Commute the death sentences for county fair animals in California?

• February 21, 2024

Cedar the goat’s death must not be in vain!

Bruce, raised by a Fullerton Union High FFA student, went to the Farm Sanctuary in Acton rather than to slaughter in 2019. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A new bill in Sacramento, sponsored by an Orange County nonprofit and introduced by a San Jose legislator, would see to that.

Cedar was raised by Jessica Long’s 9-year-old daughter, E.L., and entered in the Shasta District Fair in 2022. At some point in the process E.L. decided she loved the little goat and didn’t want him to end up as barbecue on someone’s plate. At the fair, she wept in his pen. And her family spirited him away.

What happened next has, literally, become a federal case, with the Long family suing in U.S. District Court and California Attorney General Rob Bonta countersuing to hold the Longs liable. Grand theft, officials called it.

Spoiler alert: Cedar is dead. After tremendous outcry, Bonta dropped the counterclaim. And, now, Assembly Bill 3053 would change the rules so kids can enter animals in county fairs without sentencing their beasts to death and their people to drawn-out legal battles.

“A few years ago, we spent $5,000 trying to find a home for pigs after kids had a change of heart,” said Judie Mancuso of Social Compassion in Legislation, an animal rights nonprofit based in Laguna Beach and the bill’s sponsor. “Then came the Cedar debacle. The CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) had blood on its hands. We said, ‘The timing is right. Let’s do this bill.’ “

On Feb. 16, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, introduced AB 3053. Attitudes about school farm programs clearly are changing.

$902

You go to the county fair, you see the pigs and cows and goats in their pens, you see the kids caring for them, you uncomfortably acknowledge that there will be an auction at fair’s end and that these living, breathing animals will be dinner. It’s an educational refresher about California’s agricultural roots, and about where food really comes from and what it takes to get it to the table.

Playful piglets at OC Fair and Event Center Centennial Farm in 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Long enrolled E.L. in the local 4-H chapter’s youth livestock program in Shasta County in the fall of 2021. She bought E.L. a goat, which they named Cedar, and she filled out the forms to enter Cedar in the 2022 Shasta District Fair. Perhaps Long didn’t fully comprehend the legal minutiae behind the “terminal sale” verbiage — which means the animals would be sold to the highest bidder and slaughtered for meat.

The youth livestock auction was on June 24, 2022. Cedar was sold to Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dahle and California Assemblymember Megan Dahle for $902. The fair was to get $63.14 of that, with $838.86 going to the Longs. Cedar’s meat was to be used at the annual Shasta Fair Association and 4-H barbecue on July 9.

But on June 25, shortly after the auction but before the transfer of Cedar for slaughter, E.L. “exercised her statutory rights as a minor under Cal. Fam. Code §6710 to disaffirm any contract that may have existed with respect to Cedar,” court paperwork says. “Mrs. Long and E.L. then removed Cedar from the Shasta District Fair.”

And that’s where things got crazy.

Long worked in good faith to settle the dispute, court documents say. She offered to reimburse the district fair for its troubles, but the fair was having none of it. The 4-H volunteer who organized the annual barbecue insisted that it owned Cedar’s meat. The fair’s livestock manager called Long on June 26 and demanded Cedar be returned for slaughter — or the Longs could face felony charges of grand theft.

“Desperate to avoid the prospect of even frivolous criminal charges,” court documents say, Long contacted the Dahles, who agreed to forego the sale and slaughter of Cedar. Long then sent the fair’s CEO a letter offering to pay damages. But fair officials were getting angry: The battle over Cedar hit social media and thousands upon thousands of calls and emails were flooding in, calling officials nasty names and beseeching them to spare Cedar’s life.

A cow awaits auction at the OC Fair’s annual Junior Livestock event in Costa Mesa in 2023. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

On June 28, the fair CEO rejected Long’s offer to pay damages, saying “the social media [response to Cedar] has been a negative experience for the fairgrounds as this has been all over Facebook and Instagram, not the best way to teach our youth the value of responsibility.”

‘No one needs to know’

Long submitted a claim stating her intention to sue over all this, which she maintains should have frozen further action on Cedar’s life until the dispute was resolved.

But the fair called the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department to investigate theft. Two deputies drove 500 miles “at taxpayer expense, and crossed approximately six separate county lines, all to confiscate a young girl’s beloved pet goat….”

They went first to Bleating Hearts Sanctuary in Napa. Cedar wasn’t there. They tracked him down to Billy’s Mini Farm in Forestville, where they seized the goat (without a warrant) and turned him over to fair officials who, court documents maintain, held him for weeks before slaughter.

During that period, in July of 2022, court documents show there were flurries of texts between fair and 4-H officials.  “Talked to sheriff and he said to wait until he talks to DA before we kill goat,” the fair livestock manager texted to the 4-H Club volunteer. “Bowman is killing goat today finally.” “… no one needs to know about this. U me and Kathy are only ones. It got killed and donated to non profit if anyone asks.”

Baby chickens at the Centennial Farm at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa in 2018. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Longs sued in federal court last year. “This case concerns damages… arising out of well-established violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as an egregious waste of police resources,” filings say.

Compounding the state’s unfathomably tone deaf response, Attorney General Rob Bonta — acting as the attorney for the fair, which is part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture — filed a counterclaim against the Longs, demanding the Longs pay the government’s attorneys’ fees and reimburse the Shasta District Fair for damages.

The Longs’ attorney, Vanessa Shakib of Advancing Law for Animals, filed a special motion to strike the AG’s counterclaim as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP suit. “We argued the Attorney General’s counterclaim was legally frivolous and intended to chill the First Amendment rights of the Long family,” Shakib said by email.

After that filing, the AG backed off. 

“Existing California law already allows families to walk out of terminal auctions. That is the heart of our civil rights litigation on behalf of the Long family,” Shakib said. “In Cedar’s case, a group of government officials transformed a $63 civil dispute into felony theft to create a false pretense for an unlawful search and seizure. These officials drove hundreds of miles at taxpayer expense, and stopped at nothing—including the United States Constitution—to ensure a child’s animal was illegally slaughtered without due process.”

Legislative fix

In this 2015 file photo, Bruno Barba, 16, with Lola, the pig he raised through the Future Farmers of America program at Fullerton Union High. (COURTESY FARM SANCTUARY)

E.L. is certainly not the first kid to recoil at the prospect of sending her farm project to its death.

In 2015, Bruno Barba was in Fullerton Union High School’s Future Farmers of America program. Intellectually, he understood he was raising piglet Lola to be auctioned off for bacon. But pigs are smart, and whenever Lola saw Barba, even from a distance, she’d start squealing with joy. He just couldn’t make her a porkchop. When he began casting about for an alternate ending, teachers and classmates discouraged him, urging him to finish what he started. But Barba found a a home for Lola on a Northern California farm, and there Lola went.

“I think it’s very different to see firsthand,” his mother said back then. “To see the life of the animal, as opposed to seeing it at the market and thinking, ‘Here’s dinner.’ “

In 2019, Bruce, Pam, and Kevin (goats) and Shawn and Phry (sheep) went to Farm Sanctuary in Acton rather than to the fair’s livestock auction. The animals were raised by Fullerton High Future Farmers of America students who shared Barba’s anti-slaughter sentiment.

AB 3053 would make such alternate endings easier. Junior exhibit entries in county fairs could be withdrawn at any time before offsite transport, and winning bidders could choose to pick up live animals rather than slabs of meat.

“We applaud proposed legislation allowing successful bidders to take their animals home alive,” said Shakib, the Longs’ attorney. “The government shouldn’t force people to kill their animals. This commonsense language is an important step in protecting property rights.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Victor Espinoza, Newgrange win the San Pasqual Stakes

• January 28, 2024

ARCADIA — Somewhat surprisingly, only eight horses have parlayed success in the 85 editions of the San Pasqual Stakes, the final major prep for the Santa Anita Handicap, into a trip to the winner’s circle on Big ‘Cap day.

The last to do it was Express Train in 2022, four years after Accelerate turned the trick. Others to accomplish the San Pasqual-Big ‘Cap double include Farma Way (1991), Ack Ack (1971), Pretense (1967), Bobby Brocato (1956), Moonrush (1951) and Thumbs Up (1945).

The Big ‘Cap, because of the advent of lucrative races like the $20 million Saudi Cup, $12 million Dubai World Cup and $3 million Pegasus World Cup, doesn’t attract the same type of standouts it once did when it was the first $100,000 race in North America and later offered a $1 million purse.

Newgrange may get the opportunity to become the ninth horse to record the San Pasqual-Big ‘Cap double after veteran jockey Victor Espinoza guided the 5-year-old son of Violence to a gate-to-wire victory in the latest edition of the $200,000 Grade II San Pasqual at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Espinoza, who’s ridden sparingly during Santa Anita’s Classic Meet, had won with only one of his 14 mounts heading into the San Pasqual. It was his first stakes victory of 2024 while riding for Philip D’Amato, a trainer he rarely works with. The San Pasqual was his only mount of the day.

The winner, who surpassed the $1 million mark in earnings with the winner’s share of $120,000, loves Santa Anita. He’s won five of seven over the main track and has won two consecutive stakes, taking the Grade II San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita on opening day with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.

It’s tempting for the horse’s connections to come back in the Big ‘Cap, but D’Amato and the owners are looking at Dubai on March 30. A race worth $11.6 million more than the Big ‘Cap holds much appeal in the sport of kings.

“It’s going to be even tougher there, but the money is incredible so we can do something like that,” D’Amato said. “We could stay home, but these guys (owners) in the winner’s circle, I think they are on board for Dubai.”

Owners Rockingham Ranch, David Bernsen and Little Red Feather Racing had to be smiling while watching Espinoza ride Newgrange to perfection.

“It was great,” the 51-year-old native of Mexico said. “I wanted to just bounce out of there and see what everyone wanted to do. I knew I had the best horse in the race … I was able to just bounce out of there, go to the lead and control the race and that was it.”

Sent postward in the field of seven as the 2-1 second choice behind 8-5 favorite Newgate, Newgrange beat Newgate by one length while running the mile and an eighth in 1:49.26. Mixto, an 11-1 longshot, was three-quarters of a length farther back in third.

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Newgrange set moderate fractions of 23.27, 47.55 and 1:12.10 while winning the San Pasqual for the second consecutive year. He came back to finish seventh in the Big ‘Cap last spring and D’Amato decided to freshen him. He’s won seven of 13 lifetime for earnings of $1,007,634.

This year’s Big ‘Cap on March 2 has been slimmed down to $400,000. It’s still a Grade I race and a winner’s check for $240,000 is not too shabby, but horses the likes of Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup winner National Treasure and 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio will wait for the richer stakes races overseas in February and March.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County girls basketball standings: Saturday, Jan. 27

• January 28, 2024

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Standings for the Orange County girls basketball leagues through Friday, Jan. 26.

Trinity League
League
Overall

Mater Dei
7-0
21-6

Orange Lutheran
5-2
17-7

Rosary Academy
3-3
17-7

Santa Margarita
1-5
15-10

JSerra
0-6
18-7

South Coast League
League
Overall

San Juan Hills
6-0
16-9

San Clemente
4-1
18-7

Trabuco Hills
2-2
10-11

Aliso Niguel
1-4
6-14

Tesoro
0-6
4-22

Sea View League
League
Overall

Dana Hills
6-0
21-3

El Toro
4-2
16-8

Mission Viejo
2-4
8-17

Capistrano Valley
0-6
2-14

Surf League
League
Overall

Los Alamitos
4-0
21-5

Corona del Mar
3-1
13-12

Edison
1-3
7-19

Fountain Valley
0-4
14-12

Wave League
League
Overall

Marina
4-0
18-8

Huntington Beach
3-1
15-11

Laguna Beach
1-3
7-18

Newport Harbor
0-4
8-17

San Joaquin League
League
Overall

Orangewood Academy
5-0
17-6

Fairmont Prep
3-2
19-7

Pacifica Christian
1-3
18-7

Capistrano Valley Christian
0-4
12-14

Pacific Coast League
League
Overall

Sage Hill
4-0
20-2

Portola
2-2
20-5

Woodbridge
1-3
18-8

Northwood
1-3
8-12

Pacific Hills
League
Overall

Beckman
4-0
16-7

Irvine
3-1
13-11

University
1-3
9-16

Laguna Hills
0-4
7-16

Orange Coast League
League
Overall

Calvary Chapel
10-0
17-9

St. Margaret’s
9-2
21-6

Estancia
7-4
17-10

Santa Ana
5-5
12-13

Costa Mesa
3-7
7-18

Orange
2-8
10-13

Saddleback
0-10
0-21

Orange League
League
Overall

Anaheim
8-0
24-1

Savanna
5-2
18-6

Western
4-4
5-11

Magnolia
3-4
13-8

Santa Ana Valley
2-5
9-13

Century
0-7
3-11

Crestview League
League
Overall

Esperanza
4-0
20-4

Brea Olinda
3-2
9-16

El Dorado
2-2
17-8

Foothill
0-5
5-19

North Hills League
League
Overall

Villa Park
4-1
15-10

Canyon
3-2
15-10

Yorba Linda
3-2
13-10

El Modena
0-5
12-14

Empire League
League
Overall

Crean Lutheran
8-0
16-6

Cypress
5-2
13-11

Pacifica
4-4
20-6

Valencia
3-5
13-13

Tustin
3-5
14-11

Kennedy
0-7
8-16

Garden Grove League
League
Overall

Loara
8-0
16-8

Santiago
6-1
9-16

La Quinta
4-4
12-14

Los Amigos
3-5
8-13

Rancho Alamitos
2-6
8-18

Bolsa Grande
0-7
1-22

Freeway League
League
Overall

Buena Park
8-0
17-8

Sunny Hills
6-2
16-10

Sonora
3-4
12-13

Troy
3-5
9-13

La Habra
3-5
18-8

Fullerton
0-7
13-12

Golden West League
League
Overall

Godinez
8-0
14-8

Segerstrom
6-2
20-6

Katella
6-2
15-7

Westminster
2-6
4-18

Ocean View
1-7
7-19

Garden Grove
1-7
4-14

Express League
League
Overall

Samueli Academy
7-1
12-6

Southlands Christian
5-1
11-3

Magnolia Science Academy
3-4
4-7

Bethel Baptist
0-4
0-6

Vista Meridian
0-5
0-6

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Sunday, January 28, 2024

• January 28, 2024

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Sunday, January 28, 2024.

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​ Orange County Register 

Lake Forest calls a snow day

• January 28, 2024

Lake Forest was a winter wonderland on Saturday despite the day’s vaguely summer-like weather.

Snowfest has become a popular annual tradition in the town.

Families played in snow throughout the day, sledding down Mount Pittsford.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kings keep searching for elusive answers as they face the Blues

• January 28, 2024

After a lopsided defeat in Colorado, the Kings’ outlook had become so bleak that even their beacon of positivity Phillip Danault –– “always progression, never regression” is his stated ethos –– remained at a loss for inspiration.

“It’s getting hard to get our pace and our confidence going into the game. We have to get back to trusting each other, and, I don’t know, we’re running out of solutions,” Danault said.

“I think the guys are working hard, I don’t know, it just doesn’t work,” he added.

“It” may be construed to mean just about anything since apart from the Kings’ penalty kill, little has functioned since the close of 2023. When the Kings get a reprieve, the first month of 2024 will be over. In the month leading up to a showdown with the Blues in St. Louis, they’ve won just two games, the fewest in the NHL.

They are hanging by a thread to a postseason berth and could be out of the picture heading into a pause that theoretically could help them get healthier –– physically in some cases and also mentally –– but could also see them return with an even more significant deficit in the standings behind the West’s top teams.

On a positive note, Quinton Byfield, who missed Friday’s flop with an illness, was back on the ice at practice per Kings blogger Zach Dooley. He’s been remarkably consistent in terms of effort and production alike, drawing high praise during low moments from Coach Todd McLellan after a blown lead against Buffalo brought out the boo birds.

There have been so many rapid recalculations as the Kings metamorphosize from lions into mice that it could even impact their late-season outlook. ESPN’s Greg Wyshinski reported that an Eastern Conference GM told him that this prolonged plummet for the Kings might “change the math” at the trade deadline.

Math hasn’t been the Kings’ forte this season, as they’ve carried short rosters and even short lineups. That was even after scraping the barrel and skimping on their most blaring and glaring need, goaltending (all-star Cam Talbot’s numbers have ballooned of late), while eschewing depth, talent and favorable contracts to bring in Pierre-Luc Dubois at crippling costs. Dubois reprised his role as The Invisible Man on Friday, registering one shot on goal and a minus-one rating in a match where malaise reigned across the lines and pairings.

Even Drew Doughty, whose surly remarks dominated the narrative after the loss to Buffalo, got in on the tragicomedy with a turnover that led to a goal. His pal Trevor Lewis has resembled a bald tire playing in place of the injured Blake Lizotte on an utterly inept fourth line that desperately misses the Kings’ smallest but most effortful player.

There’s little that can be pointed to as going swimmingly for the Kings as even Danault’s second line has slipped, leaving what was once a four-line team predicated on depth and balance by the brass’s own admission to feed on whatever scraps its mostly healthy but still tattered lineup can provide each night.

The recall of Alex Turcotte on Saturday might inject some new blood into the room, though it seems beyond unfair to expect greatness from a player with just 12 games of NHL experience who sustained two concussions and a multitude of maladies over the course of his brief career.

He was to be the crown jewel in a draft that the Kings heralded. Turcotte was the fifth overall selection in 2019 and one of four picks the Kings’ had in Rounds 1 and 2 after finishing with the NHL’s second worst record. Of those four, Turcotte has lost significant development time to injuries; Tobias Bjornfot was waived and claimed by rival Vegas; Samuel Fagemo was waived, claimed and then returned to the Kings only to languish on the fourth line lately; and Arthur Kaliyev has found himself the subject of countless trade rumors amid inconsistent performance and deployment.

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The Forum Report’s Jon Rosen reported that General Manager Rob Blake overruled his own scouting department to select Turcotte –– who was by most external measures a bankable pick with a high floor and a star’s ceiling –– and perhaps under the influence of former teammate Tony Granato (he coached Turcotte at the University of Wisconsin).

This year in the minors, Turcotte has amassed 23 points in 28 games with a plus-8 rating.

Assuming he draws in, Turcotte will make his NHL season debut against the Blues, who are led in scoring by Robert Thomas. They’re winners of four straight contests after sweeping a three-game Northwestern road trip. Since Drew Bannister took over coaching duties from 2019 Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube, the Blues have gone 12-6-1 following a tepid 13-14-2 start.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County boys basketball standings: Saturday, Jan. 27

• January 28, 2024

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Standings for the Orange County boys basketball leagues through Friday, Jan. 26.

Trinity League
League
Overall

Mater Dei
7-1
23-2

St. John Bosco
7-1
22-4

JSerra
5-3
21-4

Santa Margarita
4-4
17-8

Orange Lutheran
1-7
9-14

Servite
0-8
10-14

South Coast League
League
Overall

San Clemente
6-0
21-5

San Juan Hills
3-2
15-9

Trabuco Hills
3-2
18-7

Tesoro
1-5
10-16

Capistrano Valley
1-5
11-15

Sea View League
League
Overall

Dana Hills
6-0
21-4

El Toro
4-3
9-16

Aliso Niguel
3-3
18-6

Mission Viejo
0-7
9-18

Surf League
League
Overall

Los Alamitos
4-0
21-4

Fountain Valley
2-2
16-10

Edison
1-3
19-7

Newport Harbor
1-3
21-5

Wave League
League
Overall

Corona del Mar
3-0
20-5

Marina
3-1
19-7

Laguna Beach
1-3
12-14

Huntington Beach
0-3
14-11

Crestview League
League
Overall

Foothill
5-0
18-7

Canyon
4-1
20-6

Villa Park
1-4
12-14

Yorba Linda
0-5
14-11

North Hills League
League
Overall

El Dorado
5-0
17-9

Esperanza
2-2
9-16

Brea Olinda
1-3
8-14

El Modena
1-4
10-15

Freeway League
League
Overall

La Habra
8-0
22-4

Sonora
5-2
18-7

Troy
4-3
17-9

Sunny Hills
3-5
15-11

Fullerton
2-5
10-15

Buena Park
0-7
11-14

Orange Coast League
League
Overall

Costa Mesa
9-1
15-11

Calvary Chapel
7-2
14-10

St. Margaret’s
6-3
13-8

Estancia
7-4
19-8

Santa Ana
3-6
9-13

Orange
1-9
2-22

Saddleback
1-9
6-19

San Joaquin League
League
Overall

Pacifica Christian
6-1
17-10

Fairmont Prep
5-1
17-8

Orangewood Academy
2-4
10-14

San Gabriel Academy
2-4
13-9

Capistrano Valley Christian
1-6
11-14

Empire League
League
Overall

Cypress
7-0
19-5

Crean Lutheran
7-1
14-12

Tustin
5-3
16-10

Pacifica
3-5
16-10

Valencia
1-7
10-16

Kennedy
0-7
8-16

Pacific Coast League
League
Overall

Sage Hill
6-1
13-12

Northwood
6-1
19-6

Woodbridge
4-3
15-9

Irvine
4-3
13-12

Beckman
4-3
13-12

Portola
3-4
7-18

University
1-6
7-17

Laguna Hills
0-7
1-22

Garden Grove League
League
Overall

Los Amigos
6-1
16-7

Santiago
6-2
13-13

Rancho Alamitos
5-3
16-10

Loara
4-3
16-9

Bolsa Grande
1-7
4-15

La Quinta
1-7
4-20

Golden West League
League
Overall

Godinez
8-0
20-6

Westminster
6-2
13-9

Segerstrom
4-4
8-17

Ocean View
2-6
13-13

Katella
2-6
7-16

Garden Grove
2-6
10-16

Orange League
League
Overall

Savanna
8-0
15-9

Western
7-1
13-13

Anaheim
3-4
7-18

Santa Ana Valley
2-4
11-11

Magnolia
2-5
4-19

Century
0-8
12-14

Academy League
League
Overall

Western Christian
4-0
17-6

Tarbut V’ Torah
2-2
10-7

Newport Christian
2-3
6-3

The Webb Schools
0-3
7-11

Western League
League
Overall

Calvary Chapel/Downey
4-0
8-12

Samueli Academy
7-1
16-8

Vista Meridian
3-4
4-10

Magnolia Science Academy
3-5
4-9

Liberty Christian
1-4
3-5

Orange County Christian
0-4
0-4

Express League
League
Overall

Avalon
7-1
8-14

Acaciawood
5-1
7-11

Anaheim Discovery Christian
2-4
4-5

Southlands Christian
1-2
3-14

Eastside Christian
0-3
1-12

Bethel Baptist
0-4
0-4

​ Orange County Register 

How D’Anton Lynn and Eric Henderson will work together as co-DCs at USC

• January 27, 2024

LOS ANGELES – Loaf (verb): To idle away time. To lounge, or saunter, idly or lazily.

It sounds cliche, ultimately, but the foundations of the Gus Bradley-era Los Angeles Chargers’ defense were simple: critique effort first. It was the coaches’ guiding star in 2017, Bradley’s first season as a part of Anthony Lynn’s staff. Every practice. Every game. And if players were caught on tape not sprinting to the ball, as then-defensive line coach Giff Smith recalled, they’d be marked down with a “loaf.”

In meetings the next day, coaches would pull up a slide and read aloud the highest tallies. INSERT PLAYER had 12 “loafs,” for example.

“And he’s getting embarrassed in front of his peers,” Smith recalled, of those days. “Anybody can run to the ball if you got any character to you. So, if you’re not running to the ball, you’re choosing to be selfish.”

All the while, sharing time in meeting rooms, defensive assistants D’Anton Lynn and Eric Henderson quietly observed.

“Critique effort first,” Smith said. “I’m sure they’re both still doin’ that.”

This otherwise-innocuous season in Los Angeles football memory – 9-7, missing the playoffs, lost altogether to history – planted the seeds for the relationship between Lynn and Henderson, both serving secondary roles in the first few years of their coaching careers. Six years later, they’ve reunited on a Los Angeles staff, tabbed as co-coordinators by Lincoln Riley and taking on the challenge of completely rebuilding a struggling USC defense.

It’s an interesting alignment, particularly in timing. Lynn was hired as USC’s newest defensive coordinator at the beginning of December, tabbed after a year at UCLA as the young savant who would remold the Trojans around the personnel he could attract, his defensive ideals quickly drawing a slew of transfers and recruits alike. Then USC announced the hire of Henderson, a big-time defensive line coach with the Rams who’d helped mold Aaron Donald, in mid-January – as a co-defensive coordinator. Suddenly, the program has two highly-regarded minds sharing one job.

Thus, the Southern California News Group spoke with members of the 2017 Chargers’ staff – the lone year in which the two overlapped – for a picture of how Lynn and Henderson will work in tandem at USC. All remember the two as bright, inventive minds who routinely were trusted with more responsibility than their job titles entailed. And the key point: their philosophies and coaching strengths have always been complementing, not contrasting, two men with strong personalities who will challenge each other but do so without job-title conceit.

“There is no ego with Eric Henderson,” Bradley, now the Colts’ defensive coordinator, told the SCNG. “And there’s no ego with D’Anton Lynn. So will it work? There’s not a doubt in my mind it will work.”

::

Anthony Lynn knew D’Anton and Henderson were more than coworkers, he said, when his son invited Henderson to his wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Still, it didn’t seem as though the young Lynn and Henderson were exactly the best of friends. They had separate, specific focuses on that staff: Henderson working on the defensive line under Smith, Lynn working more closely with linebackers coach Richard Smith (now working under Bradley with the Colts) as a quality control assistant. They were more close colleagues, perhaps, with a deep respect.

“You could just tell, there’s a natural connection and a natural trust between the two,” Giff Smith said. “And you always felt like they would wind up on a staff together some way. I’m not claiming I would say I knew they were gonna be co-defensive coordinators together at USC, but I think we always thought they would be on a staff.”

Everyone, of course, knew that Lynn was his father’s son. He never acted like it, though, keeping his head down and cards close to the vest. He’d started four years in the secondary at Penn State, and despite being all of three years into his coaching career, Bradley began consulting the young Lynn to evolve the Chargers’ defensive philosophy – formerly utilizing a great deal of Cover 1 or “single-high” coverages with just one safety, but Lynn suggesting more split-safety actions.

And Henderson’s coaching timeline, too, sped up in just his first year of coaching at the NFL level. Before long, Giff Smith attested, he’d entrust Henderson to put together play-tape for technique sessions – sitting down with the likes of Pro Bowler Joey Bosa as a rookie NFL coach to critique his film. Normally, Bradley said, position coaches don’t split up any group responsibility with assistants; but Smith challenged Henderson to mold rookies and lower-level draft picks like Isaac Rochell, a seventh-round pick in 2017. Within one year, Henderson turned Rochell into a five-sack presence in his sophomore season.

“What he has,” Smith said of Henderson, “is the unique ability to tap the inner part of a guy to make him work harder than he ever thought he could. And that’s a gift that only a few coaches have.”

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One man, in this alignment, will have the headset. Will be the one to call plays. Will be the mind ultimately controlling the show, even as the two split responsibilities.

“I guarantee you it’s going to be D’Anton,” Richard Smith said, “the one making those calls on (Saturday).”

But based on that year together with the Chargers, former mentors anticipate responsibility being shared simply by harmonious coaching styles. Lynn is described by everyone, from coaches to parents to his own family, as a poker-faced, calm, analytical mind who’ll rarely explode. Henderson coaches, as Richard Smith said, with a twinkle in his eye. A smile, too.

“But he can get after your ass on the field, you know what I mean?” Smith said.

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It’s a natural pairing: Lynn the analyst, Henderson the motivator. And both were prepared for this, too, by those shared meeting rooms back in 2017, where Bradley would mandate his entire defensive staff game-planned together – no separation between the front and secondary. Henderson is more than a defensive-line coach, Bradley said; he understands the back end. And Lynn, who has specialized in coaching secondaries throughout his NFL tenure before his year at UCLA, has come into USC with a clear vision for molding the Trojans up front.

“I think they’re very much on the same page with that,” Giff Smith said. “I mean, D’Anton did a great job with the outside edge rushers at UCLA and creating pressure on the quarterback, and being creative on his different simulated pressures that he brought, and Eric did that under Raheem (Morris) a bunch too. So I just really think it’s an easy fit.”

And there’s one sure thing, at least: there’ll be no loafs around Howard Jones Field come fall.

“I find myself pulling for ‘em,” Bradley said, “because you feel like, ‘Gosh, this is how it’s supposed to work out.’”

​ Orange County Register