In Preseason, Kearny Looks as if It Could Weather the Postseason

Last November, on the eve of his final game as head football coach at La Jolla High, the late Gene Edwards was asked to reflect on some of the brightest moments in his 29 years there. He chose the dimmest.

Edwards could think only about one of the windiest, rainiest nights he had ever experienced. He remembered how he stood, drenched and helpless, on the sidelines at Mesa College while the water “cascaded out of the stands like waterfalls” and washed away any chance his greatest team had to win a San Diego Section championship.

He watched as wind whistling through the stadium at up to 30 m.p.h. whisked away what looked to bee a sure field goal late in the fourth quarter. He must have replayed the game film a hundred times looking for an infraction that disallowed one La Jolla touchdown and another that led to the winning touchdown by San Marcos in its 14-7 overtime victory.

In some ways, that terrible night at Mesa continues to torment the City Western League.

The deluge may add several years to the postseason drought that has stricken this once-dominant league. The Western once had a stronghold on San Diego high school football’s top prize, the San Diego Section championship. Its teams reached the title game the first seven years of its existence, 1960-1966, and won three. In 30 years, the league produced nine champions and six runners-up.

But the last time one of the league’s current teams--Kearny, Mission Bay, La Jolla, USDHS and University City--won a section championship was 1973, the year most of today’s seniors were born. In fact Kearny, a three-time champion, is the only one of the five ever to win the title.

The dry spell has shown no sign of ending. Six years ago, the Western League formed its present nucleus along with Clairemont, now a member of the Harbor League. Since then, the five remaining teams are 5-15 in the playoffs.

In 1987, La Jolla had what many consider the best 2-A team in the county. No one expected the Vikings, who came into their semifinal game with San Marcos 10-1 and averaging 30 points a game, to drown in a monsoon.

“There’s so many things that happened wrong in that game, I don’t even want to bring it up,” said La Jolla Coach Dick Huddleston, a former Edwards assistant. “We should have gone to the stadium (San Diego Jack Murphy, site of the section finals).”

“La Jolla (in normal conditions) would have beat the tar out of San Marcos,” Kearny Coach Willie Matson said. “La Jolla was the best team in 2-A that year.”

It’s not that the league hasn’t approached a breakthrough. Two years ago Kearny came this close to beating Oceanside, ranked No. 1 in the state much of the season, in the first round: three seconds left in the game, fourth and goal from the one. If Kearny scores, Kearny wins. Kearny didn’t.

But this year, Kearny promises to be one of the most explosive teams in 2-A. Led by wide receiver Darnay Scott, a preseason All-State choice by Cal-Hi Sports, Kearny expects to do plenty of scoring. And Matson has gone out on a 16-year limb and made winning the section championship his team’s goal.

“We have about as much potential as any team I’ve coached,” Matson said. “I want the kids to look at a goal that’s hard to reach but attainable. But everything has to fall into place, and the kids have to live up to their potential.”

Quarterback Sam Page, succeeding three-year starter Tom Rawlins, must get his passes to fall into Scott’s hands. Many think that Scott, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound senior who runs a 4.4 40-yard dash, is the best college prospect in the county. Kearny, which went 9-2 and won the league but lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1989, returns with a huge offensive line.

“There’s nothing like being in that stadium,” said Matson, who has high hopes and thinks he has “enough weapons” to put an end to the Western League’s postseason frustrations.

Matson knows that only because he has been there before as a Kearny assistant coach--but not in the last two decades.

CITY WEST LEAGUE FOOTBALL Defending champion: Kearny (9-2 in 1989, 5-0 in league).

Who should win: Kearny.

Who could win: La Jolla (3-6-1, 1-4), USDHS (6-5, 2-3).

Who should look toward 1991: University City (4-5, 3-2), Mission Bay (9-3, 4-1)

The Game: Kearny vs. La Jolla, Oct. 19. Most league coaches believe La Jolla, with its experience, is the only team with a chance to slow Kearny, a team with both size and speed. But La Jolla will have to play at Mesa College, Kearny’s home field.

Impact players: Darnay Scott, Kearny senior wide receiver/free safety, 6-3, 185; considered by many the No. 1 college prospect in the county, with 4.4 speed in the 40. He caught 48 passes for 18.9-yard average last year and scored 18 touchdowns, including two on kick returns and three on reverses. Eric Diato, Kearny senior linebacker/fullback 5-10, 200; league’s defensive player of the year in 1989. John Michels, La Jolla senior offensive tackle/defensive end, 6-7, 230; will be a key figure in La Jolla’s passing game. Garrett Sand, University City senior tailback/linebacker, 6-2, 217; tough and talented, he played in the shadow of UC’s passing attack in 1989 but will now be focal point of offense.

New faces: James Curtis, Kearny sophomore tailback, 6-0, 180; challenging returning all-leaguer Chris Richmond at his position, Curtis is considered the second-fastest athlete at Kearny, behind Scott. Jemal Lucas, Kearny senior wide receiver, 5-10, 160; transfer, a reliable possession receiver who should keep defenses concentrating on Scott honest, can break short routes into long gainers. E.J. Watson, La Jolla junior running back, 5-11, 190; bench presses 300 pounds, recovering from a leg break last year, is a good receiver.

Last word: Since 1960, the San Diego Section has changed the membership of the Western League 11 times. There are 10 former league schools elsewhere. Among them, Lincoln (seven times), Point Loma (three) and Clairemont, St. Augustine, Crawford and San Diego have won section championships.