Prep Notes : Leuzinger Coach’s Greatest Fear--an Injured Player--Has Been Realized 5 Times

“If we can avoid injuries, we’ll be competitive.”

If a high school football coach says it once, he says it a thousand times. Losing a key player to injury is perhaps his greatest fear.

With that in mind, it’s been quite a frightful season for Steve Carnes, Leuzinger High’s head coach.

Leuzinger has lost a starter to injury in each of its five games, forcing Carnes to juggle his lineup on a weekly basis. He said the Olympians will be without three of their four top players Friday night, when they play host to Beverly Hills in a big Bay League game.

“We’re not the same team we were at the beginning of the year,” Carnes said. “It’s been frustrating. We’re always searching for replacements.”

The latest setback occurred last Friday when linebacker Manny Gonzales, the Olympians’ leading tackler, suffered a sprained ankle late in a 16-16 tie with Rolling Hills. Carnes said Gonzales is doubtful for Friday’s game, but should return next week.

Gonzales’ injury is relatively minor compared to what has happened to some of Leuzinger’s other players. For example:

* Senior Quang Banks, the team’s top receiver and defensive back, went down with a knee injury Sept. 28 against Inglewood and is out for the year. Carnes said Banks underwent major surgery last week and his recovery is expected to stretch over several months.

* Starting tailback Marvin Johnson suffered a knee injury in the third game Sept. 22 against Morningside and is not expected to play for two or three more weeks. The junior’s injury also creates a void on defense, where he started at linebacker.

* Punter Mike Oliver was lost for the season to a knee injury when Bishop Montgomery blocked his first punt in the teams’ opener on Sept. 8.

* Vernal Williams, a defensive end and backup tailback, suffered a shoulder injury in the second game Sept. 15 against San Pedro. He will return to the lineup this week.

Despite the injuries, Leuzinger (4-0-1 overall, 1-0-1 in the Bay League) has managed to stay unbeaten and ranked in the CIF-Southern Section Division II poll. But the Olympians’ lackluster effort against Rolling Hills last week appeared to indicate that the personnel losses are taking their toll.

“We’re struggling,” Carnes said. “If we don’t pull together, then we’re going to fall apart. I think the kids realize that.”

Looking on the positive side, he said: “It gives the opportunity for other kids to play. That’s the way we’re approaching it. If we can get some of these (injured)kids back, we’ll be stronger because these other kids have played.

“And it creates other possibilities. Teams don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s definitely making things interesting. It forces us to coach.”

Carnes said the season-ending knee injury to Banks is the most depressing matter he has dealt with in his six years as the coach at Leuzinger.

“That really was the worst of all,” he said. “(Banks) was just broken-hearted. It made the whole coaching staff feel absolutely terrible for him. He wanted to play so badly.”

Banks, one of the South Bay’s premier receivers and defensive backs, was considered Leuzinger’s most recruitable senior. But it’s questionable if the attention from four-year colleges will continue because of his knee injury.

“I don’t know now if (colleges) are going to come around to offer him a scholarship,” Carnes said. “They might feel there’s a risk involved.”

Banks was injured returning a punt in the second quarter against Inglewood in Leuzinger’s 40-0 league-opening win. Carnes said Inglewood’s players made the matter worse by taunting his team.

“I have real bad feelings about that Inglewood team,” he said. “They weren’t very classy about it. They came chanting at our players at halftime: ‘We hurt Banks, we hurt Banks.’ We had to work hard to keep our kids under control. It’s something that really upset our kids and our staff.”

Inglewood is 0-4 and has been outscored, 145-12.

“They couldn’t do anything else but go after other people, trying to hurt them,” Carnes said.

Bishop Montgomery, which has never qualified for the CIF playoffs in football from the Angelus League, might have its best shot this season.

The Knights (3-2) enter Angelus play this week with the best record of the league’s five teams. Preseason favorite Bishop Amat, Mater Dei and St. Paul are all 2-3 and Servite is 1-4.

“It’s the most down I’ve ever seen the Angelus League,” said a longtime observer.

Steve Carroll, Bishop Montgomery’s first-year head coach, isn’t buying any of it. He says that the Angelus is still one of the Southland’s toughest leagues and that Bishop Amat is one of the best teams. The Lancers, who beat Carson 24-23 in their second game, play host to Bishop Montgomery at 7:30 Friday night in La Puente.

“Everybody says they’re down, but they’re as tough as they’ve ever been,” Carroll said. “They’ve played a murderous schedule.”

Bishop Amat has suffered its losses to Rubidoux, Muir and Long Beach Poly, all highly ranked teams in the Southern Section.

Carroll realizes that Bishop Montgomery hasn’t played as tough a schedule--the Knights’ three wins have come against teams with losing records--but he says his team shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“We’re looking to be competitive,” he said. “There may have been times when we entered league wondering if we could survive, but we’re looking to sneak up on people this year. It’s a tossup who will be the dominant team.”

Carroll said Bishop Montgomery should benefit in league play from the addition of sophomore linebacker Tony Snowden, who was brought up to the varsity last week in a 10-0 loss to Crespi.

In his first game, the 6-foot, 218-pound Snowden had three sacks, four unassisted tackles and five assists. “He can play the game,” Carroll said. “He definitely figures in our plans for the rest of the year.”

Carroll said Snowden dominated play on the Knights’ sophomore team after coming out late for football.

“We were just waiting for him to get himself in shape and get ready for varsity competition,” he said. “He earned his way up without any problem.”

The response among Banning athletes has been favorable to the school’s revived drug testing program, which starts this week.

Assistant Principal Chuck Didinger said 95% to 98% of the football players and 100% of the basketball players have signed up for the voluntary program, in which small groups of athletes will be randomly tested each week for drugs and alcohol.

“Everyone is responding pretty well to it,” Didinger said. “A lot of it is because the coaches are encouraging it.”

The tests will be done free of charge by San Pedro Peninsula Hospital. If an athlete tests positive, the parents are notified and told where they can receive professional help for their child. Results are confidential.

Didinger said athletes will remain in the program year-round. “Football players can be tested during the spring,” he said, “and track athletes can be tested now.”

This is the first year Banning will conduct drug testing since beginning the program in 1986 under Chris Ferragamo, the former football coach.

PREP NOTES--The Palos Verdes Invitational cross country meet will start at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on the Little League field at Palos Verdes Drive West and Via Coronel in Palos Verdes Estates. Many of the top schools and runners in Southern California are expected to compete. Palos Verdes’ girls team, two-time defending state Division I champion, is ranked No. 1 in the CIF 4-A Division and the Sea King boys are ranked in the top 10. The Palos Verdes girls will be challenged by Mt. Carmel of San Diego, ranked No. 2 in the state . . . Serra (5-0), one of only two unbeaten and untied football teams in the South Bay--the other is Hawthorne--will play host to St. Bernard at 7:30 Friday night in a Camino Real League opener. The Cavaliers have outscored the opposition, 178-33 . . . Banning and Carson each moved up one spot to Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, behind Fontana in this week’s state football rankings by Cal-Hi Sports . . . The site of Bay League football game Friday between Rolling Hills and Inglewood has been switched from Inglewood’s Sentinel Field to Rolling Hills. Kickoff is 3 p.m.