WIN CAPS GREAT YEAR FOR AREA SPORTS.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE

The huge pile of Chatsworth High baseball players rolling around the mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday was an appropriate final image for the 2003-2004 high school sports year.

In a year of remarkable performances by teams and athletes we won't soon forget, it was only fitting that Chatsworth would put the final touch on such a memorable year.

After all, the Chancellors were celebrating their second City Championship in a row, a 7-1 victory over San Pedro to extend their winning streak to an astounding 50 games and wrap up their second national championship in a row.

Only a perfect season by a near flawless team could top what had happened over the previous nine months.

From the football teams at Hart of Newhall, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks and Westlake steamrolling through their seasons to win Southern Section Championships to the remarkable Jordan Farmar of Taft of Woodland Hills leading the Toreadors to their first-ever City basketball championship, this was a year of memorable performances.

But there was Chatsworth, its place in history permanently etched, ending things the right way: Perfectly.

With that scene still fresh in our minds, it's time to look back at a few of the most memorable people and moments of the past year.

Dylan Gaughen, Simi Valley baseball Four days before Chatsworth won the City Section title, Simi Valley captured its first Southern Section Div. I championship.

The Pioneers have Gaughen to thank.

In one of the most clutch postseason efforts in region history, Gaughen was a hitting and pitching sensation, saving the day on three different occasions to prod Simi Valley along.

He hit a two-out, sixth-inning grand slam to bring Simi Valley back from a three-run deficit in a 5-4 semifinal victory overSantiago of Corona 5-4. For good measure, he pitched three innings of relief to get the win.

In the first round against Atascadero, he struck out nine batters in a row after entering the game in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. In the quarterfinals against West Torrance, he struck out 14.

Gaughen will play next year at UNLV, but he'll never forget the two weeks he spent defying the odds to lead his team to a championship.

And neither will we.

Jordan Farmar, Taft basketball: Where do you begin to explain how dominating Farmar was for the Toreadors? The playoffs, that's where.

He had 29 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to lead Taft to a 64-63 victory over Dorsey in the City semifinals. In the finals against Fairfax, he had 29 points in a 64-60 victory to give the San Fernando Valley its first City title in 40 years.

Farmar, who now moves on to UCLA, didn't do it by himself - Matt Cook and Calvin Haynes come to mind - but the Toreadors were just another team without him.

``He led us to the championship,'' freshman Pierce Brooks said. ``He willed us to this win and this championship. There is no other way to describe it.''

Exactly.

Hart and Westlake football: The debate figures to rage on for years to come.

Who was better? Westlake finished the year 14-0, beat mighty St. Bonaventure of Ventura in the Div. IV championship game and sent seven players to Division I colleges. Hart overcame a rough beginning to the season to win the Div. II title.

Westlake will argue that it beat Hart this season on its way to the section championship.

The Warriors dismantled St. Bonaventure 28-6 in the title game, completing a perfect season in which they outscored opponents by 31.7 points per game.

Quarterback Rudy Carpenter quieted all the critics of his controversial transfer from Newbury Park to earn a scholarship to Arizona State.

In the championship game, USC-bound two-way standouts Michael Stuart and Jimmy Miller owned the line of scrimmage, with Miller sacking St. Bonaventure quarterback Brian Stevens two times and Stuart adding two sacks and a pass deflection that led to linebacker Greg Newman's interception.

On that night, it seemed unlikely anyone from the region was as good as Westlake.

Then the following night, Hart dismantled Mission Viejo in the Div. II title game, ending the Diablos' 41-game winning streak and making a clear case for being the best team in the region.

Hart did not have the overall talent of Westlake, but heady quarterback Sean Norton was such a clutch performer it's difficult to imagine him letting his team lose.

Norton controlled the championship game, at one point completing 14 consecutive passes and finishing 20 of 24 for 310 yards and three touchdowns.

For the season, he completed 239 of 360 passes (66.4 percent) for 4,036 yards and 44 touchdowns.

And how about wide receiver/defensive back Kevin Ciccone, who had 81 catches for 1,355 yards and tied for the area lead with 17 touchdown receptions?

In the championship game, he caught a touchdown pass, had an interception and held heralded Mission Viejo receiver Marty Tadman to two receptions.

Westlake or Hart?

Who was better?

Let's call it even and resume the argument next year.

Chatsworth baseball team: Think about it for a second. Fifty consecutive victories.

In baseball.

And it isn't like Chatsworth plays an easy schedule.

The Chancellors were practically flawless in the win over San Pedro in the championship game, but it was in the semifinals when they proved how good they really were.

Chatsworth trailed Kennedy of Granada Hills 7-0 in the fourth inning. Most teams would hang their heads at that point.

Not Chatsworth, which used the huge hole as a starting point for something fantastic rather then the end of a long winning streak.

Willie Cabrera got things starting with a solo home run. The Chancellors sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth, cutting the deficit to one run. The biggest blow was a bases-clearing double by Thomas Cassidy.

In the sixth, the Chancellors scored four times to take a three-run lead.

Just like that, they were back in control.

Great teams do that, and in a season of noteworthy accomplishments by memorable teams, Chatsworth was the best of all.

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Photo:

Willie Cabrera helped Chatsworth High's baseball team finish undefeated, capping a memorable year for the region in prep sports.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer