Belated congratulations to the Premier Development League champion Ventura County Fusion, who beat the Chicago Fire Premier 2-1 on Alfonso Motagalvan's scrappy, late goal on Aug. 8 to win its first North American title.

I wouldn't have missed it for anything but my wedding.

Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey covered the final fantastically, as this preview, this game story and this wrapup featuring Fusion midfielder Bedel Guei attest.

As reported by Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey last week, Moorpark College has put three athletic programs on hold because of the state budget shortfall -- wrestling, men's golf and women's golf.

Potkey's story is an in-depth look at the issues, including former two-time All-American wrestler Charles Sandlin's drive to save the wrestling program.

The suspensions are expected to save the college $85,000 to $90,000 annually. The Raiders now offer 13 sports.

"This was very, very hard because athletics is a thing that opens doors for a number of students who would not normally be here and I see it as an important part of our academic core," school president Pam Eddinger said. "But it really became about what 13 sports we could have that would touch the most amount of students and get them the most amount of exposure to move them through college."

Community College men's basketball

No. 1 Citrus 56, No. 11 Ventura men 53: VC men take No. 1 Citrus to the limit by Joe Curley in Glendora

Click the jump for the VC-Citrus full, official box score.

East L.A. 66, Oxnard 62: Jonathan Johnson had 22 points. Marc Pajund and Nick Molina had 17 and 10 points, respectively. Three Condors players fouled out in a game that saw 53 fouls assessed. East L.A. was 22 of 34 from the free-throw line, while Oxnard was 15 of 26.
Records: Oxnard 7-10, East L.A. 7-11.

Sequoias 70, Moorpark 62: Raiders scored just 13 points in the first half and fall to 0-4 without head coach Remy McCarthy.
Records: Moorpark 10-6.

Community College women's basketball

Moorpark 61, L.A. Valley 50 Tiffany Hurd had 17 points, 20 rebounds and four assists for the host Raiders. Reyneisha Mays had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Record: Moorpark 8-9.

No. 1 Ventura 83, Compton 50 Kris King had a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds. King added four blocked shots and three steals. Chanelle Brennan had 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Donielle Griggs and Jessi Selleh added 12 points each. Michelle Santizo scored 10. Julie Heurung had nine points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
Records: Ventura 19-0, Compton 5-13.

College sports

Locals in College Notebook: Rasp developing into complete player by Rhiannon Potkey

Here is today's college coverage:

NCAA Division III

Cal Lutheran 23, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 14: CLU earns a victory, but it's one sided by David Lassen in Claremont

Community College

Bakersfield 30, Moorpark 0: Moorpark makes too many mistakes by Loren Ledin in Moorpark
Ventura Hall of Fame induction ceremony: VC honors its stars from the past by Joe Curley in Ventura

NCAA Division I

UCLA 23, Stanford 20: Craft makes up for poor play by Ken Peters, Associated Press, in Pasadena
USC 69, Washington State 0: USC lives up to its favorite status by Greg Bell, Associated Press, in Pullman, Wash.
College notebook: Belak-Berger putting her best foot forward by Rhiannon Potkey

This is Rhiannon Potkey's Cal Lutheran University notebook, which features notes on football player Antoine Adams,

This is Rhiannon Potkey's feature on Westlake High product Greg Newman, who is starting at Utah.

Here's what local products were saying yesterday about their upcoming college football games this Saturday.

- Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter (Westlake) spent the bye week in Tempe following the Sun Devils' loss to Georgia studying film of the their upcoming opponent Cal.
"I'm kind of going to start all over again with the film process and re-watch everything," Carpenter told the Arizona Republic. "This is a huge game for us. Georgia was a big game, but in the grand scheme of things it's not a Pac-10 game."

- USC senior Clay Matthews (Agoura) will be in the starting lineup on Saturday against Oregon. The former walk-on will either start at linebacker or defensive end depending on the injury status middle linebacker Rey Maualuga.
"He's just been too effective to keep him on the sideline," USC head coach Pete Carroll told reporters.

- Brigham Young University tight end Dennis Pitta (Moorpark) missed bye week practices last week with a sore shoulder, but should be back on the field against Utah State on Saturday. The potential BCS-busting Cougars moved up to No. 7 in the USA Today/Coaches' Poll, No. 8 in the Associated Press rankings and No. 9 in the Harris poll.
"I feel good," Pitta told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I will be practicing all this week. I just got a little banged up here and there in the game against Wyoming, so the bye week was a good time for me to rest up and try to get my legs back under me."

- Following Oregon State's upset victory over then top-ranked USC, Greg Newman (Thousand Oaks) and his Utah teammates are anxious to get the Beavers in Salt Lake City and continue the Mountain West supremacy over the Pac-10 Conference this season.
"This is what the game of football is all about for me and why I play," Newman told the Tribune. "It's going to be a whole lot of fun and I can't wait to get out there."

Here are a few stories involving local athletes to browse through on your afternoon lunch break.

Is Jimmy Clausen (Oaks Christian) beginning to live up to his golden boy prep rep at Notre Dame? His aerial performance against Purdue might be the first step.

Some more details about Jared Strubeck's (Rio Mesa) kicking experience at Hawaii on Saturday. Watch out for those officials.
Strubeck was named WAC Special Teams Player of the Week for his effort.

Yale senior Liam Leonard (Oaks Christian) earned Honor Roll kudos for Ivy League soccer

And the Ivy League football honor roll included Harvard wide receiver Matt Luft (Thousand Oaks).
Details on Luft's prodigious first-quarter output can be found in in Harvard's game recap

As most of the nation slept, Jared Strubeck (Rio Mesa) made his dreams come true on the football field.

The San Jose State kicker booted a 47-yard game-winning field goal with 1:49 remaining to lead San Jose State to a 20-17 victory over host Hawaii on Saturday night to snap Hawaii's 15-game Western Athletic Conference win streak.

Strubeck also kicked a career-best 50-yard field goal to tie the game at 17 with 9:32 remaining. The kick barely made it over the crossbar as the Spartans erupted in celebration. Strubeck was just 3-of-8 entering the game.

In Saturday's paper, I wrote about the injury recovery of Fresno State safety Lorne Bell (Simi Valley). But Bell isn't the only local Bulldog coming back from a knee injury this season.

Junior wide receiver Chastin West (Moorpark) missed all of the 2007 season rehabbing, and was motivated to play against UCLA yesterday at the Rose Bowl.

One of the top receiving threats in Western Athletic Conference in 2006, West displayed his old form against the Bruins.

He caught five passes for 69 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown catch (as my colleague Joe informed earlier), in Fresno State's 36-31 victory played in front of a large collection of red-clad Bulldog fans.

Hitting him where it hurts: Another local was involved in a big play yesterday during the Stanford-Washington game.

Washington quarterback Jake Locker suffered a broken right thumb in a 35-28 loss and is out indefinitely.

Locker hurt the thumb while making a block on Stanford safety Sean Wiser (Oaks Christian) in the second quarter.

Golden moments: After spending a season behind a porous offensive line as a true freshman, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen (Oaks Christian) is beginning to show why he was such a heralded recruit.

In yesterday's 38-21 victory over Purdue, Clausen completed 20 of 35 passes for a career-high 275 yards and tied a career-high with three touchdown passes and no interceptions.

"Yeah, I played good out there," Clausen told reporters. "I was reading the coverages pretty good. I felt like I knew what to do coming into the game, and the coaches helped me and got me ready to go."

Victory party: I had a chance to talk with Oregon State sophomore linebacker Dwight Roberson (St. Bonaventure) on Friday - one day after Oregon State's upset of then top-ranked USC.

Roberson said the city of Corvallis was wild in celebration into the early morning hours and the atmosphere at the stadium during the game was electric.

Roberson, who finished with two tackles, said it felt great to be a part of the action in an upset of USC. In 2006, when the Beavers last shocked USC, Roberson was redshirting.

Here's this week's Cal Lutheran University athletics notebook by Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey, which includes notes on men's water polo, football, women's volleyball, women's cross country.

There was one bright spot amid the penalties and turnovers that plagued Cal Lutheran's offense in its 31-17 season-opening loss to Willamette yesterday at Mt. Clef Stadium.

Junior running back Antoine Adams finished with 73 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in the first start of his CLU career.

The Cal Lutheran football team opens the season at home on Saturday against Willamette (Ore.).

The Kingsmen will have at least three freshmen playing prominent roles on offense.

The line will include a pair of freshmen starters in guard Giovanni Lapp and center Thomas Bouthillier and Derek Martinez is competing for the No. 1 spot at running back.

Junior Antoine Adams will get the start Saturday, but CLU head coach Ben McEnroe said Martinez will get significant playing time

"Derek is getting better every day," CLU head coach Ben McEnroe said. "He is a bigger-bodied guy who has nice feet. He is not going to be the guy to hit the home run for you, but he has great vision and is a physical runner."

-- From Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey with CLU

UCLA football head coach Rick Neuheisel listed wide receiver Gavin Ketchum as probable for Saturday's game against BYU in Provo, Utah.

The Oak Park High missed the season-opener against Tennessee while recovering from mononucleosis.

"He has been cleared, the question is conditioning for Gavin," Neuheisel said. "But I think he can give us 10-15 snap and that is probably what we would ask of him."

-- From Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey in Westwood

From Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey in Westwood today:

Injury update:
UCLA lost three key players during it season-opener against Tennessee. Here is their status heading into the BYU game.
- Kahlil Bell (Senior RB, ankle) - Bell is making progress. UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said "I don't think we are ready to rule him out of the game. We will wait and see. Again, we get the bye week and a little extra day today. Hopefully, he can see where he is. Wednesday is the last day to hold out hope."
- Marcus Everett (Senior WR, toe) - Everett will not be back in time for the BYU game, but "I think will be back sooner than anticipated," Neuheisel said.
- Logan Paulsen (Senior TE, foot) - Paulsen had surgery last Friday and is out for the season.

From Star teammate Rhiannon Potkey at UCLA today:

UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel was recruiting in style last Friday at high school games. A UCLA booster donated a helicopter to Neuheisel and he used that method of transportation to beat the L.A. traffic.
"It's hard to get around in Los Angeles if you are trying to maximize your time," Neuheisel said this afternoon. "... I had the offer to do it, and the rules didn't preclude it, so it seemed like a good use of my time."
Neuheisel crossed paths with USC head coach Pete Carroll on the recruiting trail - "I knew then we were on the right guy," Neuheisel joked.
Neuheisel said the monopoly ad in the L.A. Times did not come, and he did not offer Carrolll a ride because he was heading to a different game. "I would have made him pay for gas though," Neuheisel said.

The Cal Lutheran football team put together an impressive performance in the preseason scrimmage today at Ventura College. Returning starting quarterback Jericho Toilolo found Chris Hammond for a 10-yard touchdown pass and running back Derek Martinez dove in from a yard away for the Kingsmen touchdowns.

Notes on the scrimmage from my Star teammate, Rhiannon Potkey:

- CLU's strength is its passing attack, and it was evident with several long gains from its deep and experienced receiving corps. Quarterback Jericho Toilolo connected with Danny Hernandez, Jesse Matlock and Chris Hammond early and Wes Garwood hit Rob Fierro late for a 40-yard pass. Fierro, a senior, played quarterback at Simi Valley High, but was converted to a receiver once he arrived at CLU.
- The Kingsmen held a few players out for precautionary reasons, including all-conference safety Garrett Redd and wide receiver Sean Coen. The hamstring has been the most injured muscle during CLU's camp this season.
- CLU head coach Ben McEnroe was pleased with the play of the defense and the protection from his offensive line, but he wants to see more production from the rushing attack.
- Hammond celebrated his 21st birthday with a touchdown reception. Reaching the drinking age during football camp means no trips to the clubs or bars, "No. No. No," Hammond said. "I plan to meditate at home and then have a barbecue with teammates."
- The scrimmage was played so early because CLU's freshmen had to get back to campus for orientation, which began at 1 p.m.