Players Still in a Fighting Mood

As it did last year, violence has surfaced early in the high school football season. Two games last weekend were marred by bench-clearing brawls and ended prematurely.

Thursday night, La Mirada led Whittier La Serna, 27-0, in the third quarter at California High in Whittier when a brawl broke out and officials halted the game. Friday night at Hawthorne, Rialto Eisenhower led Hawthorne, 21-6, with 4:59 left in the fourth quarter when fights erupted, bringing the game to a premature end.

Both cases are being reviewed by the CIF Southern Section. La Mirada has suspended seven players for this Friday’s home game against Alhambra.

“Suspending the players doesn’t mean that we started the fight,” La Mirada Coach John Mele said. “It was one of those sudden things that happened where we are just as much at fault as they were.”

The melee between nonleague foes Eisenhower and Hawthorne is alarming, considering the lack of a rivalry. Eisenhower Coach Tom Hoak said he does not plan to renew the series after Hawthorne travels to Rialto next season.

“It was a frightening situation,” Hoak said. “I didn’t know what was going on for a while. I saw about 50 red jerseys running across the field, totally out of control.”

Hawthorne Coach Goy Casillas blamed the intensity of the game for the violent ending, not any actions by the Cougars.

“(Hoak) can say what he wants to say,” Casillas said. “The fight started on their sideline and both benches were on the field. It was a very physical, hard-hitting game between two good teams where emotions were running high. It was just a spontaneous eruption on behalf of both teams.”

The violence became a serious problem last season when brawls occurred with increasing frequency. A major fight took place Oct. 13, when a Saugus-Palmdale game in Valencia was ended with 7:40 left in the fourth quarter after three Palmdale players attacked game officials. Another one followed on Nov. 10, when a brawl ended a Hemet-Perris game at Hemet with 35 seconds left.

Even all-star games had problems with violence over the summer. The Ventura County All-Star game at Thousand Oaks High was called with 2:40 left in the third quarter when a brawl broke out, and in the City North vs. South Senior Bowl, the game was stopped in the fourth quarter when fights began.

“I think that times are changing, where we are placing an increased emphasis on sports,” said Bill Clark, a Southern Section administrator in charge of football. “This year we have made it a point to stress sportsmanship. Last year was a year we don’t want to go through again.”

To combat the violence, the Southern Section has scheduled meetings with several principals and booster clubs in the Southland.

“In our previews this year, we stressed that we needed to try to enhance the awareness and enhance sportsmanship,” Clark said. “We’re in the process of putting on eight symposiums in the area over the next few weeks. We’ve discussed with officials to watch the areas of language and racial concerns.”

Despite Friday night’s brawl, Casillas does not agree with the theory that violence is increasing.

The Southern Section will rule on the outcome of the games after reviewing incident reports all four schools must file.

The Cerritos High basketball team had to forfeit 15 games played last season for using an ineligible player, changing its record from 21-6 to 6-21.

The Dons were penalized for playing reserve guard Gali Horev, who moved from Israel to Cerritos last December. Horev was not part of a foreign exchange program, so under Southern Section rules he wasn’t eligible for athletics for a year.

Horev, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard, moved to Cerritos in hopes of getting a basketball scholarship. He will be eligible this season, his senior year, and is expected to start.

Prep Notes

In his first game since transfering from Van Nuys Montclair Prep, Derek Sparks rushed for 283 yards in 13 carries (a 21.8-yard average) and led Santa Ana Mater Dei over Santa Ana High on Friday night, 38-21. Sparks scored touchdowns on runs of 80, 80 and 62 yards in his first three carries. . . . The Wilmington Banning football team continues to struggle. The Pilots, who were 6-4-1 last season and missed the City playoffs for the first time since 1974, have lost their first two games by a total of two points. . . . Fountain Valley, a perennial football power that won the Southern Section Division I title in 1988, is 0-3 and has been outscored, 99-33.

Times Prep Sports Editor Eric Shepard contributed to this column.

TIMES’ TOP TEAMS

Southern Section

No. School, League Record

1. Fontana, Citrus Belt 3-0-0

2. CC Canyon, Golden 4-0-0

3. El Toro, South Coast 3-0-0

4. Bishop Amat, Angelus 2-1-0

5. Loyola, Angelus 3-0-0

6. Muir, Pacific 2-1-0

7. Paramount, San Gabriel Valley 3-0-0

8. Capistrano Valley, So. Coast 4-0-0

9. Lompoc, Northern 3-0-0

10. Eisenhower, Citrus Belt 3-0-0

11. Westlake, Marmonte 3-0-0

12. Tustin, Sea View 3-0-0

13. Canyon Springs, Ivy 3-0-0

14. Hawthorne, Bay 2-1-0

15. Edison, Sunset 2-1-0

City

No. School, League Record

1. Carson, Pacific 2-0-0

2. Dorsey, Pacific 2-0-0

3. Granada Hills, West Valley 1-1-0

4. Taft, West Valley 1-0-0

5. Westchester, Metro 2-0-0

6. Kennedy, North Valley 2-0-0

7. Banning, Pacific 0-2-0

8. San Fernando, North Valley 2-0-0

9. Locke, Central 2-0-0

10. San Pedro, Southern 2-0-0