No. 1 Ranking Offers Crespi Little Comfort

Rankings being as capricious as they are, when Crespi High football Coach Bill Redell learned that the Southern Section ranked his team No. 1 in Division I on Wednesday he sighed. Crespi, you see, plays a schedule chock-full of teams aiming at some ranking or another--preferably Crespi’s.

Giving teams that extra incentive makes life even tougher. And making it through the Celts’ schedule is already akin to tap-dancing across a mine field.

“Heck, it all becomes a matter of whether we can survive for 14 games,” Redell said. “Or even 10 games, for that matter.”

Should Crespi advance to the Division I (formerly the Big Five Conference) final, as it did in 1986, the Celts would play 14 games. Between Crespi and another championship game, however, are five teams ranked in the state’s top 20 by Cal-Hi Sports.

“It can be fun being the No. 1 team,” Redell said. “But on the other hand, everybody wants to have your head. If anybody else in California has a tougher schedule than we do, I’d sure like to see it.”

The Celts have had mixed results with rankings in the past. Crespi entered last season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today and promptly was tied at Redlands, 17-17, excerpts of which were shown on national television. The Celts eventually finished No. 4 in the state rankings.

This year, Crespi again opens with Redlands--this time at Birmingham High on Sept. 9--but it is the remainder of the nonleague schedule that makes Redell shiver.

On successive weeks, beginning Sept. 16, Crespi plays host to Palmdale (ranked No. 20 by Cal-Hi); faces San Fernando (No. 18) at Birmingham; visits Servite (No. 4) and plays host to Muir (No. 7 in Southern Section Division II). On Oct. 28, Crespi visits Mater Dei (No. 12) at Santa Ana Bowl.

For a capper, Crespi--which finished 10-2-1 last year and advanced to the Big Five Conference semifinals--meets Del Rey League rival Loyola in the last game of the regular season, Nov. 12 at Glendale High. Loyola, which defeated Crespi, 15-8, last year to win the Del Rey title, is ranked second in Division I by the Southern Section and No. 1 in the state by Cal-Hi (Crespi is ranked No. 2 by Cal-Hi).

Redell said that if Crespi, which has 13 returning starters, including All-American running back Russell White, manages to make it through the season unbeaten, only then will he fully place stock in the rankings.

“If we make it through those 10 games,” he said, “then there won’t be any question that we deserve it.”