Morningside Will Rise and Attempt to Shine Saturday Against Servite

Alarm clocks will be set to go off early Saturday in many parts of Inglewood. Morningside High’s basketball team is bound for the arena.

“That’s the first thing the kids asked me,” Coach Carl Franklin said. “Do we really have to play at 9:30 in the morning?”

Really.

Because of the 9:30 starting time, Franklin said the Morningside team will leave school at 7:30 Saturday morning for its showdown with Servite of Anaheim in the CIF-Southern Section Division III-A final at the Sports Arena.

Arthur Savage isn’t complaining, though. He’d play the game at 4 in the morning if they asked him.

After what happened to Morningside last season, Savage is grateful to have an opportunity to play in a CIF final. The top-seeded Monarchs were upset in the 1990 quarterfinals by Lompoc, 83-80, at Inglewood High.

Morningside returned to the same site Tuesday night to meet Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in the semifinals. This time, though, there was no upset as the top-seeded Monarchs won comfortably, 65-54.

“It meant a lot because last year we came this far and lost in the same gym,” Savage said. “We thought it was a jinx, but I guess this place came through for us.”

Savage, a 6-foot-6 senior forward and team co-captain, was a big contributor to the victory. He scored a game-high 21 points and punctuated the evening with a spectacular dunk with about a minute to play. Taking a pass above the key on the left side, Savage took two long strides before leaping toward the basket. He came down about 10 feet later, jamming the ball to the delight of the fans. A Notre Dame player, in an unsuccessful attempt to draw a charging foul, lay at his feet.

“I didn’t believe it myself,” Savage said of his dunk. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

Savage said the memory of last season’s loss to Lompoc was in the back of his mind Tuesday, especially when Notre Dame opened a 27-17 lead.

“When we lost, it was devastating,” he said. “But we came back together this year. Everything has been working out for us.”

Saturday’s game marks the second time Savage will play at the Sports Arena. A three-year varsity member, he was a reserve when Morningside lost to Trabuco Hills in the 1989 Southern California Division III regional final.

“This time we want to redeem ourselves,” he said.

Morningside is unbeaten in three previous appearances in Southern Section finals. Each title came in a different decade under a different coach:

The Monarchs won the Lower Division Northern Group title in 1955 with a 64-62 overtime victory over Beverly Hills. Coaching Morningside that season was Al Greenleaf, longtime golf coach at El Camino College.

Morningside’s second title came in 1974, when center Michael Santos (Utah State) led the Monarchs to a 55-49 victory over Katella of Anaheim in the 3-A Division final under Ron Jacobs, who later became coach of El Camino, Loyola Marymount and the Philippine national team.

Center Elden Campbell, a junior, led Morningside to its most recent section title in 1985, as the Monarchs beat Bonita of La Verne, 68-52, in the 3-A Division final under Franklin and Ron Randle.

Morningside never reached a CIF title game under UCLA’s Jim Harrick, who coached the Monarchs in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

Harrick hasn’t forgotten his roots. He was in attendance Tuesday night at Inglewood.

When Mira Costa boys’ volleyball Coach Mike Cook says his team is green, he isn’t talking about the school colors, which happen to be green and gold.

Cook is talking about inexperience.

The Mustangs return only one starter from last season, when they went 22-0 and captured the mythical national title.

“We’re searching for a starting lineup and an identity,” Cook said. “Hopefully over the next couple of weeks we’ll stabilize to some degree.”

Mira Costa opened its season Wednesday night with a home match against Edison of Huntington Beach, the team it defeated for the CIF 4-A Division title last season. It capped a season in which the Mustangs were hailed by many as the greatest high school team ever. They lost only two games within a match all season, one less than the 1978 Santa Barbara team led by the incomparable Karch Kiraly.

But the big names from 1990--outside hitter David Swatik (UCLA), middle blocker Pat Ivie (USC) and setter Canyon Ceman (Stanford)--have taken their acts to the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.

The lone holdover from that talented lineup is All-CIF outside hitter Mark Shoptaw, a 6-foot-3 senior who is being recruited by USC and UCLA, Cook said. Mira Costa’s other established starters are setter Neal O’Brien, a senior with varsity experience, and outside hitter Cameron Green, a talented 6-3 junior who was most valuable player of last season’s junior varsity team.

After that, it’s a wide-open race for the other three spots. The team’s relative inexperience is the main reason Mira Costa has slipped to No. 7 in the 4-A Division coaches’ poll. By season’s end, though, Cook expects the Mustangs to be near the top.

“We feel maybe a little bit insulted that we’re ranked as low as we are,” Cook said. “We have to go out and prove that we’re better than that.

“Our attitude is to work hard and finish far above that No. 7. If we find the right combination of players, I think we can challenge for the CIF championship.”

If Mira Costa and Redondo have their way, the South Bay’s Southern Section high schools will be realigned into three five-team leagues for the 1991-92 school year.

Mira Costa basketball Coach Glenn Marx said the proposal will be made today at a meeting of administrators at Santa Monica High. It calls for newly formed Peninsula High to join Hawthorne, Santa Monica, Inglewood and Leuzinger in the Bay League. Culver City and Beverly Hills would leave the Bay League and join Mira Costa, Redondo and Morningside in the Ocean League. The Pioneer League (the four Torrance schools and Centennial) would remain the same.

Mira Costa and Redondo filed an appeal after a Jan. 29 meeting at Santa Monica in which principals voted to realign the schools in one eight-team and one seven-team league. Under that configuration, Mira Costa and Redondo would have been placed in the Bay League with larger-enrollment schools.

The CIF releaguing committee voted 7 to 0 Feb. 14 to grant the appeal because the first meeting of area principals was not conducted in accordance with CIF bylaws.

Several players who helped El Segundo’s baseball team to a 27-4 record and the CIF 2-A Division title game last season are now competing collegiately or professionally.

Following is where the class of ’90 has gone:

Pitchers Jason Wayt (Fresno State) and Rob Croxall (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), first baseman Tate Seefried (New York Yankees farm system), second baseman Eric Stevenson (Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria), shortstop Mark Lewis (Harbor College), center fielder Tony Bartolucci (Redlands University) and right fielder Kenny Talanoa (playing football at Hawaii).

Garret Quaintance, an All-CIF catcher for El Segundo last season, is not playing baseball after giving up a scholarship to Cal State Dominguez Hills. He reportedly intends to play at a community college next year.

Notes

Five South Bay wrestlers will compete Friday and Saturday in the CIF State Championship meet at the University of Pacific in Stockton: Chris Xavier (103-pound division), Pat Wheat (135) and Erick Gaunt (171) of Torrance, Ronell Lone (189) of Morningside and Josh Gormley (275) of West Torrance. Gormley, who is 43-0, is one of four returning state champions. . .Mira Costa will lead 13 South Bay teams in the 35-team Redondo Volleyball Tournament on Saturday. Pool play begins at 9 a.m. at Redondo and Mira Costa, followed by playoffs at 5 p.m. and the championship match at 7:30, both at Redondo. Other area teams entered are Bishop Montgomery, Torrance, St. Bernard, West Torrance, Rolling Hills, Inglewood, Westchester, South Torrance, Miraleste, Hawthorne and Palos Verdes. . . . Greg Goode , a former assistant baseball coach at El Camino College and the head coach at Lawndale High in 1981, is the new baseball coach at Hawthorne High. Goode, a 1974 Hawthorne graduate, succeeds Lester Sakurai , now an assistant at North Torrance.

Rolling Hills’ new third baseman is Dan Manjarrez , a senior who played varsity baseball the past two seasons at El Segundo. . . . The Miraleste boys’ soccer team lost to Yucaipa, 3-2, in overtime Tuesday in the semifinals of the CIF Small Schools playoffs. Paul Lemire and Greg Keese scored for the Marauders, who finished 15-6-1. . . . South Bay Lutheran’s basketball season came to an end Tuesday night, as the Waves lost to Rio Hondo Prep, 60-59, in the Division V-A semifinals at Morningside.