks, the 11- and 12- year-olds have staved off elimination by defeating Pacoima 9-8 on Friday, followed by an 11-0 victory over Frazier Mountain on Sunday.

Castaic (2-1) was scheduled to face Mission Hills (1-1) late Tuesday. Canyon Country West and Canyon Country East have been eliminated. The remaining participants are Northridge, Sherman Oaks, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills and San Fernando. The district champion qualifies for the Section 2 tournament in Sierra Madre, followed by the Southern California Divisionals, the Western Regionals and the Little League World Series.

Former Hart football standout linebacker Peter Dubsky is playing semi-pro football for the Santa Clarita Knights, coming off a 26-15 loss Saturday to the California Longhorns in the first preseason game.

Brandon King, a former Simi Valley High assistant football coach, is a leading candidate to join Canyon High football staff as a replacement for key assistant Scott Blade, who has resigned.

But there are some snags, so for now head coach Harry Welch is waiting for things to be sorted out.

``Brandon is terrific and he would be a great asset, but there are some political things in the district,'' Welch said. ``He would like to be here.''

Stay tuned.

It's hard not to notice just about every Hart High football player has the same short haircut.

``They're `encouraged' to have short hair, and when it gets too long in the coaches' opinion, they're quick to remind them,'' said Sharon Eyrich, mother of promising junior Tyler Eyrich.

``It's funny because many of the baseball players at Hart have long hair, so the few that play both sports like Tyler cut their hair for football and then start to grow it out the day the football season ends so it's not too short for baseball.''