Officials Move Games; Cite Fear of Violence

Fear of gang-related violence has prompted El Segundo and Bell-Jeff high school officials to change the location of softball and baseball games this week from originally scheduled sites in Burbank.

Bell-Jeff Athletic Director Jim Couch said Wednesday’s home softball game scheduled at Olive Park was changed to El Segundo and Friday’s baseball game at Northwest Park will be played in El Segundo or at a neutral site.

Bell-Jeff, which is located in Burbank, and El Segundo compete in the San Fernando Valley League.

School officials relocated the games in response to a Feb. 16 shooting in which a 17-year-old Burbank boy was killed and a 21-year-old man, also of Burbank, was wounded during a high-speed chase through the South Bay. The victim and injured man reportedly were associated with a San Fernando Valley-based gang.

Jeffrey Dobrovolny, 17, of El Segundo has been charged with murder and is awaiting trial. Other El Segundo students were involved in the chase, police said.

“The schools made the decision to change the venues because of the tension of a school (Bell-Jeff) with possible connections to the deceased,” said El Segundo Police Sgt. Mike Brumley.

Eric Rosoff, a detective with the Burbank police, voiced similar concerns.

“We were concerned about the security situation at a baseball game because geographically it could be a target for retaliation,” Rosoff said.

The Bell-Jeff baseball team, which played a scheduled game in El Segundo on Wednesday night, will be the home team Friday, but will not have the advantage of playing on its home field.

“I guess it’s the misfortune of being located in Burbank,” Bell-Jeff Coach Sab Manente said. “It puts us at a disadvantage.”

The shooting victim was not a Bell-Jeff student.

This is not the first time El Segundo has changed the location of athletic events because of the shooting. The sites of two CIF-Southern Section playoff games involving the boys’ basketball and girls’ soccer teams were switched to out-of-town sites during the week following the shooting, which occurred after an altercation between groups of El Segundo and Burbank youths in the parking lot of an El Segundo convenience store.

John Stevenson, the El Segundo High athletic director and baseball coach, referred all questions to school district Supt. William Manahan, who was unavailable for comment and failed to return messages.

As an assistant football coach the past three seasons at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Kerry Crabb grew accustomed to working with varsity teams fielding between 70 and 80 players.

So Crabb, who was named coach at West Torrance on Tuesday, didn’t think it was unusual to expect a similar turnout at West.

He soon learned that coaching at a public school in the South Bay is a bit different than coaching at a Catholic powerhouse in Orange County.

“Since (West) has 1,500 students, I was imagining 60, 70 kids out for the varsity,” he said. “It took me aback when I found out there was only 34 kids on the varsity.”

If the low turnout initially concerned Crabb, he’s gotten over it. Crabb enters his first head coaching job confident that West will continue its winning tradition. Last season, the Warriors finished in a three-way tie for the Pioneer League title and lost in the second round of the Southern Section Division VIII playoffs to eventual champion Temecula Valley.

“Now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate personnel, I’m not scared at all about (the number of players),” Crabb said. “I think we have a good lineup of people. I don’t know if I’ll be ready for everything that occurs, but I don’t think there will be any major differences.”

Crabb, 33, replaces the co-coaching team of Mark Knox and John Black, who resigned after guiding West to a 44-30-4 record and four league titles in seven seasons. Crabb will take a full-time teaching position at West after finishing the school year at Mater Dei.

The new coach has a successful background. Mater Dei went to the CIF playoffs in each of Crabb’s three seasons as an offensive and strength coach, reaching the quarterfinals in 1988 and the semifinals last season with a team led by Derek Sparks, the well-traveled running back who played at Banning as a sophomore.

Crabb also enjoyed success as a player. A running back, he played at Dana Hills High before going on to help the Saddleback College program get off the ground under Ken Swearingen, the former coach at El Camino College. In Crabb’s two seasons at Saddleback in Mission Viejo, the Gauchos were 19-2 and began a 49-game home winning streak. Crabb was named the offensive player of the game in the 1978 Mission Bowl.

He sees the West job as a great opportunity and challenge.

“I’m walking into a brand-new situation,” he said. “My only exposure to West has been in some passing-league games. I know about the West name. They have established a tradition that I have to carry on.”

Crabb, who lives in Huntington Beach with his wife and infant son, said he learned about the West job from Damien Watters, a friend and former assistant coach at St. Bernard. Crabb said Watters will join the West staff as offensive line coach.

“I’ve been in the market for a head coaching job,” he said. “I’ve been chomping at the bit to get my own program.”

Crabb said he is a long way from filling his staff and plans to talk with coaches who have worked in the West program.

Crabb said West will build its offense around all-league quarterback Steve Sarkisian, who passed for 1,290 yards last season.

Morningside forward Akiba Flanagan was named most valuable player of the first South Bay girls’ basketball all-star game Saturday night after scoring 24 points to lead the White team to a 76-63 victory over the Red at North Torrance High.

Leuzinger’s Dalynne Ware added 16 points and Morningside’s Tyesha Whiting had 12 for the White, coached by Rich Rosato of North Torrance.

The Red team, coached by Wendell Yoshida of Palos Verdes, was led by Bishop Montgomery guard Lily Cabaleiro with 14 points.

Yoshida will be back at it today at noon, when he coaches a team of Southern Section seniors against a team of L.A. City Section seniors in an all-star game at the Forum. Flanagan and Morningside point guard Princess Murray will play for Yoshida.

The girls’ game will be followed by a boys’ game at 2:30 p.m. that will feature six South Bay standouts Roger Hendrix of Rolling Hills and Wyking Jones of St. Bernard for the Southern Section and LeRoi O’Brien of Westchester, Jabari Anderson of Banning, Robin Kirksey of Gardena and D’Mitri Rideout of Narbonne for the City Section.

Notes

Following is a complete list of area girls’ players named to All-Southern Section basketball teams. Division I: Janet Davis (Morningside, co-most valuable player with Michelle Palmisano of Thousand Oaks); Flanagan (Morningside); Murray (Morningside); Kelly Bryant (Inglewood). Division II: Cabaleiro (Bishop Montgomery); Tiffany Fujimoto (Torrance); Laurie Shimizu (West Torrance). Division III: Kristen Mulligan (co-MVP with Nicki Manzo of Lompoc); Jeffra Gausepohl (Palos Verdes); Monique Morehouse (Palos Verdes); Raquel Alotis (Palos Verdes); Joi Turner (St. Bernard); Mimi McKinney (Palos Verdes); Karen Conrey (South Torrance). Division V: Kala Parker (Chadwick).

Staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this story.