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Sports

Cassel Who? Chatsworth's Football Team Tries to Make History Again

These football players know little about the Kansas City quarterback's high-school contributions, but they know Palisades stands in way of a finals appearance.

This story has been modified from a previous version.

Mention the name Matt Cassel to the Chatsworth football team, and the players either don't know who is or recite his college and pro stops, including all of the quarterback's statistics at USC and in the NFL with New England and Kansas City.

They also might say what linebacker Matt Santos said: "He played baseball. They went to the City championship. I don't know much. He was a great player."

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What some forget is Cassel's football link to Chatsworth. It was he who quarterbacked the Chancellors to the 1998 City Section Div. II championship (then called the Divisional).

That was the last time Chatsworth had gone so far in the playoffs – until now. The Chancellors (10-2) play host to Palisades (7-5) in a Div. II semifinal tonight at 7.

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It seems the 1998 title does not come up nearly as often as the 1979 3A title, coach Jason Camp said, because Chatsworth's current offensive coordinator and former head coach Rick Hayashida played on that team.

Hayashida is around, and Cassel isn't, so despite Camp's best attempts. Cassel regularly returns to play in the baseball alumni game, yet the fquarterback has not shown his face near the football field since graduating.

Camp even has two No. 10 jerseys he wants Cassel to sign, one for the quarterback and one to be framed in the weight room.           

"Football has been such a non-entity for so long, that when I try to get help, it's a joke," Camp said.

Indeed, for last week's home game against Panorama, Chatsworth didn't have a band – but Panorama did. No one even showed up in the box office to take tickets until kickoff was approaching, Camp said.

"I can barely get a person to film," he said. "I'm looking at Chatsworth, and I think it's a gold mine here, and I wonder why no one else gets that."

Camp isn't complaining. It's just how it is. But there is not much time to dwell on it because Palisades and its Wishbone offense wait.

Very few teams run the Wishbone, made famous by Oklahoma in the 1980s and to a lesser degree by San Fernando High in the 1970s, but Camp knows that to stop it requires speed, and he has it in cornerbacks D'ondre Alexander and Eric Waters and safety James Hubbard, all of whom Camp says run the 40 in 4.5 seconds.

"You've got to attack it." Camp said. "You can't sit in one (defensive) front. It's all about the reads."

Chatsworth's defense will have to read - and stop - Malcolm Creer, who has rushed 110 times for 1,175 yards and 18 touchdowns. There's also Hakeem Jawanza (63 rushes, 603 yards, six TDs) and Ke'monte Reed (97 carries, 548 yards, eight TDs).

The goal, Camp said, is to force Dolphins quarterback Nathan Dodson (19 of 46, 484 yards, six TDs) to throw.

"If he has to throw, he's in trouble," Camp said.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

CITY SECTION DIV. II SEMFINAL

What: Palisades (7-5) vs. Chatsworth (10-2)

Where: Chatsworth High

When: 7 tonight

At stake: The winner plays in the Div. II championship Friday at East L.A. College

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