THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Still No Southern Comfort in the Northwestern Conference

The roughest, toughest Cowboys in the Northwest were kicked out on their keisters this week.

The law, tired of this ornery lot punching out the same defenseless doggies year after year, told them to pack it up and head for the coast.

It was bound to happen eventually.

Winners of 38 consecutive shoot-outs on the football field, Canyon High had the opposition crying, “no mas!”

It was time for the guys with badges, in this case the Southern Section, to kick the bullies out. Which it did.

The Southern Section announced this week that it was moving Canyon and the rest of the Golden League into tougher football territory--the Coastal Conference--beginning next season.

The Cowboys, which have won three consecutive Northwestern Conference titles, had overstayed their welcome. It was time for them to challenge some of the biggest and baddest guns from another area, the Southern Section reasoned.

“Fine,” said Coach Harry Welch of the Cowboys. “Round ‘em up.”

And coaches, players and fans from other Northwestern Conference schools were turning cartwheels. Finally, the guys with the black hats had been chased out of town.

Their glee was short-lived.

When the Southern Section shuffled the conferences, it also removed the Los Padres and Ocean leagues from the Northwestern Conference. The Pioneer, Rio Hondo and Foothill leagues moved in.

So now, instead of having Canyon to deal with, the Northwestern Conference holdovers must face Hart, Canyon’s not-so-friendly neighbor to the southwest.

That’s the same Hart team that almost ended Canyon’s win streak in the first game of last season.

Canyon defeated Hart, 6-3, when Hart quarterback Jim Bonds was stopped just short of the goal line on the last play of the game.

Hart went on to win the Foothill League championship and advance to the Coastal Conference title game before losing to Muir, 28-14.

Canyon or Hart? What a wonderful choice. It’s like being asked by a judge before execution whether you prefer electricity or gas.

Hart returns eight starters on offense and might well be considered the favorite when it renews its rivalry with Canyon in the season opener next fall.

The switch doesn’t improve the balance of either conference. Sure, Canyon and Antelope Valley, the Northwestern Conference championship finalists in 1985, have moved. But Hart isn’t the only strong team coming into the conference.

Schurr, which finished second in the Foothill League last season, has a football program that is perennially stronger than any of the Golden League schools, except Canyon.

Enrollment figures contradict the move. Foothill League schools have an average of 225 more students than Golden League schools. Hart, with approximately 2,000 students, will be the third-largest school in the new Northwestern Conference. Only Leuzinger and Arroyo Grande have more students.

Schools have until April 4 to appeal the Southern Section’s recommendation. It is unlikely any of them will do so.

The schools probably will wait until the Southern Section rearranges teams within leagues for the 1987-88 school year.

There is a need for that already. Switching leagues from conference to conference solves nothing. Moving teams from league to league might be a better idea.

Hart Coach Rick Scott has suggested that Hart, Canyon and Saugus--all schools in the Santa Clarita Valley--be put in the same league.

That might be convenient and profitable for those schools, of course, but other changes would have to be made to keep the league sizes comparable.

There are no easy answers.

The questions are much easier (and more fun) to come up with.

Such as this one: If you’re from a Northwestern Conference school, who do you call to complain if Hart beats Canyon?