PREP NOTES : North Torrance’s Eric Hansen Needs 7 Catches for Record

An otherwise forgettable season for the North Torrance High football team will at least be memorable for the numbers of wide receiver Eric Hansen.

Although the Saxons are 2-6 and have only an outside chance of reaching the playoffs, Hansen is on the verge of becoming the most productive pass catcher for a single season in South Bay history.

With 72 catches in eight games, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound senior needs seven catches in North’s last two Ocean League games to surpass St. Bernard’s Jason Lucky, who had 78 receptions in 11 games last season.

Seven more catches will also put Hansen in the CIF-Southern Section record book. Mauricio Pavon of Pater Noster is 10th on the all-time list with 79 catches in 1986. The record is 107, set by Steve Ybarra of Rosemead in 1983.

The most recognizable name in the top 10 is that of former Bishop Amat and USC star John McKay, who ranks second with 106 catches in 1969 and fourth with 97 in 1970.

“In most of our games, he’s been our offense,” North Coach Don Bohannon said of Hansen, who had 14 catches for 228 yards and two touchdowns last week in a 33-24 win over Centennial.

In most games, however, the pass-happy Saxons have had trouble getting the ball into the end zone. Hansen has scored only five touchdowns, and quarterback Brian Jurado, the South Bay passing leader with 1,580 yards, has only five TD throws in 138 completions.

The lack of a consistent running game has led to North’s inflated passing stats and, generally speaking, an ineffective offense.

“We just don’t have the horses up front to establish a running game,” Bohannon complained. “When I first came over here, we were stacked up with linemen. Now we’ve gone through a dry spell. It’s been tough.”

Hansen’s assault on the record books will continue Friday night when the Saxons (2-3 in the Ocean League) visit first-place West Torrance (7-1, 5-0). North needs to beat West and second-place South Torrance (4-4, 4-1) in its league finale Nov. 9 to have a chance of making the Division VII playoffs.

Carl Strong, The Times South Bay Coach of the Year in 1989, has stepped down as Torrance High basketball coach and will serve as a volunteer assistant this season at El Camino College.

“I was frustrated with the CIF cutting back on basketball (practice),” Strong said, explaining his reasons for resigning. “I didn’t feel we were giving the kids a fair shot at learning how to play the game.

“We used to start practice Nov. 1. Now it’s the (13th) of November, and we’re starting to play games the first of December. What’s that, two weeks of preparation? You really don’t have the opportunity to teach anything. It’s like rolling the ball out on the court and saying, ‘Let’s play.’ ”

Strong, who coached Torrance for four years, guided the team to a surprising season in 1989. Picked by the coaches to finish last in the Bay League, the Tartars were in the hunt for the title before finishing third. They reached the quarterfinals of the 4-AA Division playoffs.

Strong’s replacement, Bob Little, is familiar with the program. He coached Torrance from the early 1970s to 1985, when he resigned and began coaching the sophomore team.

“He got burned out,” Strong said. “He needed a break. But he was antsy to get back into it last year.”

This marks the third time Strong, under three different head coaches, has served as an assistant at El Camino. He helped the Warriors win a conference title under Ron Jacobs and a state title under Paul Landreaux. Now he’ll try to help second-year Coach Ron McClurkin do the same.

Torrance will be led this season by All-CIF guard Rick Robison, a 6-foot-2 sharpshooter who averaged 28.6 points a game last year as a junior.

So far, though, Robison has received little interest from colleges, Strong said.

“I think some schools are concerned about his size,” he said. “He’s a No. 2 guard, and most schools recruiting No. 2 guards are looking for players around 6-5.

“But, with the season he had last year, he has put himself in position to be recruited. It will be interesting to watch him progress. Now they’re going to start looking at him under a magnifying glass.”

Are Hawthorne and Leuzinger fit to be tied again?

The answer will come Friday night when they meet in a key Bay League game at Hawthorne.

The Centinela Valley Union High School District rivals have tied the last two seasons and three of the last four. Last year’s score was 13-13.

“I don’t think there will be a tie this year, but you never know,” said Leuzinger Coach Steve Carnes. “We’re not going into this thing looking for a tie. It’s not anything we’ve discussed.”

Leuzinger entered last year’s game unbeaten and favored, but finds itself in the underdog role this season. Hawthorne (8-0 overall) is ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division II poll and leads the Bay League with a 5-0 record. Leuzinger (6-1-1, 3-1-1) is in third place and fighting to remain in playoff contention.

The Olympians have never missed the playoffs in five previous seasons under Carnes. But with their final two games on the road against Hawthorne and Santa Monica, the coach is worried.

“We need a win in one of our last two games,” Carnes said. “Otherwise, we’ll be sitting up in the bleachers.”

Morningside basketball co-coach Ron Randle says the Monarchs boast one of the area’s budding stars in Tyrone Paul, a 6-5 senior swingman.

“He was a sleeper before the summer started, but once it ended everybody knew about him,” Randle said. “Some of the bigger schools are starting to recruit him.”

Randle compares Paul’s leaping ability to that of two of the South Bay’s all-time dunkmasters--Joey Johnson of Banning and Harold Miner of Inglewood. Paul, who reportedly can touch the top of the square on the backboard, won dunk contests last summer at the Superstars camp at UC Santa Barbara and at Carson High’s Grand Finale tournament.

Meanwhile, Morningside will be the site of the fourth annual Inglewood Fundamentals Basketball Clinic, to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The clinic, which is free and open to players in sixth grade and up, will feature members of the coaching staffs from Long Beach State, UCLA and USC.

Carson’s football team, struggling to establish a running game through its first five games, apparently found a running back last Friday in its 41-6 win over San Pedro.

Abdul Muhammad, an unheralded junior, scored three touchdowns, including an 82-yard kickoff return, as the Colts improved to 5-1.

“He’s a super runner,” Coach Gene Vollnogle said. “He runs like Marcus Allen. He’s very fluid. He weaves. It looks like people should be tackling him, but they bounce off him.”

Vollnogle said he hopes to get Muhammad more carries Friday night when Carson meets Dorsey in a Pacific League opener at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach. Last week, he had just two carries for 15 yards.

A big reason behind the success of West Torrance’s football team has been the play of its special teams, led by return specialists Josh Moore and Ryan Berry, who have combined for five touchdowns on runbacks.

Moore, a senior, has returned nine kickoffs for 372 yards (a 41.3 average) and two touchdowns, including a 77-yarder last week against South Torrance, and has eight punt returns for 178 yards (a 22.3 average) and one TD.

Berry, a junior, has returned nine punts for 157 yards (a 17.4 average) and two TDs.

PREP NOTES--Four former South Bay basketball standouts were cut Tuesday by National Basketball Assn. teams: Mark Wade (Banning) and Anthony Frederick (Gardena) by the Indiana Pacers, Mike Doktorczyk (Mary Star) by the Chicago Bulls and Corey Gaines (St. Bernard) by the Denver Nuggets. . . . The Pepperdine women’s basketball team will play an intrasquad scrimmage tonight at 7:30 at Palos Verdes High. Admission is free. . . . The Morningside girls basketball team, led by 6-5 senior Lisa Leslie, has been ranked No. 1 in the nation by Street and Smith’s magazine. Leslie, last year’s State Player of the Year, was named a first-team All-American by the publication. . . . The Palos Verdes girls cross-country team is No. 3 this week in the Kinney California State High School rankings. The Sea Kings trail Agoura and Woodbridge of Irvine in the Division I poll.