Beverly Hills and Santa Montica Likely to Repeat in Grid Derby : Culver City, Daniel Murphy, St. Monica Squads Are Expected to Be the Also-Rans

Beverly Hills and Santa Monica high schools had the CIF-Southern Section’s best football teams on the Westside last year, and it should be more of the same in 1985.

Both lost key players to graduation after they carried their squads to the playoff semifinals, Beverly in the Northwestern Conference and Santa Monica in the Coastal Conference. But both have key players returning, particularly at quarterback.

Santa Monica Coach Tebb Kusserow is thin in both lines, where nine of 10 regulars have graduated, and will also miss star pass catchers Mark Hill, Lawrence Crayton and Louis McAdoo.

Bill Stansbury and Dick Billingsley, Beverly co-coaches, will have a difficult time replacing premier running back Chris Williams, top two-way linemen Steve Nikzad and Patrick Cunningham and linebacker-fullback Adorium Williams.

But both teams are solid at quarterback. For Santa Monica, senior Pat O’Hara, a second-team All-CIF selection, will try to outdo what he did last year--and that will take some doing. He threw for 1,976 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Beverly Hills quarterback Eric Mueller did about half as well as O’Hara, but he played about half as many games. After he passed for 820 yards and 13 touchdowns in seven games, Mueller suffered torn wrist ligaments against North Torrance and missed the rest of the year. But he’s 100% now and has grown an inch to 6-4 and weighs 205, a gain of 15 pounds.

Santa Monica finished the year with a 10-2 record, and Beverly was 8-3-2.

Of the other Westside CIF schools that play 11-man football, Culver City was 5-4-1, St. Monica was 4-4-1 and Daniel Murphy 3-5-1. Graduation riddled the three teams, and each may find it tough going this season.

Santa Monica--Kusserow is “very concerned about both lines; we don’t have a lot of depth.” But he added that quarterback O’Hara “looked fabulous” in summer passing leagues.

But O’Hara’s chief targets at wide receiver will be largely inexperienced, though talented. Travis Clark, a defensive back and backup quarterback last season, will play a lot at wide receiver, and so will junior Dominic Holland, up from a Bay League champion sophomore team that was undefeated. Like Clark, Holland will also play defensive back. “We have good guys outside who can run and catch,” Kusserow said.

Linemen who can block and tackle, however, are scarce. They include offensive tackles Dale Evans (6-0, 235), the only returning starter from both lines, and Tom Edelberg (6-5, 240), a reserve last year; junior center David Lee (5-11, 190) and junior Ramon del Castillo, who will play either offensive or defensive tackle.

Running back should be a strong point. Cedric Burris, the Vikings’ leading scorer in the playoffs, will start at tailback, and Bernard Shockley, son of former St. Louis Cardinals’ star Walt Shockley, will spell Burris at tailback and play fullback and defensive end.

Junior strong safety Mario Mitchell also will be a running back at times, and junior linebacker Eric Davis (6-1, 205) will play some fullback.

A top defender from the sophomore champions is junior linebacker Corwin Bailey (6-2, 210).

Kusserow, whose 11-year record is 84-33-2, is not happy that his team is picked second in the Coastal Conference in the CIF preseason poll and said he thinks the high ranking is based on the fact that he had the conference champion in 1981 and the runner-up the next year and was a winner last year.

In other conference rankings, Santa Monica’ Bay League rivals are rated highly. South Torrance is fifth, Palos Verdes is sixth, and West Torrance is included in the “others” category. Kusserow said that, if he was doing the ratings, “I’d pick West, which historically finishes higher that predicted.”

Opener: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Loyola at Santa Monica’s home field, Santa Monica College.

Beverly Hills--If quarterback Mueller is sound, so are his receivers, Greg Silver and David Barad, who are experienced and capable. Barad was second-team All-Ocean League last year.

Candidates to replace top running back Williams are Alfred Gragg (5-9, 165), a defensive back last season, and sophomore Willie Crawford (6-0, 185), up from a freshman team that was 6-3. Coach Stansbury said Crawford is pushing Gragg “real hard.”

Stansbury said his “greatest area of concern” is in both lines. Two-way tackle David Ellis is getting a lot of press, but that seems to be based on the fact that he has grown from 6-5, 240 to 6-7, 255. Stansbury said Ellis is “working on his quickness.”

Other experienced linemen are tackle Ben Grossman (5-9, 183), who will go both ways, and guard Martin Boags (5-10, 182). Newcomers are sophomore tight end Ezra Gottlieb (6-3, 195), who did well in summer passing leagues, and junior defensive tackle Joe Rosen (6-0, 215).

A promising transfer from Hacienda Heights Wilson is senior linebacker Jeff Hammond (5-11, 180).

Stansbury said his team is “very experienced at the skill positions and solid in the defensive secondary, but we’re inexperienced at offensive guard and linebacker.” He said he thinks the race in the Ocean League should be “neck and neck” between Hawthorne and North Torrance and that defending champion Torrance should also be strong.

Opener: 3 p.m. Friday at Rolling Hills.

Culver City--Culver Coach Fred Fuller has only two returning starters on his 27-man squad, and one is not Carnell Lake, the incomparable running back and linebacker who is now on the UCLA varsity.

The veterans are center Damien Penn (6-0, 215), second-team All-Ocean League last year, and guard-linebacker Shane Cox (6-0, 205). Lake’s replacement at running back is ace-back Lamont Montgomery (6-0, 193), who filled in last year after Lake was injured and lost for the last half of the season.

Fuller said his Centaurs will pass, which is comparable to discovering the Titanic.

Long before Fuller became head coach in 1979, Culver passed about as often as a camel needs water, and Fuller didn’t change that pattern. “I hate to tell you this, but we’re going to throw the ball,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Fuller doesn’t have an experienced passer, but he does have gifted athlete in Frank Dolce, a junior who kicked a 52-yard field goal as a freshman and last year led the league in punting with a 43-yard average.

Dolce will be the quarterback, and his wide receivers will be John Francois (5-9, 164), a part-time starter last year who also plays defensive back, and juniors--and identical twins--Kayton and Karlos Carter (both 6-0, 176). Dolce will probably throw some to Montgomery and to Shawn Nunley (6-0, 200), backup running back and a starter at linebacker. Wingback Bob Beighey (5-9, 165), who’ll also start at safety, may also catch a pass or two.

Fuller said that Ocean League coaches picked North Torrance and Hawthorne as the league’s top teams, and “we brought up the rear. I would go along with that.” As for discovering the pass, he said, “Win or lose, I think we’re doing the right thing by putting this in with the kids that we have.”

Opener: St. Bernard at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

St. Monica--In his first year as head coach, Dan Escalera did a pretty good job of bringing a program out of the doldrums as St. Monica finished 4-4-1, including handing St. Bernard its only Camino Real League loss, 13-12.

But he has lost 20 seniors and has only nine lettermen.

One of the latter is quarterback Adrian Gonzalez (5-11, 165), who is running ahead of last year’s starter, Darrin Jackson (6-0, 160). Both will also start as defensive backs.

Bill Huntoon (6-2, 200), a starting defensive tackle, will spend most of his time at center, though he’ll play some defense. Other veterans include two-way lineman Marco Padilla (5-11, 276), Sean Monroe (5-7, 150), who has been converted from wide receiver to fullback and is a three-year starter at strong safety; John Pearson (5-11, 180), who switches from defensive tackle to linebacker and guard; defensive end-guard Kevin Romero (5-11, 175) and wide receiver Sean Smith (5-9, 180).

Juniors new to the varsity include halfback-cornerback Don Hulett (5-10, 160), who gained 406 yards with the junior varsity last season; offensive tackle Darius McClair (6-1, 185) and cornerback Danny Gamboa (5-10, 140). Sophomore offensive lineman Kai Kaluna (5-10, 240) probably will start.

New assistant coaches are Art Garcia, a Loyola Marymount University student and former Loyola High player who will work with wide receivers and passers, and Brendan Murray, who will work on strength training.

Escalera said that because his team is young he is simplifying the offense and defense, that defending Camino Real champion St. Bernard and Verbum Dei should be strong and “we were picked fourth or fifth by league coaches.

“I guess on paper that’s where we belong. We will try to rely on self-discipline and an aggressive defense. And why wait till next year? Our No. 1-goal is to reach the CIF playoffs.”

St. Monica, which used to play home games at Santa Monica College, will have two home fields this year: Palisades High and St. Bernard’s. The Mariners will open against Whittier Christian at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Palisades.

Daniel Murphy--Murphy has a new coach in John Finn, 27, whose freshmen-sophomore team was 6-2 last year. Curt Yarrington, head coach last season, left Murphy to teach at another school.

Finn has a lot of new players on his 27-man squad, including 20 juniors. Top seniors include defensive lineman Milton Wilson (6-2, 225), a strong tackler who runs a 4.7 40 and will also play some fullback; flanker-defensive back Ken Sackett, center-defensive tackle Roosevelt Larks (6-0, 215) and linebacker Melvin Williams (5-11, 170).

Juniors who should play a lot are running back-defensive back DeJuan Talley (6-0, 180), running back-linebacker Rahmin Botshekan (5-10, 160) and quarterback Renato Velasquez. Richard Hicks, who started at quarterback last year, will play wide receiver, defensive end and defensive back.

Finn said the Santa Fe League should be a dogfight among St. Genevieve, Bellarmine-Jefferson, Chaminade and Cathedral. “Because of our inexperience, we’ll probably be fighting it out with Pater Noster down at the bottom.”

Home games are at Hollywood High, and the Nobles will open at home against Pius X at 7:30 p.m. Friday.