Shrine All-Star Football Game : North May Say It Can’t Measure Up, but It Has in the Past

Coaches at the Shrine all-star football game are singing the same refrain that has been heard since the contest returned to a statewide format two years ago.

North camp: We can’t match the athletes of the South. They have size and speed and All-Americans. They’ll win by several touchdowns.

South camp: Sell the sympathy somewhere else.

So, as the North prepares to meet the South in the 37th Shrine game at 6:30 tonight in the Rose Bowl, we hear it again.

“I think we’re definitely the underdogs,” said Benny Pierce of Saratoga High School, who will coach the North with Wayne Schneider of Tracy. “Most people think the South has better players, and they’re probably right. We have good players, but just not as many.”

On paper, he’s right. But so was anyone who said the same thing in 1986, when the game ended in a 3-3 tie, and in 1987, when the South had to come from behind to win, 12-6.

Will this be the year for the fold-spindle-and-mutilate treatment? “Ask Benny Pierce and he says we’ll win by 28 points,” said Fontana Coach Dick Bruich, who will guide the South along with Bob Richards of Thousand Oaks. “He’s selling that story to his team. Gosh, the poor little children up there don’t have a chance.”

And then Bruich laughed.

“I don’t buy it.”

For preparation and training regimen, go with the North, which may have been toughened by boot-camp-like conditions. Between practices for the first three days at Cal State Northridge, players and coaches dealt with having no hot water, cockroaches and rats in bedrooms and hallways, an occasional shortage of food and a three-quarter-mile walk each way to two-a-day workouts. They were later moved to another set of dorms, but, remembering their roots, the defense named itself the the Rat Pack.

The offense has no moniker, but one name should be good enough: Shawn Wills. The 6-foot, 180-pound UCLA-bound running back from Hanford has been the most impressive North player in camp.

“He’s exciting both as a runner and a receiver,” Pierce said. “He is a very elusive runner with speed, but he also has power. I was impressed right off the bat with his ability and the way he picks up an offense.”

The South completed its workouts without incident or shortage of hot water. Camp Content at Azusa Pacific has resulted in Bret Johnson of El Toro starting at quarterback and Mark Brunell of Santa Maria St. Joseph taking over in the second quarter. The coaches will then decide on which quarterback plays in the second half.

Look for Glyn Milburn of Santa Monica and Darian Hagan of L.A. Locke to catch passes out of the backfield as well as run. The strength of a solid defense are the linebackers, anchored by Notre Dame roommates-to-be Arnold Ale of Carson and Michael Smalls of Rialto Eisenhower.

Hagan, who was asked to do most everything at Locke last season, will take his versatility a step further tonight, when he will serve as the South’s kicker.

Pat Blottiaux, the All-Southern Section pick from Anaheim Servite, hurt his leg in a non-football related injury just before camp opened and was scratched from the lineup on Wednesday. Chris Noonan of Canoga Park Chaminade, probably the second-best kicker in the area, was unable to join the team because he played in an all-star game last Friday, after Shrine practices began.

Prep Notes

Prime Ticket will televise the game on tape delay Sunday at 7:30 p.m., with Geoff Witcher and Jack Snow. . . . Eight people, seven of whom played in the game, will be inducted into the Shrine Hall of Fame tonight: Paul Wiggin (1952), Bill Munson (1959), Craig Fertig (1960), Craig Morton (1961), John Huarte (1961), Nick Eddy (1962), Steve Bartkowski (1971) and Times columnist Jim Murray.