McCune Keeps Options Open on Ventura Job

It has been a difficult season for Phil McCune, to say the least. But will next season be any better? Or will there be a next season?

McCune, interim football coach of Ventura High, has been asking himself those questions for the past several weeks. Right now, he doesn’t know the answer.

“I like this job,” McCune said. “What I don’t like is how I got it.”

McCune, who began the season as an assistant coach, was thrust to the helm Oct. 2 after Coach Harvey Kochel was arrested on suspicion of having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old female Ventura High student. On Thursday, Kochel pleaded guilty to six felony counts and admitted to a special allegation that he abused a position of trust.

Ventura Principal Jerry Barshay said Thursday he will ask McCune to return as coach next season.

“I have absolute faith and confidence in Phil,” Barshay said. “The job is his.”

McCune, who served as Ventura’s head coach from 1974 to 1980 before rejoining the staff in 1982 as an assistant to Kochel, said he will evaluate the situation after the season.

FOOTBALL FAMILY FEUD

Either Frank Greminger or his son, Derek, will spend the night in the family garage, depending on the outcome of tonight’s Marmonte League football game between Royal and Agoura.

Greminger, the Agoura coach, and Derek, the youngest of Greminger’s five children and a junior reserve linebacker for Royal, agreed to the unusual wager this week. Loser parks his pillow in the garage overnight.

“We don’t talk about the game too much,” Greminger said. “But it’s hard not to.”

DOING IT ALL

Village Christian’s Mike Spielman didn’t record a safety, throw a touchdown pass or block a kick Saturday. But that was about it.

Spielman, listed in the Crusader program as a defensive back and backup quarterback, also lined up at wide receiver against Maranatha. He ran for a touchdown on a reverse the first time he touched the ball on offense. The next time, he made a one-handed grab of a pass and scored another touchdown.

He also had three interceptions.

“It’s just one of those nights when everything seems to be going your way,” Spielman said. “You’d like them all to be like that, but they usually aren’t.”

With Village Christian ahead, 42-0, in the fourth quarter, Spielman took over for David Treanor at quarterback. What about completing the cycle with a touchdown pass?

“I knew we’d be running the clock out, so I wasn’t really thinking about throwing,” he said.

HAPPY TO BE HERE

St. Francis Coach Andy Boynton and Harvard-Westlake Coach Gary Thran have taken their lumps in their teams’ inaugural season in the Mission League.

One expected it, one didn’t, but both are glad they made the switch from the San Fernando League.

“I think we thought we would be able to come right in and compete and obviously we haven’t done that,” said Boynton, whose team is 3-4, 1-2 in league play. “It’s been tougher than what I thought it would be.”

Thran, whose team is 3-5, 1-2, had more realistic expectations. He knew the jump from a Division VII to a Division IV league would be difficult.

“I felt it was going to be very tough for us because there just aren’t any breathers,” Thran said. “You have to play your best game five weeks in a row. It’s tough for high school kids to play at that level for that long.”

Boynton remains positive, though.

“I think in time we’ll compete,” he said. “We’re still building.”

INJURY UPDATE

X-rays proved negative on Bell-Jeff linebacker Will Barnett, who suffered a neck injury Saturday night and was carried off the field on a stretcher. Barnett, who still has a stiff neck, is questionable for this week’s game at La Salle but has clearance to play when he feels better, Coach Doug Woodlief said. . . . Harvard-Westlake quarterback Justin Ehrlich is questionable for this week’s game at St. Bernard because of a separated shoulder.

OBSOLETE KICKERS

Certain elements in eight-man football differ notably from 11-man. One of the more obvious is the near-total absence of scoring on kicks.

In eight-man football, teams go for the two-point conversion almost exclusively after putting the ball in the end zone, and field goals rarely are attempted.

There are two reasons for eschewing kicks, according to Viewpoint Coach Steve Sherman.

--Most teams don’t have a kicker consistent enough to make an extra point or field goal.

--The narrower six-man line makes it much easier for defenders to rush around the ends and block a kick.

Some teams, such as Campbell Hall, still kick extra points almost exclusively. On Oct. 24 against Shandon, the Vikings led, 20-0, but their extra-point kick was blocked, and Campbell Hall ended up losing, 21-20, when Shandon scored a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to cap its comeback.

A WORLD OF HURT

The cry of “Medic! Medic!” has been a familiar for the Royal girls’ volleyball program this season as the Highlanders have encountered more injuries than at any other time in Bob Ferguson’s nine years as coach.

In the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last weekend, Ferguson’s lineup included the following injury report: six ankle sprains, one back sprain and a broken finger. Another player suffered an asthma attack after a match Friday against Torrey Pines.

Injuries have been the trend since last summer when setter Amy Moon suffered torn ligaments in her right ankle. Still, the Highlanders remain in contention for a Southern Section playoff berth.

“We’ve gone through four cases of tape this season,” Ferguson said. “Usually, we use a case a year. It’s a good thing my assistant coach (Chris Bruckner) is a trainer.”

TUNING UP

Girls’ volleyball coaches Ron Beick of Thousand Oaks and Cheryl Glass of Nordhoff are eager for the Southern Section playoffs to begin after watching their teams tune up last weekend in the prestigious Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

“I was real pleased with our progress,” said Beick, whose team finished fifth in the 16-team event. “We improved tremendously with our offensive system and also defensively. We are further along than I thought we would be.”

Beick said the Lancers’ performance proved “we can compete with the top level” of Division I teams.

Thousand Oaks is ranked sixth in Division I and nearly upset third-ranked Laguna Beach after trailing two games to none and 13-8 in the third game. The Lancers lost, 15-12, in the fifth game.

Nordhoff, the top-ranked team in Division IV and the smallest school in the tournament, turned some heads with a sweep of defending state Division I champion El Toro.

Nordhoff also lost close matches to Torrey Pines and Bakersfield Highland and placed eighth.

“I wanted to put our team in a crisis situation, to see how they would handle it,” Glass said. “We found out what our weaknesses are. It helps to know there is a lot more work to be done.”

David Coulson and staff writers Kennedy Cosgrove, Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.