PREP FOOTBALL ALL-STARS 1988 : Times All-Star Gridders Make ’88 a Memorable Season

Players named to The Times Westside All-Star High School Football Team helped accomplish some things that local fans will long remember. Notable achievements included:

- The resurgence of the St. Monica High School program under first-year Coach Angelo Jackson. The Mariners went from years of losing (2-8 last year, 1-9 in 1986) to a 9-2 record this year.

- The blocking of the Santa Monica offensive line, one of the best--maybe the best--in Southern California.

- The turnaround of Coach Al Dellinger’s Venice High team from an uncharacteristic 1-7 last year to a more-like-Venice 7-3 this year.

- Brentwood’s CIF Southern Section championship in 8-man football.

- The running of six backs who each gained more than 1,000 yards, generally regarded as a hallmark of excellence. The six are Mike Wagner and Diallo Hall of St. Monica, Erick McKinney of Venice, Mark Harper of Santa Monica, Mario Mattison of Fairfax and Jay Langan of Brentwood. Those runners and top players at other positions, including kickers, were chosen for this year’s first and second teams.

The 23-man teams were selected primarily in a poll of prep coaches. The order in which a coach nominated his players was an important, but not necessarily decisive, factor for placing them on the first or second team. If a player was not nominated by his coach, he was not considered.

Some players are out of position because The Times attempted to select the best athletes, regardless of position.

The first team on offense has receivers Jason Lucky of St. Bernard and Michael Moore of Beverly Hills and linemen Kevin Kelly, John Ziegler and Dan Wagner, all of Santa Monica; Jesus Moreno of St. Monica and Mario Goins of Westchester.

The quarterback is John Johnson of Beverly Hills, and the running backs are Mike Wagner, Mattison and Harper. The kicker is Jay Fields of Hamilton.

On defense, the linemen are Steve Lopez of Venice, Derrick Quinn of Daniel Murphy, Nader Mousavi of Beverly Hills and Rynaldo Woodard of University. The linebackers are Craig Pringle of Fairfax and Jerry Black of Santa Monica.

Defensive backs are McKinney of Venice and Mark Ricks of Fairfax, Richard Talley of University, Paxton Griffin and Larry Avery of Westchester.

Members of the first team will be honored at the annual Times High School Football Awards Brunch at 9 a.m. Sunday at the Anaheim Hilton & Towers, 777 Convention Way.

Featured speaker will be second-year UC Berkeley Coach Bruce Snyder, a former Utah State coach and Los Angeles Rams assistant. Snyder guided the Golden Bears to a 5-5-1 record this season.

Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times Fund, the invitational event will bring together players on the first teams on all-star squads in 12 Times circulation areas: Westside, Central Los Angeles, Orange County, San Gabriel Valley, Southeast, South Coast, Glendale, Centinela-South Bay, San Fernando Valley, San Diego County, Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties) and Ventura County.

Parents and the head coach of each all-star have been invited. All high school head football coaches are welcome. Each player will receive a plaque and certificate. A lineman, back and coach of the year will be announced for each Times section, and they will receive trophies.

Kelly and Pringle are the only first-team repeaters from last year. Lucky was a second-team selection last year.

The state’s leading receiver in the regular season, St. Bernard’s Lucky was also a defensive back and returned punts and kickoffs. In 10 games he had 73 receptions for 1,418 yards and 13 touchdowns. In one game he had 13 catches for 329 yards and 4 touchdowns, second on the Southern Section’s all-time list.

In 10 games, Moore, who also is a defensive back, caught 47 passes for 1,053 yards (an average of 22.4 yards a reception) and 9 touchdowns for Beverly Hills. He is also a top basketball and baseball player.

Santa Monica Coach Tebb Kusserow said that Kelly, an All-Southern Section player as a junior, was one of the best linemen ever to play at the school. A hard worker, he also played on the defensive line.

Regarded as Santa Monica’s second-best blocker behind Kelly, Ziegler was characterized by Kusserow as “strong, quick and physical.”

A 3-year varsity player, Goins started as an offensive and defensive lineman for two years for Westchester and was equally tough in both capacities.

Wagner led Santa Monica in playing time, seldom coming out of the game either at offensive tackle, defensive end or linebacker. He led his team in sacks with seven.

Moreno started for three years as a 2-way tackle. He was the leading tackler for St. Monica this season and the glue of the offensive line.

In his first year as starting quarterback, Johnson of Beverly Hills completed 107 of 222 passes for 1,664 yards and 11 touchdowns during the regular season.

Only a sophomore, Mattison didn’t play much for Fairfax in the first three games, but he still had a great season. In nine games, he rushed for 1,329 yards and 7 touchdowns on 146 carries. As a defensive back, he averaged three unassisted tackles and five assists a game and had one interception.

Wagner was one of the main catalysts in the return to respectability of St. Monica High football. In 10 games, he gained 1,373 yards on 132 carries--an average of 10.4 yards or a first down on each rush. He also scored 28 touchdowns, including 4 on kickoff returns, the longest covering 95 yards. He caught 28 passes for 402 yards.

Harper was a workhorse for Santa Monica. In nine games he rushed for 1,540 yards on 260 carries and scored 27 touchdowns. Coach Kusserow called him “tough, physical . . . and unselfish” and said that he did best in big games.

Fields kicked 7 field goals, and his longest carried 52 yards. He also kicked extra points, and his kickoffs reached the end zone most of the time. He was also Hamilton’s top runner, rushing for 837 yards, and caught 16 passes for 200 yards.

Lopez was a fierce defensive end, topping Venice with 58 tackles and 26 assists, and also had 9 sacks and 6 deflected passes. On offense, he caught 21 passes for 287 yards, best on his team, and scored 3 touchdowns. He also threw a touchdown pass, returned punts and snapped the ball on punts.

A defensive and offensive guard for Daniel Murphy, Quinn usually found he had to get through two blockers on defense. Yet he was in on 70 tackles, set school records with 6 sacks in one game and 18 for the season and made 2 tackles for safeties.

Mousavi, a quick, tough Beverly Hills defensive end, had 70 tackles and led the Normans in sacks with 10.

A lot of quarterbacks found themselves on their backs looking up at University’s Woodard, who had deposited them on the ground before they could get off a pass. A linebacker and running back, he also tackled a lot of running backs before they could get to the line of scrimmage.

Fairfax linebacker-tight end Pringle led a tough defense that was stingy about letting opponents score. He averaged about eight tackles a game.

Black was a premier linebacker for Santa Monica. He had 54 tackles and 42 assists, caused 5 fumbles with hard hits and recovered 5 fumbles.

Venice Coach Dellinger compared McKinney to Keyvan Jenkins as a running back and to Dana McLemore as a defensive back. Not bad comparisons; both ex-Gondoliers went on to play professionally. In 10 games, he gained 1,269 yards on 177 carries, caught 18 passes for 292 yards and scored 12 touchdowns (8 rushing, 3 receiving and 1 on an interception).

If Mattison ran for Fairfax, Ricks, a quarterback and defensive back, ran the offensive and defensive show. Ron Price, co-coach of the Lions with Earl Smith, said that Ricks, who had five interceptions, was “an exceptional defensive back” who “shut down all his opponents.”

University Coach Brad Ratcliff called Talley “a pesky and quick defensive back who broke up many passes in the secondary.” He also returned punts and kickoffs and scored on an 84-yard kickoff return against Manual Arts.

Hamilton Coach Dave Lertzman called Griffin “the best cornerback I have coached (and) one of the best in the state. Teams will not throw or run to his side.” Lertzman also said that only four passes were completed against Griffin over two years.

One of the players of the year in the City’s Sunset League, Avery intercepted 5 passes in 10 games as a defensive back, and he was also Westchester’s top receiver with 15 catches for 393 yards and 3 touchdowns. His coach, Larry Wein, called him “quick, fast and intelligent.”

The second team on offense has wide receivers Brock Moseley of Daniel Murphy and Brian Townsley of University and linemen Eric Banducci of Santa Monica, Ricky Garcia of St. Monica, T. J. Henderson of Venice, Ernesto Chacin of Fairfax and Jesse Ramirez of Venice.

Chris Leaton of St. Monica is the second-unit quarterback, and the running backs are Diallo Hall of St. Monica, Jay Langan of Brentwood and Tim Holliday of Westchester. The kicker is Beverly Hills place-kicker Rafael Fernandez.

On defense, the second-team linemen are Mike Dunford of St. Monica, Pat McIntyre of Santa Monica, Eric Fitzpatrick of St. Bernard and James McIver of Westchester. The linebackers are Henry Alvarenga of Culver City, Doug Nelson of St. Bernard and Jerry Wente of Hollywood.

Defensive backs: Terrence Sullivan of St. Bernard, A. D. Williams of Santa Monica, Vincent Bonner of Westchester and Eric Shambourger of Hamilton.

PREP FOOTBALL ALL-STARS 1988: First Team

OFFENSE Name: Jason Lucky Position: Wide Receiver School: St. Bernard Height: 5-11 Weight: 170 Year: Senior Name: Michael Moore Position: Wide Receiver School: Beverly Hills Height: 6-4 Weight: 185 Year: Senior Name: Kevin Kelly Position: Lineman School: Santa Monica Height: 6-3 Weight: 255 Year: Senior Name: John Ziegler Position: Lineman School: Santa Monica Height: 6-2 Weight: 225 Year: Senior Name: Mario Goins Position: Lineman School: Westchester Height: 5-8 Weight: 205 Year: Senior Name: Dan Wagner Position: Lineman School: Santa Monica Height: 6-4 Weight: 228 Year: Senior Name: Jesus Moreno Position: Lineman School: St. Monica Height: 6-4 Weight: 280 Year: Senior Name: John Johnson Position: Quarterback School: Beverly Hills Height: 6-0 Weight: 175 Year: Senior Name: Mario Mattison Position: Back School: Fairfax Height: 5-10 Weight: 160 Year: Sophamore Name: Mike Wagner Position: Back School: St. Monica Height: 5-7 Weight: 155 Year: Senior Name: Mark Harper Position: Back School: Santa Monica Height: 6-0 Weight: 160 Year: Junior Name: Jay Fields Position: Kicker School: Hamilton Height: 5-5 Weight: 150 Year: Junior PREP FOOTBALL ALL-STARS 1988: First Team

DEFENSE Name: Steve Lopez Position: Lineman School: Venice Height: 6-0 Weight: 170 Year: Senior Name: Derrick Quinn Position: Lineman School: Daniel Murphy Height: 5-9 Weight: 170 Year: Senior Name: Nader Mousavi Position: Lineman School: Beverly Hills Height: 5-10 Weight: 160 Year: Senior Name: Rynaldo Woodward Position: Lineman School: University Height: 5-11 Weight: 200 Year: Senior Name: Craig Pringle Position: Linebacker School: Fairfax Height: 6-0 Weight: 195 Year: Senior Name: Jerry Black Position: Linebacker School: Santa Monica Height: 5-10 Weight: 205 Year: Senior Name: Erick McKinney Position: Back School: Venice Height: 5-9 Weight: 160 Year: Senior Name: Mark Ricks Position: Back School: Fairfax Height: 5-9 Weight: 150 Year: Senior Name: Richard Talley Position: Back School: University Height: 5-10 Weight: 155 Year: Senior Name: Paxton Griffin Position: Back School: Hamilton Height: 5-9 Weight: 160 Year: Senior Name: Larry Avery Position: Back School: Westchester Height: 5-8 Weight: 142 Year: Senior PREP FOOTBALL ALL-STARS 1988: Second Teams

OFFENSE

Name School Position Height Weight Year Brock Moseley Daniel Murphy WR 5-10 130 12 Brian Townsley University WR 6-0 171 12 Eric Banducci Santa Monica OL 6-2 251 11 Ricky Garcia St. Monica OL 6-3 265 12 T. J. Henderson Venice OL 5-9 233 12 Ernesto Chacin Fairfax OL 5-9 235 12 Jesse Ramirez Venice OL 5-9 200 12 Chris Leaton St. Monica QB 6-0 180 12 Diallo Hall St. Monica RB 6-0 185 11 Jay Langan Brentwood RB 6-1 175 12 Tim Holliday Westchester RB 6-1 180 11 Rafael Fernandez Beverly Hills K 6-0 175 12

DEFENSE

Name School Position Height Weight Year Mike Dunford St. Monica DL 6-3 205 12 Pat McIntyre Santa Monica DL 6-4 230 12 Eric Fitzpatrick St. Bernard DL 6-3 265 12 James McIver Westchester DL 5-10 195 12 Henry Alvarenga Culver City LB 6-1 195 12 Doug Nelson St. Bernard LB 6-3 215 12 Jerry Wente Hollywood LB 6-2 190 12 Terrence Sullivan St. Bernard DB 6-1 185 11 A. D. Williams Santa Monica DB 6-0 175 12 Vincent Bonner Westchester DB 5-11 180 12 Eric Shambourger Hamilton DB 5-6 150 12