It’s Muir vs. Powerful Banning in Football Passing League

In recent years, Muir High School of Pasadena has been among the top CIF Southern Section teams in its division in football and water polo.

So perhaps it is not surprising that the Mustangs have advanced into the final rounds in both sports at the 21st annual L. A. Games summer prep sports festival.

The Mustangs have reached the final 16 in seven-man passing league football and will play L. A. City power Banning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at West Torrance High.

The game matches teams that are familiar with each other. Muir defeated Banning, 6-3, in a non-league game last season. The teams will also meet in non-league play in September.

Muir displayed a strong offense in rolling over its first two opponents in the tournament last week. The Mustangs defeated Belmont, 34-6, and San Pedro, 27-6. Banning, which had a first round bye, edged Palos Verdes, 20-19, in the second round.

In water polo, the Mustangs will face Fontana in the semifinals at 8:50 a.m. Sunday at El Camino College. The winner will play for the title at noon Sunday at the same site.

Muir defeated San Bernardino, 12-11, Harvard, 10-8, and Bell Gardens, 17-3, last week. Fontana coasted to a 14-5 win over San Gorgonio in the quarterfinals.

Two other San Gabriel Valley teams, Workman and San Gabriel, are alive in football.

Workman, which finished fourth in the Valle Vista League last season, might be the more surprising of the two. The Lobos, who face Beverly Hills at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at West Torrance, crushed San Marino, 34-14, in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.

San Gabriel, which has a strong passing attack led by quarterback Dan Bachman, will meet Arlington at 9:40 a.m. Saturday at West Torrance. San Gabriel shut out Lincoln, 12-0, in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.

The quarterfinals are also Saturday and the semifinals and championship game are Sunday at El Camino.

In addition, Gladstone has reached the quarterfinals in baseball and Arcadia has advanced to the title game in girls soccer.

Gladstone, which reached the CIF 2-A quarterfinals last season, has strung together a powerful offense in winning its first two games in the tournament. The Gladiators overpowered Santa Monica, 12-3, in the first round and Grant, 8-1, in the second round to set up a quarterfinal game against Los Alamitos at 9 a.m. Saturday at El Camino.

Arcadia has allowed only one goal in advancing to the girls soccer final against Hawthorne at 10 a.m. Sunday at El Camino. The Apaches defeated El Segundo, 6-0; La Canada, 3-1, and Mira Costa, 1-0.

Dennis Keihn, athletic director at Cal State Los Angeles since 1982, has resigned to accept a similar position at Northeastern Illinois in Chicago.

President James Rosser said Cal State expects to name a successor this week.

Keihn, whose resignation takes effect July 1, said he was pleased with his accomplishments at Cal State.

“Obviously we strengthened the academics within our athletic program and the retention rate (of athletes) is up 85%,” he said. “Also, the graduation rate (of athletes) is up. At the same time, we’ve improved the quality of our athletic program in our won-loss record.”

Keihn leaves a program that enjoyed one of its best athletic seasons in recent years. Among the highlights were the women’s cross-country team, which finished second in NCAA Division II, and the men’s track and women’s tennis teams, which finished sixth.

In Northeastern Illinois, Keihn will take over at a program that is expected to move up to Division I. The school currently competes in the NAIA.

Cal Poly Pomona has dropped women’s gymnastics.

School officials said the decision was based on a lack of interest by area high schools and the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and lack of regional and national support by the NCAA at the Division II level.

Nationally, there are fewer than 50 schools competing in the sport at the Division II level and only three are from California. In addition, the NCAA does not sponsor a Division II championship.

“It is disappointing to see the gymnastics program go,” said President, James Bell. “Historically it has had a rich and proud tradition on this campus. I am sorry that circumstances make it necessary to discontinue such a fine sport.”

Pomona has competed in gymnastics since 1975. But Ray Johnson, who coached the Broncos the last two seasons, said he didn’t want to place the blame for the demise of the program on the school.

“I think everyone first wants to blame the university or the athletic director when a program is dropped,” he said. “But it all started when the NCAA dropped its supports of Division II gymnastics. A lot of programs were dropped after that.

“The Cal Poly athletic department has treated this gymnastics program with a lot of style and class.”