The High Schools : Peery Must Prove Resolve to Teammates

Canyon running back Chris Peery strapped his teammates onto his strong, wide back last season and carried them further than anyone expected. After a 1-2 start, the Cowboys won nine consecutive games behind the relentless inside running of Peery, who plowed the team’s way into the semifinal round of the Southern Section Coastal Conference playoffs where the Cowboys fell to Channel Islands.

Peery rushed for 1,290 yards, scored 19 touchdowns and was the state’s sophomore player of the year. “He’s certainly the best sophomore athlete I’ve ever coached,” Coach Harry Welch said.

But last year’s work load may seem slight compared to the burden he carries into 1988. “I’ve probably got some proving to do,” Peery said Friday.

Peery rejoined the Canyon program Friday, five months after he quit the team for the second time in his brief career. Peery, who left the team for two days during the regular season, quit again during the off-season when personal problems left him academically ineligible and forced him into a special school program designed for troubled students.

He struggled through that program and regained his eligibility and then convinced Welch he was ready to play football again. His teammates may prove a harder sell.

Quarterback Rod Baltau may be the player who most benefits from Peery’s return. The senior quarterback passed for 1,095 yards last season and has shown he is among the most improved players in the Valley area with a strong summer passing league season that includes the L. A. Games championship.

Peery’s presence in the backfield figures to do nothing but enhance Baltau’s effectiveness as a passer. Still, the quarterback reserves judgment about Peery’s return.

“I’m sure everyone will be keeping any an eye on him to make sure he’s working hard. Will he? I don’t know. He’s a big question mark. I think the team will have a show-me attitude,” Baltau said.

Baltau doesn’t question Welch’s ability to handle the situation, however. “If Peery starts to do that little act, thinking he’s the best there is, Welch will either change his ways or get rid of him,” he said.

Stepping down: Paul Sutton’s first priority as athletic director at Providence is to drop the school from the Delphic League in the Southern Section 1-A Division to the Liberty League in the Small Schools Division. Sutton, who also serves as the boys’ basketball coach, has made arrangements to make the school’s sixth year in the Delphic League its last.

“Five years ago it was a good move to go the Delphic League because we had some good athletes in the school,” he said. “But our enrollment is down to 200 and we’re not getting the same athletes.”

Sutton led the Pioneers to the playoffs in his first season three years ago but has won only only league game since. Last season, the team finished 1-19.

Making a name: In recent years, the Valley area has had nationally ranked baseball and football teams, but when it came to boys’ volleyball . . . well, the Valley has had strong baseball and football teams.

But in this month’s Junior Olympic National Volleyball championships in Fort Collins, Colo., the SoCal Volleyball Club made its mark on the national scene.

The club’s 18-and-under team and 14-and-under team each finished fifth in the week-long tournament. “We kind of let them know the kids from the Valley can play volleyball,” Coach Marvin Hall said. “We woke people up. That one match really established us as a club.”

Switched priorities: The enthusiasm of college scouts at the Colorado tournament has prompted Reseda’s Coley Kyman to reconsider his athletic priorities. The 6-foot, 5-inch quarterback led the Reseda football team to the City Section 2-A championship game last fall as a junior and in the spring helped the volleyball team to the City 3-A title.

Kyman had insisted that football was king, but after competing in the Junior Olympics with the SoCal team team, he has adopted a new stance.

“I’m going to concentrate on both sports as hard as I can,” he said.

Hall said that Kyman attracted a lot of interest from college coaches at the Junior Olympics.

“There were probably 15 college coaches that asked me about him,” Hall said.

Staff writer Chris J. Parker contributed to this notebook.