University City Makes Points

In a football season starving for offense, University City has gotten fat from its first two games.

First, there was a 49-0 victory over Hoover during which UC set a school record for points and recorded its first shutout since 1986. Then on Friday, the Centurions routed Serra, 48-0.

No other team has scored more than 47 points in a game or more than 70 in two games.

“There have been entire seasons, I believe, where we haven’t scored 97 points,” said UC Coach Steve Vukojevich, whose name is pronounced “Coach V.”

And Coach V, the only coach in UC’s 11-year history, was right. As recently as 1987, UC scored only 89 points in a 1-7-1 year. UC was outscored, 153-139, last year before losing to San Marcos, 50-21, in the first round of the 2-A playoffs and finishing 5-5.

Things are obviously different this fall.

So far, Paul Turner has scored six touchdowns, Ed Miller three, Greg Russell two and Chico Zappia one. Last May, those four represented University City’s 400-meter relay team at the state track and field meet.

Quarterback Daranzol Sheppard has also been, in Vukojevich’s words, “very productive.”

Sheppard has completed 15 of 20 attempts and six of them have resulted in touchdowns. In addition, his quarterback rating is 283.2, 114.7 points better than the county’s best rating at the end of last season.

On defense, UC allowed Hoover only 42 total yards, and Serra managed to cross midfield only once. The Centurions have also enjoyed a 13-1 turnover advantage.

Are they for real? Can they really be that good this year?

“It’s too early to tell,” Vukojevich said. “I can tell you this. From top to bottom, if you count everybody, this is our strongest squad ever. From player 1 to player 40, we’ve got a lot of depth, and we’ve got a lot of speed.”

He added: “We know this can’t last forever.”

No, but it could last at least one more week. UC plays Madison Friday. The Warhawks lost to Serra, 6-0, in Week 1 before winning on Friday for the first time since 1990.

MARK, SET, GO

It was a simple V-out pass pattern, designed to gain anywhere from 20 to 30 yards. But once Patrick Henry’s Jere Miller hauled in the pass from Loren Roseman and raced past Crawford’s Antoine Taylor, it soon became the second longest pass play in San Diego Section history.

Miller’s 98-yard touchdown also helped the Patriots gain a 19-14 victory over Crawford, a team that still has never beaten them.

The Section record for longest pass reception--99 yards--was set by Dan Hammerschmidt and quarterback Jim Plum of Helix in 1981. Second on the list before Friday was 96 yards.

“The interesting thing was,” Patriot Coach Jerry Varner said, “(Miller) caught it against a kid (Taylor) who went to Patrick Henry last year and transferred to Crawford.”

Last May, Taylor and Miller were half of Henry’s mile relay team that qualified for the state track and field meet.

NEW LOOK

Santana and Castle Park have each added three stripes and side-wing decals to their helmets, and they now resemble those worn by the Michigan Wolverines.

Santana Coach Doug Coffin insists, however, that the Sultans helmets were intended to mimic those of the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens because Santana runs the Delaware wing-T offense.

“The Delaware Blue Hens were the first to wear these,” Coffin said. “We changed because we run the Delaware wing-T. . . . (Actually), the players voted on it, and all but one guy wanted to make the switch.”

Coffin also said he thought the new design might help his quarterback to spot receivers better, but in their first game, a 13-7 victory over La Jolla, the Sultans did not complete a pass.

11 FOR 16

The San Diego Section 11-member football advisory committee met on Monday and recommended that the Section revert to the 16-team playoff format used the past three seasons for divisions 2-A and 3-A, according to Section Commissioner Kendall Webb.

The Section Board of Managers, which reduced the playoffs to 12 teams per division at its quarterly meeting in June, will review and possibly reverse that decision at its next meeting Oct. 20.

KICKING IN

For the arrival and to the delight of the Vancouver (Canada) Terry Fox football team Friday night, the Rancho Bernardo band learned and played the Canadian national anthem, “O, Canada” before the game at Mt. Carmel’s Sundevil Stadium.

The problem was--and it was an eerie, if not anticipated, sight--there was not one person in the visitors’ bleachers.

KICKING IN

There were those who said Eric Abrams’ kicking accomplishments the past four years were aided by the fact he played eight-man football at La Jolla Country Day.

In case you missed it, Abrams kicked field goals of 29 and 38 yards in No. 19 Stanford’s 21-7 victory over Oregon two weeks ago, and he was five for five on conversion attempts in a 35-24 rout of Northwestern on Saturday.

Football Top 10

No. School (Record) LW 1. El Camino (2-0) 1 2. Helix (2-0) 2 3. Morse (3-0) 3 4. Orange Glen (2-0) 4 5. Point Loma (1-1) 5 6. Vista (2-0) 6 7. San Pasqual (2-0) 8 8. Fallbrook (2-0) 8 9. Rancho Buena Vista (0-2) 7 10. Castle Park (2-0) NR

Others receiving consideration: Montgomery (1-0-1), Mira Mesa (2-0), El Capitan (1-1), University City (2-0).