PREP NOTES / ROB FERNAS : Redondo Defense Cuts Opponents Off at Pass

It’s been said when a football team passes, three things can happen and two of them are bad.

Aerial disasters seem to occur with even greater frequency when teams throw against Redondo High.

An opportunistic Sea Hawk defense has intercepted 14 passes in six games, including 12 by the team’s four starters in the secondary.

Coach Chris Hyduke said it’s a combination of instinct, ability, spirit and technique that has helped produce Redondo’s plus-13 turnover ratio. Including eight fumble recoveries, the Sea Hawks have come up with 22 turnovers compared to only nine giveaways (six interceptions, three fumbles).

“It’s being in the right place at the right time,” Hyduke said. “We’ve been getting good secondary play. (The defensive backs) seem to be staying at home and breaking to the ball. We have some good athletes back there.”

Senior cornerbacks John Dulmage and Joey Zeller lead the team with four interceptions apiece, junior free safety Jeremy Veasey has three and senior strong safety John Ball has an interception and two fumble recoveries.

Dulmage had two interceptions and Veasey added one in a 10-0 nonleague victory over North Torrance on Friday. Redondo (4-2) opens Ocean League play Friday afternoon at Rolling Hills (4-2, 0-1).

Hyduke and defensive coordinator Tim Ammentorp give much of the credit for the secondary’s impressive play to assistant coach Mark Tourville, who played free safety last season for Cal State Long Beach.

“Mark is teaching our kids good techniques,” Ammentorp said. “We play more two-deep zone (than most teams) and give quarterbacks different looks. When something looks open, somebody else is stepping up. We have some sharp kids back there. If they get beat on something, it’s usually only once. Then they figure it out and make the adjustment.”

Hyduke said a majority of the interceptions are the result of instinctive decisions rather than risk taking.

“We don’t do too much gambling with those guys back there,” he said. “We play a lot of zone and very little man (defense).”

Ammentorp said the only time the secondary played poorly was in the second game Sept. 21, when Torrance quarterback Jason Kendall burned the Sea Hawks for 198 yards and four touchdowns passing in a 25-21 Tartar victory.

“That was a night the secondary hurt us,” Ammentorp said.

Since then, though, Redondo has more than evened the score with opposing quarterbacks.

Redondo will be without starting tailback Tony Curtis for the second consecutive game Friday against Rolling Hills. Curtis was suspended from school last week because of an oral conflict with a teacher but is expected to return to the team next week, Hyduke said.

Clayvand Thomas, an All-L.A. City cornerback for Carson, has been given a doctor’s clearance to practice and could play in his first game Friday night against Narbonne at Gardena High, Coach Gene Vollnogle said.

Thomas has been recovering from a broken kneecap suffered in an off-season car accident. A three-year starter, Thomas helped Carson capture the City 4-A Division title as a sophomore and led the Colts with six interceptions last season, when they were runners-up for the 4-A championship.

“He gives us a cornerback with experience and somebody who is a deadly tackler,” Vollnogle said. “He enjoys coming up and hitting people.”

Vollnogle said Thomas, if he is able to play, will replace Abdul Muhammad, who has been playing wingback and cornerback.

“This way Muhammad can save all his energy for offense,” Vollnogle said.

Dick Lascola, head of the Scouting Evaluation Assn. in Fallbrook, Calif., was not overly impressed with John Walsh last season, when the quarterback was playing for West Torrance.

“We wondered if he could even play on the (community college) level,” he said.

Lascola has since changed his opinion after watching Walsh, who transferred to Carson last summer, pass for 406 yards and four touchdowns on Friday in a 41-14 victory over Banning.

“We feel he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the state,” Lascola said. “We feel he’s Pac-10 material.”

Chadwick Coach Sid Grant refers to defensive ends Mac McKinnie and Nate Severson as “bookends.”

Last week, the juniors helped contain Victor Valley Christian’s offense, as Chadwick rolled to a 34-6 nonleague victory.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound McKinnie had seven tackles and three sacks, and the 6-4, 180-pound Severson had eight tackles and a caused fumble. Linebacker Mike Thorp also had a big game, leading the Dolphins with 13 tackles.

Chadwick (4-1) will need all of its top defensive players at peak form when it plays host to Rio Hondo Prep (5-0) at 2:30 p.m. Friday in a key Prep League game. Rio Hondo is No. 1 in the Southern Section Eight-Man Division poll.

Offensively, Chadwick relies on quarterback-kicker Todd Seneker and elusive receiver Mark Bailey, who leads the Eight-Man Division with 23 catches for 494 yards and nine touchdowns.

Rolling Hills Coach Gary Kimbrell said he wasn’t surprised by his team’s 32-6 loss to Morningside last week.

“Disappointed, not surprised,” he said. “We knew they had good athletes. They just played hard for 48 minutes.”

Kimbrell said he knew Rolling Hills, a ball-control team, was in trouble after it fell behind early.

“We know we have to dictate what the offense is going to do,” he said. “We weren’t able to do that. I thought our kids were ready, but Morningside just beat our butts.”

Notes: Centennial, which plays host to West Torrance on Friday night in a Pioneer League game, has a 20-game losing streak. . . . West senior Alex Schultz is not only the Warriors’ top running back, he’s also a standout linebacker. He had 19 tackles two weeks ago in a 9-7 victory over Redondo. . . . Bishop Montgomery, 0-2 in the Mission League, has not won a league football game since 1987. . . . A big reason for Mira Costa’s improved outlook has been the play of two-way lineman Ryan Stonebraker, a 6-3, 240-pound senior. . . . Palos Verdes took its boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams to the Eastern State Invitational in New York City last week. The Sea Kings girls finished second to San Diego Mt. Carmel, while the boys finished second in a non-championship divisional race. . . . The Palos Verdes girls’ tennis team, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section 4-A Division, is led by No. 1 singles player Nicole London (18-1) and the doubles team of Allyson Reeves and Jenny Cohen (30-0). All three players are freshmen.