PREP NOTES / ROB FERNAS : Carson QB Walsh Is on a Record-Breaking Pace

Carson High’s John Walsh is on pace to break the state record for passing yards in a season, but so far in 1990 he ranks second among California’s prep quarterbacks.

Bill Oliver, a sophomore from Monta Vista High in Cupertino, leads the state with 2,416 yards and 28 touchdowns passing in seven games. Walsh has 1,995 yards and 22 TDs in six games.

Last week, while Walsh was throwing for 311 yards and a Carson-record six touchdowns in a 48-7 victory over Narbonne, Oliver was outperforming him with 398 yards and seven TDs in a 55-33 victory over Homestead of Cupertino.

Reportedly, Monta Vista operates a wide-open, run-and-shoot offense, with Oliver lined up in a shotgun formation on every play.

“Nobody plays defense in that league,” said Mark Tennis, editor of Cal-Hi Sports.

Monta Vista, though, isn’t very good. The team is 2-4-1 and isn’t expected to reach the Central Coast Section playoffs. That means Walsh will probably play in more games, depending on how far Carson gets in the L.A. City Section 4-A playoffs.

The state and City records for most passing yards and touchdowns in a season were set last year by Santiago Alvarez of 3-A champion Franklin. Alvarez became the first player in state history to pass for more than 4,000 yards and 50 touchdowns with 4,019 yards and 52 TDs in leading Franklin to a 13-1 record.

Walsh, at his current pace, will pass for 4,300 yards and 48 TDs if Carson plays 13 games by reaching the City 4-A final.

Interestingly, the previous state yardage record was held by former Carson quarterback Perry Klein, who passed for 3,899 yards during his junior season at Palisades in 1987.

Klein and Walsh are coached privately by former San Jose State quarterback Steve Clarkson, a former assistant coach at Palisades and Carson who helped develop the double-wing, spread pass offense at each school.

Although overshadowed by Walsh’s passing exploits, the Carson defense has quietly enjoyed an outstanding season.

The Colts rank second in the South Bay in team defense, allowing an average of 162.3 yards a game, and lead the area with 18 interceptions. In last week’s victory over Narbonne, Carson allowed 41 yards and cornerback Shawn Parnell tied a school record with three interceptions, giving him six on the season.

All-City cornerback Clayvand Thomas, playing in his first game since suffering a broken kneecap in an off-season car accident, had four tackles. Coach Gene Vollnogle said Thomas might start Friday afternoon, when the Colts face Crenshaw in a rare game at Carson. The Colts’ home field has a small seating capacity and no lights.

Julius Coleman, the Palos Verdes basketball player who has been advised by doctors not to participate in physical activity because of a possible heart condition, is undergoing more tests this week.

Coleman’s father, also named Julius, said his son is being tested at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood by Dr. Michael Mellman, a doctor of internal medicine who works with the Lakers and Dodgers. Mellman treated Hank Gathers after the late Loyola Marymount basketball player’s first fainting episode last season. Mellman also cleared Dodger outfielder Kal Daniels last spring after it was discovered that Daniels had an enlarged heart.

Coleman, a 5-foot-10 junior guard who was named to the All-Bay League team last season, has not engaged in any physical activity since he passed out at a school dance Sept. 7. According to a cardiologist who treated Coleman at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, Coleman’s fainting episode is a symptom of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy--a thickening of the heart wall that could cause sudden death in a person participating in vigorous exercise.

Coleman’s father said the tests conducted on his son will determine the size of the heart and thickness of the blood vessels. He said results should be known in a week or two.

If there was an award given for the most cautious football coach in the South Bay, Leo Hand of Serra would be our choice.

His team is 5-0, owns a 19-game winning streak and is ranked No. 1 in the CIF-Southern Section Division VII sportswriters’ poll. Yet every opponent is a world-beater in Hands’ eyes, regardless of its comparative strength.

Here is what Hand said before Serra met St. Monica last week: “We scouted St. Monica and I think they’re going to be a very tough opponent. That could end the winning streak right there.”

Serra won easily, 38-14.

Now Hand is extolling the talents of Verbum Dei, which is 2-0 in the Camino Real League but is 2-5 overall and the only team to lose to Inglewood in three seasons. Serra faces Verbum Dei in its final league game Nov. 10.

“Verb is very tough,” Hand said. “They throw the ball real well, and we have to be good (to beat them).”

Later, Hand came up with what might be the most ridiculous comment of the season: “I just take it one game at a time. I don’t think about the playoffs. I don’t even know that we’ll be in the playoffs.”

Let us say it for you, coach. Serra will be in the playoffs.

Don’t count on it.

That’s our reaction to reports that the Palos Verdes school district is considering dropping spring sports as a cost-cutting measure.

Even if the district decides to eliminate coaches’ stipends, you can bet that booster clubs and parents will dig into their pockets to keep the teams from folding.

If nothing else, the district is bringing to light the alarming need to carry through on plans to close Miraleste and consolidate high school operations at Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes.

There simply are not enough students in the district to finance or warrant having three high schools, regardless of what the good-intentioned parents on the east side of the peninsula believe.

Notes

Get well: Former North Torrance football Coach Don Bohannon is recuperating at home after spending more than two weeks in the hospital because of a viral lung infection. Bohannon, a teacher at South Torrance, has not worked since school started in September. . . . Torrance has overtaken Fillmore as the No. 1 team in the CIF-Southern Section Division VIII football poll.