Chargers showing mettle on road

By: STEVE SCHOLFIELD - Senior Sports Columnist | Sunday, November 12, 2006 8:23 PM PST ∞

Monday morning musings: Telling quote from LaDainian Tomlinson prior to the Cincinnati game: "You have to learn to win on the road," he said.

Consider Sunday a lesson plan passed. The Chargers came from a 28-7 halftime deficit to beat the Bengals, 49-41 in one of the most entertaining games of any season.

Charger radio voice Hank Bauer described the opening two quarters this way: "It's the worst first half I've seen since Ryan Leaf."

Good thing the Bolts have Philip Rivers, the new Dan Fouts, an array of fine receivers and the incomparable Tomlinson. They offset a defense that looked like it was from the Fouts era. Wasn't that Jim Laslavic playing linebacker?

If you think winning at Cincinnati was tough, wait until next week when the Bolts play at Denver.

"I've never won a game in Denver, ever," Tomlinson said.

He's 0-5 in his career and the team has lost its last six in the Mile High City.

Marty Schottenheimer has often said the AFC West goes through Denver. Schottenheimer's Bolts are 2-6 against the Broncos, losing twice last year when the Bolts scored just 24 points.

+ Bud Black, the new manager of the Padres, counts former San Dieguito High and MiraCosta College star Ben Gallo as one of his closest friends.

Gallo and Black played together at San Diego State.

Gallo was an outstanding center fielder in high school and in junior college but had such a strong left arm that he turned to pitching at SDSU. Gallo, who lives in Encinitas, was a 16th-round selection of the Giants in 1980 and enjoyed several good seasons but never made it to The Show.

+ It's no surprise that Tyler Hansen is having an outstanding season quarterbacking Temecula Chaparral High's football team. Hansen, a junior, has thrown 19 touchdown passes and only six interceptions.

Tyler's dad, Rick Hansen, was an all-CIF quarterback at San Pasqual High and earned letters at San Diego State (1980-82). A dislocated shoulder and a broken hand limited Hansen's playing time but in his last game as an Aztec, he threw for 382 yards in a 35-6 victory over Oklahoma State.

Rick Hansen teaches school at Vista Murrieta and coaches the freshman football squad.

+ Former San Marcos and San Pasqual football coach Bob Woodhouse stunned me when he told me he sang in a community choir in his hometown of Cottonwood, Ariz. I never figured the crusty old coach to be a singer, did you?

"Hey, I have a musical background," Woodhouse said. "My mother used to sing for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir."

And I thought I knew everything about Bob Woodhouse.

+ About that snake story. In a recent column on Woodhouse, I wrote he had a dead snake put under the Oceanside bench during a game in the 1970s. Not true, says the Rev. John McFarland of the Fountain Valley Methodist Church. The year was 1969. He should know, he was the center on that San Marcos team.

+ Kyson Hawkins, a 2003 Fallbrook High grad, is one of three University of San Diego students named to ESPN The Magazine district academic team.

A senior starting linebacker for the undefeated USD football team, Hawkins is carrying a 3.66 grade-point average while majoring in business administration.

His bio in the school's press guide says that Hawkins came to USD to play football and get an exceptional education. He's a winner on both fronts.

+ Tuesday should be a big day for Padres reliever Trevor Hoffman when he wins the National League Cy Young Award. Hoffman should have won the award in 1998 when he converted 53 of 54 save opportunities.

+ I have concerns over the Josh Barfield trade to Cleveland for two unproven minor leaguers.

History tells us the Padres have had mixed results trading away second basemen.

After the 1990 season, the Padres traded Roberto Alomar to Toronto and Alomar went on to become one of the all-time best at his position, playing in 12 All-Star games and winning two World Series.

And trading away Mark Loretta before last season for Doug Mirabelli turned into a sour then sweet deal.

Mirabelli didn't like it here and was traded back to Boston in exchange for catcher Josh Bard and reliever Cla Meredith. Bard hit .338 with 40 RBI in 89 games while Meredith went 5-1 with a 1.07 ERA as one of the league's premier setup pitchers.

But here's the good news. Loretta is a free agent and would certainly fit in well with the Padres.

Steve Scholfield is senior sports columnist for the North County Times. He can be reached at (760) 740-3509 or stevescho@cox.net. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.