Prep Football Games to Watch : Plenty at Stake When Hart Plays Streaking Canyon

The battle for high school football bragging rights in the Santa Clarita Valley will occur Friday night when Canyon of Canyon Country plays Newhall Hart at College of the Canyons. California’s longest winning streak also will be on the line.

The game, which has been a hot topic in the Newhall area since the end of last season, matches teams that are ranked No. 1 in their conferences. Canyon, winner of 24 straight games and two straight Northwestern Conference championships, went 14-0 last season. Hart was upset in the first round of the Coastal Conference playoffs by Thousand Oaks and finished with an 8-2-1 record.

Jim Bonds, a junior, will make his first varsity start at quarterback for Hart. Hart has not lost a game Bonds started in his seasons on the freshman and junior varsity teams. “He is the best junior I have ever coached,” Coach Rick Scott said.

Hart’s top returners are three-year starting tackle Charlie Drake and defensive back-wide receiver Cedric Ingram.

Canyon is led by returning All-Southern Section players Randy Austin, a senior linebacker-tight end, and senior nose tackle Joe Zacharia.

Harry Welch, whose three-year record as Canyon’s varsity coach is 35-5, is proud of his team’s winning streak, but also wary of it. A loss, he said, could be beneficial in long run.

“In some ways, it could be a relief,” he said. “I don’t want to take high school kids like this and have them play not to lose. That’s not what sports is about. The pressure of 24 games in a row shouldn’t be placed on their shoulders. A lot of these guys weren’t even in school when the streak started.”

Orange El Modena (13-1 last season) vs. Huntington Beach Edison (8-3) at Orange Coast College, Friday night--The game features the No. 3 (Edison) and No. 8 (El Modena) teams in The Times’ Southern Section Top 10. El Modena has won the last two Southern Conference championships but last season’s quarterback, Brett Johnson, and all of last season’s receivers have graduated. Chris Gallego will make his first start at quarterback. Running back Ross Bauer is back, though, and El Modena also has two fine returning linemen in Don Gibson and Allen Ennis.

Edison, which was beaten by a point in each of its three losses last year, have several offensive starters back, among them quarterback Mike Angelovic, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 252 yards in two games as a junior; wide receiver Rick Justice, who caught 44 passes for 902 yards, and tight end Ken Griggs, who had 14 receptions for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns. Most likely, Edison will try to expose El Modena’s inexperienced secondary.

La Puente Bishop Amat (8-3-1) at Riverside Rubidoux (5-5), Friday night--Don Markham will make his debut as coach at Bishop Amat in this game, and the Lancers figure to get a tough test from Rubidoux, which has an outstanding rushing attack with highly regarded Trevin Moore and Cedric Jones. Bishop Amat, with a starting backfield of quarterback Rick Carter and running backs Lee Barrett and Eric Bieniemy intact from a year ago, also is expected to keep the ball on the ground. Bieniemy, a junior, rushed for 1,114 yards and 11 touchdowns last year, and Carter threw for 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns. Bishop Amat beat Rubidoux last year, 17-15.

Burbank (7-4) vs. Claremont (14-0) at Citrus College, tonight--Claremont, the defending Eastern Conference champion and The Times’ fifth-ranked team this season, will open a season of high expectations with highly regarded senior quarterback Dan McGwire leading the way. Claremont has 10 starters back, among them All-Southern Section picks McGwire, wide receiver Travis Watkins and kicker Steve Bayer. Burbank lost 26 seniors from last season but is still rated ninth in the Coastal Conference in a poll conducted by the Southern Section office. All-Foothill League running back Frank Valdivia leads Burbank’s offense.

Lynwood (11-1) at Compton (4-6), Friday night--Compton Coach Tom McCutcheon says the Tarbabes can play with any team, but they will be tested in the season opener. Lynwood is 30-4-1 in four years under Coach Larry Anderson and has several key players from last season’s team that made the Southern Conference quarterfinals. The question mark for Lynwood is at quarterback, where track star Anthony Burnett, a 6-8 high jumper and Southern Section finalist in four events last year, will replace three-year starter Darren Hughes, who graduated.

Pasadena (11-2) at La Verne Damien (3-7), Friday night--After suffering through one of his worst seasons ever, Damien Coach Dick Larson thinks this year will be a lot different. The 16 returning starters and improved team speed will come in handy against normally strong Pasadena, which has only two starters back from a team that reached the Coastal Conference semifinals. Damien is expected to be especially tough on defense with 10 starters back and the offense should be led by guard A.J. Chuha, flanker Kenny Korn and highly regarded junior tailback Eric Henley, whose older brothers, Darryl and Tom, start for UCLA and Stanford, respectively. Pasadena is led by returning starters Kenny James at linebacker and David Brandley at offensive guard. Pasadena, a strong rushing team, has a fast backfield that includes quarterback Ray Murphy, tailback W.C. Morrison and fullback Anthony Hall.