Lynwood Was Forced to Forfeit 16 Victories, but Not Its Season

Forfeiting 16 games would have kept the Lynwood High School boys’ basketball team out of the playoffs in the past.

But this is a new era in Southern Section playoffs and every team qualifies regardless of record. So, when the Knights used an ineligible player this season, it was only a minor setback to their playoff hopes.

Lynwood qualified for the Division I-AA playoffs as an at-large team with a 3-21 record, but easily defeated Montebello, 51-40, in its qualifying-round game. The Knights then beat Rowland, 82-75, in the first round last Friday.

Tonight, Lynwood will be host to a rematch against Long Beach Poly, which defeated the Knights twice in the Southern Section and State playoffs last season.

Lynwood Coach Bill Lee says his team deserves the chance.

“We feel that we’re one of the elite teams,” Lee said. “It is kind of deceiving looking at our record. We’re actually 21-5 and not what our record says. In fact, four of our five losses have been by a combined total of seven points.”

Before it forfeited the 16 games, Lynwood had a 17-5 record and was in the hunt for the San Gabriel League title. Then Warren High Coach Jay Young led a complaint against the Knights for using an ineligible player, Elijah Shahid, a junior transfer from Warren. Lynwood’s record dropped to 2-20.

“It’s unfortunate that this had to happen because the kid always lived in Lynwood but had a special pass to attend Warren his freshman and sophomore years,” Lee said. “Legally, they were correct, but if we had known, we would have gotten a waiver for him.

“The thing is . . . the kid was one of our reserves. He had no real (impact) on what our record was.”

Lynwood, which would have been co-league champions with Gahr this season if not for the forfeits, has been led by Jamal Lawrence, Nathan Ware and Juaquin Hawkins.

“It’s a different Lynwood team and it’s a different Poly team, but the kids are excited,” Lee said. “We haven’t lost in our gym for over two years and we’ve played very well on our court this year. Now, we get our chance to show what kind of team we have.”

John Barr and Pete Fawaz, the athletic directors at Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes high schools, respectively, have been named co-athletic directors of the district’s new high school, it was announced last week.

In addition, Jim Kinney, the longtime activities director at Palos Verdes, was selected to the same position at the new school.

They are the latest administrative posts to be filled since the Palos Verdes Peninsula School Board voted in December to close Miraleste and Palos Verdes high schools in June and consolidate operations on the Rolling Hills High campus this fall.

The district soon will begin interviewing and selecting coaches for the school’s athletic teams. Chris Bowles, assistant principal in charge of athletics, said he hopes to have head coaches for fall and winter sports within two or three weeks.

Bowles said choosing athletic directors was a difficult decision for the selection panel, which consisted of Bowles, Principal Kelly Johnson and two district officials.

The odd one out was Miraleste’s Tom Graves, who has 18 years experience as athletic director, more than either Fawaz or Barr. Graves also coached Miraleste’s successful baseball team for several years and was football coach.

“Obviously it was painful for me,” Graves said. “But I’ll survive like everyone else. . . . Hopefully I’m not totally out of the picture at (the new) school.”

Bowles said it is the prelude to other difficult decisions that will be made as the district squeezes three schools into one.

“All I can say is, we’re trying to hire the best people,” Bowles said. “When you have three people that are all qualified, and you pick two, one person is going to lose. I think the world of Tom. His record speaks for itself. But this is the type of thing that is going to happen in this type of situation.”

The new school is tentatively being called Peninsula High, but Bowles said “nothing is in cement.” He said Kinney is working with students to select a mascot and school colors.

Peninsula High still hasn’t found a league. The CIF releaguing committee, responding to an appeal from Redondo and Mira Costa, voted, 7-0, this week to deny a proposal to realigned the Bay, Ocean and Pioneer leagues for the 1991-92 school year.

Mira Costa and Redondo filed the appeal after a Jan. 29 meeting at Santa Monica in which principals from the 15 Bay, Ocean and Pioneer league schools voted, 9-6, to change the configuration of the leagues. The meeting was held to place Peninsula High in a league.

Under the proposal, Mira Costa and Redondo would have left the Ocean League to join Peninsula High in the Bay League with holdovers Hawthorne, Leuzinger, Inglewood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. Culver City would have moved from the Bay League to the Ocean League, where it would have joined Inglewood Morningside and the five Pioneer League schools--Torrance, South Torrance, North Torrance, West Torrance and Compton Centennial.

Mira Costa and Redondo, unhappy with the prospect of having to compete in the Bay League against schools with larger enrollments, won their appeal because last month’s meeting of principals was not conducted in accordance with CIF guidelines.

As a result, the Coast Area Committee--composed of the Bay, Ocean, Pioneer, Moore and San Gabriel Valley leagues--will meet Feb. 28 at Santa Monica High to take another stab at realignment.

CITY BASKETBALL POLL: C9