City 3-A Teams Find Skies More Friendly Than Those in 4-A

It appears that Valley high school teams in the City Section 3-A Division could teach their counterparts in the 4-A Division a thing or two about throwing the football.

Although typically more successful through the air than their 3-A neighbors, 4-A teams this season often have had negative results with the passing game. Some observations and statistical comparisons after the first month of play:

VALLEY FOOTBALL TOP 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Granada Hills N. Valley 4-0 2 2 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 4-0-1 3 3 Crespi Del Rey 4-1 4 4 Hart Foothill 4-1 5 5 Canyon Golden 1-3-1 6 7 Montclair Prep Alpha 5-0 7 8 Notre Dame S.F. Valley 4-1 8 9 Channel Islands Marmonte 3-2 9 10 Chaminade S.F. Valley 4-1 10 NR Alemany Del Rey 3-2

NR--Not ranked.

* After 27 games, starting quarterbacks in the 3-A Valley Pac-8 Conference have passed for 1,821 yards, 19 touchdowns and have thrown 18 interceptions.

Starting quarterbacks in the 4-A Northwest Valley Conference have thrown for only 1,545 yards and nine touchdowns in 27 games. They have thrown 23 interceptions.

* Among City quarterbacks in the Valley who have passed for more than 250 yards, only Andre Jackson of Reseda (3-A) has a completion rate of better than 50%, and he has thrown only 21 passes. Jackson, a junior, has completed 12 of 21 (57.1%) for 272 yards and four touchdowns.

* All in all, 1989 has not been the Year of the Quarterback among Valley City teams. The starting quarterbacks at Chatsworth, El Camino Real and Monroe have yet to accumulate 100 passing yards and none of those teams have scored through the air. Taft, Poly and North Hollywood starters also have failed to throw a scoring pass. Of these six teams, not surprisingly, only Taft (2-1) has a winning record.

* Bryan Martin of Granada Hills (four touchdowns, two interceptions), Danny Larson of Birmingham (five, two), Daniel Terry of Sylmar (four, two) and Jackson of Reseda (four, two) are the only starters with more touchdowns than interceptions.

* Overall, starters on the 16 teams are averaging a less-than-breathtaking 62.3 yards, .52 touchdowns and .76 interceptions a game.

And to think that only two seasons ago, Jeremy Leach of Granada Hills passed for 366 yards and five touchdowns in a single game.

Records: Todd Preston, Westlake’s junior quarterback, already has broken five school passing records and is on the verge of several others. Many of the marks were set by Brad Gossen, a junior quarterback at Washington State who has been sidelined because of torn ligaments in his left thumb.

Preston holds the career passing record with 1,930 yards, along with attempts in a game (37); attempts, season (185); attempts, career (330); and completions in a career (145). Preston is on pace to break the following records: touchdown passes in a season (14--Preston has seven); touchdown passes, career (14--Preston has 13); completions, season (94--Preston has 65).

Halfway through the regular season, Thousand Oaks fullback Chris Foster has nine rushing touchdowns. Marc Monestime had a school-record 18 in 1984.

Streaks: Granada Hills’ 21-0 shutout of El Camino Real was the Highlanders’ third shutout in a row against the Conquistadores and fifth win in succession. Granada Hills has outscored El Camino Real, 155-13, over that span.

Quartz Hill has defeated Antelope Valley just once in 25 games since Quartz Hill opened in 1964. That victory was in 1983 when USC running back Aaron Emanuel starred for Quartz Hill.

The Rebels will try for win No. 2 on Friday when they travel to Antelope Valley for both schools’ Golden League opener.

Special teams: Palmdale has returned four kicks for touchdowns. Tailback LaShante Parker returned a kickoff 91 yards and wide receiver John Johnson returned a kickoff 86 yards. Junior defensive back Rodney Williams has returned a kickoff 88 yards and a punt 53 yards for scores.

Slumping: Calabasas (0-5) has been outscored, 155-16. The Coyotes have lost 13 of their past 14 games.