1989-90: THE YEAR IN REVIEW : They Fought the Law, but the Law Won : Preps: Legal challenges to Southern Section’s authority by football supporters at Huntington Beach and Savanna was school year’s top story.

Two ineligible football players, the forfeiture of two league championships and 14 victories and, finally, three court cases testing the Southern Section’s supremacy added up to the story of the year in Orange County high schools.

Huntington Beach High’s football team forfeited eight victories and its share of the Sunset League title and was ruled ineligible for the Division I playoffs last fall by a vote of its league’s principals for using an ineligible player the entire season.

Three days later, Savanna’s football team was forced by league principals to forfeit six victories, its Orange League co-championship and a berth in the Division VI playoffs for using an ineligible player.

What followed was a week of restraining orders, student protests, appeals panels and litigation. Judges, not the players, were deciding who wins football games.

Huntington Beach played a game of legal Ping-Pong, regaining its playoff spot through a temporary restraining order that threatened the existence of the Southern Section, the organization that governs member schools throughout Southern California.

Huntington Beach replaced Fountain Valley in the Division I playoffs and was scheduled to meet top-seeded Fontana on a Tuesday. Two days later, the Oilers were thrown for a loss after a three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeals took Huntington Beach out of the playoffs and reinstated Fountain Valley.

The appeals panel ruled that the Southern Section had the right to bar the team from competition for using an ineligible player. Or so it seemed.

Two and a half hours before Fountain Valley was scheduled to meet Fontana, the father of a Huntington Beach player filed a federal lawsuit in a last-ditch effort to stop the game, but a judge refused to intervene.

Weighing the impact he faced if he granted the order to stop the game, U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts said, “It looks like the choices are to forfeit the game and watch the riot or play it and then not count it.”

Andrew Patterson, CIF attorney, watched the clock ticking to 6 p.m. and wondered if the Southern Section could stop the game at that hour.

“The school buses have left and the field is open to the public,” Patterson said. “One or more of the teams is practicing on the field right now.”

Meanwhile, at Savanna, about 1,000 students walked out of their classes that week in protest of the team’s last-minute disqualification for playing a fifth-year senior who had attended three public high schools and two continuation schools since 1984.

Emotions over an administrative error spilled onto the Savanna campus, where hundreds of students congregated on the front lawn, yelling slogans and waving signs.

Savanna’s boosters took their case to the courtroom, where an Orange County Superior Court commissioner ruled that the team had been properly removed from postseason play by Orange League principals.

“I see no abuse of discretion or violation of the rules,” said Commissioner Julian Cimbaluk in ruling that there were no grounds to reinstate Savanna in the playoffs. “They (the league principals) didn’t arbitrarily disqualify the team. They had the right to do so under the rules.”

Naturally, players, students, administrators, parents and boosters from both schools were distraught. Huntington Beach had earned only its third playoff berth in 23 years. Savanna had won its first league title since the school opened in 1961.

Courtroom cases had the biggest impact in the 1989-90 school year, but there were other noteworthy accomplishments, both on and off the athletic fields. Here’s the best of the rest:

The Shot of the Year: It was more of an afterthought than a shot, but point guard Jason Quinn’s 20-foot desperation shot with 1.8 seconds remaining gave Mater Dei a 46-45 victory over Long Beach Poly in the Southern California Division I title game. Mater Dei went on to win its second state title.

A Gentleman Coach Retires: Herb Hill surpassed Anaheim’s Clare VanHoorebeke as the county’s winningest football coach in his final season at Loara. Hill, 59, won 191 games in 28 seasons as Loara’s only coach since the school opened in 1962.

Who’s No. 1?: The question of the county’s best football team was settled in the final regular-season game, when Capistrano Valley met El Toro in a battle of unbeatens. Capistrano Valley won, 22-21, when tailback Chris Adams scored a touchdown and added a two-point conversion run in the fourth quarter.

An Impressive Streak Ends: The Brea-Olinda girls’ basketball team had won 55 consecutive games when it entered the Oakland Coliseum Arena for the State Division III title game against Auburn Placer. Brea’s players left in tears after a 54-43 loss.

Marina’s Minor Miracle: Three-year starting catcher Robin Lindsey quit the team for three days, Coach Paul Renfrow’s job was in jeopardy at one time and the school’s baseball team had failed to qualify for postseason play for 10 years. But the Vikings scored five consecutive upsets to win the 5-A division title at Anaheim Stadium. Lindsey got the championship game-winning hit in a 6-4 victory over Diamond Bar.

Getting to the Point: Amy Jalewalia of La Quinta established a county single-game scoring record with 60 points in an 85-32 victory over Kennedy. Jalewalia broke former Whittier Christian standout Cindy Vyskocil’s mark of 59 points set in 1986-87.

Getting Tough: Reacting to increased violence at prep games, principals of six high schools in the Fullerton Union High School District adopted an athletic conduct policy that allows schools to suspend coaches or players who are ejected from athletic events, involved in altercations or leave the sideline or bench during an altercation.

A Record Leap: Phouphet Singbandith of Magnolia set a county record in the triple jump with his leap of 51 feet 7 3/4 inches--the second-best mark in the nation--to win the state title. Singbandith, a native of Laos, immigrated to California with his family as a 7-year-old.

An Undefeated Career: Zach Cooper, Canyon’s 191-pound wrestler, capped a brilliant career by winning the first National High School Wrestling Championship in Pittsburgh, Pa. Cooper won 100 matches without a loss over the past two years.

A Parochial Decision: Members of the Southern Section’s general council voted that “program compatibility” is not a criteria for placing schools into geographic areas for the purposes of putting them in a league. The vote opens the door for private schools in the county to join public leagues in 1992.

COUNTY RECORD-SETTERS

BASEBALL

D.C. Olsen of Fullerton set two county single-season records. His 13 home runs surpassed the 12 hit by Andy Ruscitto of Valencia in 1986, and his .595 batting average bettered the .585 mark set in 1980 by Steve Evans of Anaheim.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Amy Jalewalia of La Quinta set a county single-game scoring record of 60 points in an 85-32 Garden Grove League victory over Kennedy.

Debbie Fischer of Edison set a national record for three-point baskets in a season (105). She also set a Southern Section record for most three-point baskets in a game (10), a feat she managed twice.

FOOTBALL

Ron Papazian of Whittier Christian set a county single-season record with 35 touchdowns, breaking the former mark of 32 set in 1984 by Esperanza’s Jim Farrell.

With a 43-7 Empire League victory over El Dorado, Loara Coach Herb Hill recorded his county career record 191st victory, surpassing the 190 games won by Clare VanHoorebeke, former Anaheim coach.

SWIMMING

Gavin Arroyo of Villa Park set a Southern Section record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.30 seconds, which broke the 45.31 mark set in 1987 by Darren Ward of Sonora.

TRACK AND FIELD

Kevin Carlson of Katella won the state high jump title with a leap of 7 feet, breaking the former county record of 6-11 3/4 set in 1983 by Foothill’s Doug Dreibelbis--a record tied by Carlson earlier this season.

Phouphet Singbandith of Magnolia set the county record in the triple jump with a leap of 51- 3/4 at the Arcadia Invitational. Singbandith bettered that mark with a 51-7 3/4 to win the state title. The previous county record of 50-3 1/2 was set in 1982 by Troy’s Ken Williams.

SECTION TITLES FROM THE COUNTY

Southern Section team championships won by county schools during the 1989-90 season:

FOOTBALL

Division VI: Corona del Mar

Division VIII: Trabuco Hills

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

3-A Division: La Habra

WATER POLO

4-A Division: Corona del Mar

3-A Division: El Toro

GIRLS’ TENNIS

4-A Division: Corona del Mar

3-A Division: Dana Hills

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

5-A Division: Mater Dei

3-AA Division: Estancia

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

4-A Division: La Quinta

3-AA Division: Brea-Olinda

3-A Division: Costa Mesa

BOYS’ SOCCER

3-A Division: El Toro

2-A Division: Laguna Hills

GIRLS’ SOCCER

4-A Division: El Toro

3-A Division: Mater Dei

WRESTLING

4-A Division: Canyon

3-A Division: Mater Dei

BASEBALL

5-A Division: Marina

SOFTBALL

5-A Division: Marina

3-A Division: El Toro

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

3-A Division: Esperanza

BOYS’ SWIMMING

4-A Division: Capistrano Valley

2-A Division: Laguna Hills

GIRLS’ SWIMMING

4-A Division: Mission Viejo

3-A Division: Los Alamitos

2-A Division: Mater Dei

GOLF

All-Division: Estancia

BADMINTON

4-A Division: Buena Park