Stroh Facing Summer Rebuilding Project

Darryl Stroh recognizes the faces but he is still having trouble with the names. Perhaps that’s an occupational hazard in high school coaching--nearly every season warrants a rebuilding project.

Stroh’s construction work at Granada Hills ranks among the most extensive for Valley-area football programs. The Highlanders broke the Banning-Carson hold on the City Section 4-A Division football title, upsetting Carson last season, 27-14, to become the first Valley team in 12 years to win the championship.

But Granada Hills lost the bulk of last year’s offensive attack to graduation. Gone are quarterback Jeremy Leach, running back Jamal Farmer, tight end Sean Brown and wide receivers Kyle Jan, Kevin Carmichael and Darryl Stephenson.

Leach and Brown shared MVP honors at last year’s L. A. Games competition, which the Highlanders won. Granada Hills opens defense of its title at 10:45 a.m. this morning at West Torrance High.

In his search for skilled replacements, Stroh has auditioned numerous players during spring passing-league sessions. Although he has monitored their moves, the names sometimes escape him. During an interview last week, he frequently checked with assistant coaches to match first names with faces.

“I’ve been fairly pleased with our underclassmen but our kids are really green,” he said. “It’s important that every time we play this year that we learn from our mistakes. I’ve also got to use the time to learn who the better kids are.”

A name worth learning is Gadomski. Chris Gadomski leads a group of three players competing for the quarterback job. His older brother Mike, a starting outside linebacker in ‘87, will double as tight end next fall.

Chris Gadomski (6-0, 160) was No. 3 on the depth chart last season as a sophomore. He holds a slight edge over Chris Perdigao (6-0, 165), last year’s B team quarterback, and John Franco (6-1, 170), who played behind Perdigao. All three will play today, Stroh said.

“Gadomski has a little more experience with the system and understands what’s going on. The other guys are raw. Franco has a real good arm but has trouble reading stuff and makes wrong decisions,” he said.

Stroh has moved nose guard Mario Walker to fullback and he said that running back Leon Glasgow has had a strong spring. The leading candidates at wide receiver are junior Jermaine Love and senior Silvan Battaile.

Despite the team’s inexperience, Stroh and offensive coordinator Tom Harp will stick with the sophisticated pass attack that has become synonymous with Granada Hills.

“We’re going to run the same plays, Stroh said. “We might emphasize running a little more but we lost everybody up front, too, so we might not be able to run.”

Standing pat: Rex McMackin spent his senior year at Chatsworth with the top down, the wind in his hair and his foot on the gas pedal.

McMackin, the Chancellor left fielder, cruised to campus each day in a 1987 Chevrolet Corvette convertible, which his father awarded him after a highly successful baseball season in ’87.

“I had a car that was having a bunch of problems,” McMackin said. “My dad said, ‘You make All-City and we’re going to get you a new car.’ I think he said it because he didn’t think I could make it.”

McMackin not only was an All-City selection, but he led the team with a .522 batting average, a feat he repeated this past season by hitting .450.

What did you win this year, Rex?

“Just a pat on the back,” he said.

New addition: With the addition of Enrique Lopez to the Canyon football staff, Cowboy Coach Harry Welch now boasts two former head coaches on his five-man staff.

Lopez, who was fired in January after four years as Alemany’s head coach, joined the staff this week and brought with him his former offensive coordinator, Scott Marshall. Lopez will coach the tight ends and inside linebackers and Marshall will coach wide receivers and defensive backs.

Lopez and Marshall join Rich Montanio--the head coach at Chaminade before joining the Canyon staff last fall--Brian Stiman and Mike Reno to complete one of the Valley-area’s deepest and most talented staffs.

Defense department: Eddie Hill, the 6-0 guard who transferred to Cleveland after averaging 16.9 points last season for the Burroughs basketball team, fits right into the Cavalier offense. Cleveland Coach Bob Braswell compares him to former guard Michael Gray, who will play at Long Beach State next season.

But Hill may find playing time scarce unless he improves his play when the other team has the ball.

“Eddie is a great offensive player but you have to play defense to play here,” Braswell said.

Hill will have plenty of opportunity to work on his defense: The Cavaliers will play in three summer leagues, including their own, which begins Monday.

The rich get richer: Loyola infielder Jason Evans, who some scouts have compared to Kansas City Royals shortstop Kurt Stillwell of Thousand Oaks, is considering transferring to Chatsworth.

The Chancellors have won eight consecutive West Valley League titles and they put together a 24-game winning streak en route to the No. 1 ranking in the nation at one point this past season.

Chatsworth Coach Bob Lofrano has heard the rumors about the possibility of getting Evans but insists he has kept his distance.

“I’ve heard great things about him but I’ve never seen him play,” Lofrano said. “He lives on the West Side, so he would have to move before he could come here.”

Add Lofrano: The Chatsworth coach will lead an all-star team of high school players in a statewide tournament next month and has finalized his part in selecting the 20-player team. The team is part of the “area-code” tournament in which teams representing geographical sections of the state based on telephone area codes will compete in a six-team event July 14-17 at San Diego State.

The tournament includes teams from five California regions plus the Australian junior national team. Lofrano chose 13 players from the 818 and 805 area codes. Arcadia Coach John Meiers will select seven players from the San Gabriel Valley.

Lofrano’s selections include Pierre Amado, Rex McMackin and Joel Wolfe of Chatsworth; Adam Schulhofer of Canoga Park; Ryan McGuire of El Camino Real; Gino Tagliaferri of Kennedy; Casey Burrill of Hart; Bobby Hughes of Notre Dame; Scott Sharts of Simi Valley; Brian Eldridge of Monroe; Greg Nealon of Poly; and Steve Dailey and David Eggert of Ventura.

Return to form: Sharts set the Southern Section career home run record with 32 and seemed a lock to break the single-season mark but got stuck at 15, one shy of the record. He tailed off at the end of the season, hitting only one home run in six games in May.

Sharts’ woes continued in last weekend’s Bernie Milligan All-Star Game when he allowed four runs in two innings and had one single in three at-bats. But when he showed up at last Sunday’s Ventura County All-Star game, he must have had vengeance on his mind.

The 6-6, 220-pound first baseman whacked two doubles, a single and a three-run home run in five at-bats. He left with five runs batted in and the MVP award in the South’s 8-7 loss to the North.

Staff writer Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.