All-Stars to Fight for a Cause : Football: Area pair to play for South team Saturday in annual Shrine game at Rose Bowl.

Steve Rudisill has just one wish for this year’s Shrine high school all-star football game: Let it have a different ending than the previous all-star game in which he played.

Rudisill starred as a defensive back and a running back at Thousand Oaks High and earned a scholarship to San Diego State and invitations to two high school all-star games this summer. He is one of two area players named to the South team in Saturday’s 39th annual game, scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff at the Rose Bowl. Former Montclair Prep running back Mike Jones, who has signed with USC, is the area’s other representative.

Rudisill played for the East in the Ventura County Lions & Coaches all-star game last month at Thousand Oaks High. For 2 1/2 quarters, the game was everything he had expected. He enjoyed the return to football and relished being treated as an all-star in front of his hometown fans.

But the game was stopped after a brawl erupted in front of the West bench with the East holding a 21-6 lead. Fights broke out among players for the next 10 minutes, and when officials and four security guards were unable to end the fighting, the game was stopped.

Three Ventura County Sheriff’s Department vehicles were dispatched to the field and authorities escorted players from the parking lot. Afterward, organizers rejected calls to discontinue the series.

Rudisill sensed that trouble was brewing even before the kickoff.

“You could tell right from the warm-ups that something was going to happen,” he said. “Guys were talking back and forth, saying things you can’t put in the paper. There was something in the air.”

Rudisill agreed with the decision to call the game but faulted officials for failing to call more penalties earlier. Of the four penalties called in the game, one was a personal foul.

“There were scuffles going on everywhere, so I guess they did the right thing when they stopped it,” he said. “More fights would have broken out. The refs could have prevented it if they called more penalties earlier.”

The prestige of the Shrine game and the cause it serves will prevent any violence in Saturday’s game, Rudisill said. The game is the most prestigious in the state for recently graduated seniors and serves as a fund-raiser for the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children in Los Angeles. In the 10 days before each year’s game, players visit stricken children in the hospital.

“If you’re picked for the Shrine game, that’s the highest honor you can get,” he said. “I think everyone will be on their best behavior. The game has a purpose, so I don’t think fights will break out and ruin the image of the Shriners.”

Player behavior has never been a problem, according to game director Bob Belyeu, who has been associated with the event since 1978.

“These kids are pretty level-headed and just too classy for that,” he said. “Of the 60 kids, 27 of them have grade-point averages of 3.5 or better. Plus, when they go through the hospital doors and see those poor kids, they realize what this game is played for and they get a sense of purpose.”

Rudisill rushed for 398 yards at Thousand Oaks in ’89 but earned his scholarship as a defender. The 6-foot, 185-pound defensive back intercepted five passes and contributed to what Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards called the best defense in school history. Thousand Oaks (11-1-1) reached the semifinal round of the Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Jones also helped his team get to the playoff semifinals, leading Montclair Prep to a 12-1 record in Division IX. He rushed for 1,743 yards in 224 carries and scored 21 touchdowns.