PREP REVIEW : Division I Membership Appeals to South Coast

A proposal to elevate the South Coast League from the Division III football playoffs to Division II beginning next season has some coaches wondering about the move.

South Coast League teams have dominated Division III opponents. Last season, three league teams--Mission Viejo, El Toro and Capistrano Valley--advanced to the Division III semifinals.

Not only has the South Coast League had success against Division III opponents, it also has had much success at the Division I level. The league believes it should be moved to Division I, not Division II, and plans to appeal the proposal at the Southern Section’s general council meeting April 26.

“What the hell are we doing in Division II?” said Bob Johnson, El Toro coach. “Why aren’t we going to Division I? That would be fine. Our teams could play with any of the Division I teams. I’d just as soon play Division I as Division III.

“It’s a pride thing. If we’re going to move, why not all the way? We’ve been spoiled in Division III. Our farthest trip was Cerritos College last year. I understand that the strength of our league dictates a move, but we might as well play the best, and I’d like to go to Division I and play the best.”

Level of competition isn’t the only issue that has drawn criticism from coaches.

“Our closest trip in the playoffs under this proposal would be to Gahr High School in Cerritos,” Capistrano Valley Coach Eric Patton said. “We’re looking at possible trips to Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks or Muir in Pasadena. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Patton, who was a standout at Mater Dei, said the Southern Section also would miss out on some potentially big gates under the proposal.

“A Mater Dei-Capistrano Valley or an El Toro-Servite playoff game would create a lot of interest and a big gate,” Patton said. “If we’re going to move, I’m all for moving to the Division I playoffs.”

Another proposal that is expected to generate controversy at the Southern Section meeting will be an area-placement plan that would allow parochial schools such as Mater Dei, Servite and Santa Margarita to join one of the county’s public leagues beginning in 1992.

At the council’s meeting in March, members voted that program compatibility is not a criteria for placing a school in a geographic area. Mater Dei, Servite and Santa Margarita are currently in the parochial area with Catholic schools, but have expressed interest in joining one of the county’s public leagues.

At the April 26 meeting, Clark Stephens, principal of Liberty Christian in Huntington Beach, plans to introduce a proposal that would give a school the option to become members of a geographic area for the purpose of being placed in a league for athletics.

If the proposal is passed, Gary McKnight, Mater Dei’s athletic director and boys’ basketball coach, said his school would consider moving into one of the county’s public leagues.

“It all comes down to traffic,” McKnight said. “It doesn’t make sense to continue playing schools in Los Angeles or La Puente with the freeways so congested.”

Get a grip: Fresno Bullard’s baseball team might have been selected as the team of the 1980s by Collegiate Baseball magazine, but Bullard hardly displayed championship character in the Far West baseball tournament last week.

Bullard Coach Mike Noakes ignored his players’ bench antics of taunting and ridiculing opposing players and coaches in the national tournament, but such behavior got the attention of at least one county coach.

Ron LaRuffa, Fountain Valley coach, went into Bullard’s dugout in the fourth inning of the Barons’ first-round game and complained about the unnecessary taunting.

“I finally had enough,” LaRuffa said. “I told them we’re here to play baseball, and that all the talking was bush. I get pretty brave when I know the umpires will back me up.”

Quotable: Robert Conlisk, Los Alamitos center, when asked what his major will be at Arizona State: “Something that’s easy.”

Prep Notes

Santa Ana and Santa Ana Valley have scheduled an alumni baseball game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Rancho Santiago College. Bill Ross, Santa Ana coach, said he expects players from the four decades in which he has coached at the school to participate, including Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes. Interested players can call Ross at 633-5721. . . . Dave Demarest, La Quinta baseball coach, will be seeking his 300th career victory Wednesday when the Aztecs play host to Garden Grove in a Garden Grove League game. . . . El Toro’s football team will open the 1990 season on Sept. 7 against Wyoming Valley West in Kingston, Pa. El Toro is planning an eight-day trip to the East Coast. . . . The Irvine World News basketball tournament will be an all-county affair in 1990 with 16 teams. Among the top players expected to compete are Marina’s Cherokee Parks and Loara’s Tes Whitlock. . . . Paul Nolan, a reserve for Mater Dei’s basketball team, will attend the University of Redlands in the fall, according to Coach Gary McKnight.