White’s Interference Has Little Experience

Perhaps overlooked in the excitement surrounding Crespi’s No. 1 ranking by the National Prep Poll is a troublesome question: Who’s going to block for Russell White?

White led the state in rushing and set a California record for sophomores with 2,339 yards last season behind a large, experienced offensive line. When he takes his first handoff Friday night in the team’s season-opening game against Redlands, he may feel like he’s all alone.

All six offensive linemen, including Sean Howard (UCLA) and John Carpenter (Stanford), have graduated. “I’m going to miss all those guys,” White said.

Crespi’s new linemen are smaller, less experienced and there are fewer qualified reserves. If a few starters are lost to injuries, White could become the state’s biggest target instead of its leading rusher.

“We’ve got no depth. If we get banged up a little bit on the line, I’ll be at Monty’s drinking a beer,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said. “I’ll let someone else coach the team.”

Offensive line coach Joel Wilker thinks Redell may be overreacting, but he admits he’ll miss last year’s unit.

“Last year we knew they were good,” Wilker said. “If a team threw something new at us, I knew we’d adjust. To make it special we had Russell, who you know can get a touchdown anytime.”

Still, Wilker doesn’t sell last year’s replacements short--even though they are. Howard and Carpenter are each 6-5, and Crespi has no one to match their height this season.

“They’re all around six feet, kind of clones of each other,” Wilker said.

At the center of the line is Kyle Cummings, a 5-10, 225-pound senior, who can bench press 400 pounds and is the team’s strongest player. Darren Osti (6-0, 205) and Kevin Yates (6-0, 215) form the right side at guard and tackle. Quinn Fauria (6-1, 195), a junior, replaces Carpenter at tight end.

All four started at least one game last season and played for a considerable time in Crespi’s numerous one-sided games. Consequently, Wilker thinks of them as returning starters.

The other side of the line is less secure. Juniors Mike Parks (6-2, 205) and Chris Romero (5-11, 215) have won starting jobs but have yet to play a down at the varsity level.

“The big key is how we react, communicate and make line calls when we see something different,” Wilker said.

That consideration overrides his concern about the unit’s lack of size.

“In high school as long as you’re not tiny, quickness is a little more important than size. Of course, if a guy is 6-5, 250 and quick and wants to come here, we won’t tell him to go away.

“But our guys will be all right. I think by the start of the league season, we’ll be as good as we were last year.”

Field of vision: As though he didn’t have enough butterflies before the season opener against Redlands at the University of Redlands on Friday night, Crespi Coach Bill Redell now has to worry about his appearance. As he frets about football, Redell will also be thinking about the glare that television cameras will be picking up off his forehead.

Lights, camera, tension .

Thirty minutes before kickoff, Redell will be interviewed live in the Crespi locker room as part of a segment on “Good Evening America,” an hourlong, nationally televised special.

The program will air at 10 p.m. in Los Angeles on KABC-TV, Channel 7. Charles Gibson and Joan Lunden will be the hosts.

“What we’re trying to show is what’s going on at 10 o’clock--all over the country and America,” said John Goodman, a producer with the show, which is based in New York. “Let’s face it, one of the big things happening on Fridays is football.”

Goodman said Crespi was chosen because of its No. 2 ranking in the USA Today high school poll and because the 7:30 game time fits perfectly into the show’s format. It will be shown live in the Eastern time zone.

Goodman said the show will cut away to the game “two or three times” while it’s in progress. Redell probably will be wired for sound and at least one remote camera will roam the sidelines to capture the atmosphere of the game from the players’ perspective, Goodman said.

Season’s greetings: What does the Canyon-Hart season opener mean to the people of the Santa Clarita Valley?

Last year, about 8,000 fans filled the stands at College of the Canyons and watched Canyon win, 42-32.

“But there were probably more people there than that,” Hart Coach Rick Scott said. “The bleachers were full and it was standing room only everywhere else.”

Hart, which hasn’t beaten the Cowboys since 1982, will get another chance Friday night at College of the Canyons.

“People are starting to talk about it,” he said. “Everywhere I go, people are stopping me and asking, ‘Who’s gonna win?’ They don’t even say hello first. They see me wearing my hat.”

Do people really recognize Scott as Hart’s coach?

Said Scott: “In the fast-food places, they do.”