HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : CITY SECTION : Reseda Tries to Make 40 Banner Year

RESEDA — Happy Anniversary.

On this, the 40th year of Reseda High’s existence, the football team is going after a celebration of its own: a City Section 3-A Division championship.

The Regents play Eagle Rock tonight at 7:30 at Birmingham High for the 3-A bragging rights.

A victory would be a nice addendum to the Regents’ anniversary year.

“There’s been some good timing this season,” Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer said.

The timing would be even better for the Regents if they duplicate last Friday’s effort against Monroe, a 24-0 victory.

Reseda (10-3) moved the ball efficiently and held the high-octane Monroe offense to 181 yards.

Armone Lochard, who has rushed for 1,440 yards and 15 touchdowns in 225 carries, beat the Vikings again and again with dives up the middle.

If the Regents are to claim their first title since winning the 2-A Division in 1986, they must contain a straight-ahead Eagle Rock team, which, until this season, had not won a playoff game since 1957.

John Fontamillas gets the bulk of the work for Eagle Rock, having rushed for 850 yards and nine touchdowns in 129 carries.

The Eagles (11-2) run out of the split- or I-formation and don’t take many chances on defense.

“They’re a plain-wrap football team,” Schaeffer said. “They don’t do anything fancy, but they get the job done in the [win] column.”

Canoga Park Coach Rudy Lugo should have a good idea who will win: His team played Reseda and Eagle Rock on back-to-back weekends.

Canoga Park lost to Reseda in the regular season finale, 20-0, and fell to Eagle Rock in the first round of the playoffs, 31-21, but Lugo noticed a few differences in the teams.

“We respect both teams and they both have fine coaching staffs,” Lugo said, “but we moved the ball easier on Eagle Rock than we did against Reseda.”

Lugo said Reseda’s linemen were more physical and that quarterback Jamaal Washington can throw efficiently if the Regents’ ground game is stuffed.

“I see Reseda having the edge, and I’ve talked with some of our [players] and they think so too,” Lugo said. “I have to give the nod to Reseda, but you never know--this could be the [Baltimore] Colts and the [New York] Jets playing [in Super Bowl III].”

Or, it could be a happy anniversary for Reseda.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Eagle Rock (Eagles) vs. Reseda (Regents)

Tale of the Tape

Eagle Rock

RECORD: 11-2

CONFERENCE FINISH: Tied 2nd, Northern

SEASON

AVG. PTS.: 28.0

AVG. PTS ALLOWED: 12.5

YDS. PER GAME: 257.8

YDS. ALLOWED: 198.3

PLAYOFFS

AVG. PTS.: 24.3

AVG. PTS ALLOWED: 12.7

YDS. PER GAME: 274.0

YDS. ALLOWED: 226.0

Reseda

RECORD: 10-3

CONFERENCE FINISH: Tied 2nd, Valley Pac-B

SEASON

AVG. PTS.: 25.4

AVG. PTS ALLOWED: 13.4

YDS. PER GAME: 283.7

YDS. ALLOWED: 212.8

PLAYOFFS

AVG. PTS.: 29.7

AVG. PTS ALLOWED: 9.3

YDS. PER GAME: 340.0

YDS. ALLOWED: 230.0