Leuzinger Is the Opening Act on Carson Show

No one can accuse Tom Jessee, the new football coach at Leuzinger High, of ducking competition.

The Olympians open the season Friday night with a home game against Carson, the defending L.A. City Section 4-A Division champion and traditionally one of the South Bay’s most physical teams.

The schools have never met before in football, and it would have stayed that way if it was up to Leuzinger Athletic Director Steve Carnes, Jessee’s predecessor as Olympian football coach.

“Carson called us last year looking for a first game,” Carnes said. “I told them, ‘Well, you’ll have to keep on looking.’ ”

But Jessee was more receptive to the idea than Carnes expected.

“He said, ‘Let’s play them,’ ” Carnes said. “I told him to take the weekend to think about it. I said, ‘If that’s what you want, I’ll return the call. But I don’t have to return the call.’ ”

At Jessee’s insistence, Carnes made the call.

Interviews began this week to select a new basketball coach at Redondo High, and former Rolling Hills Coach Cliff Warren reportedly is the leading candidate.

Warren is one of several candidates to replace Steve Shaw, who resigned to become an assistant at El Camino College. Another applicant is Joe Anlauf, the former coach at Alemany High in Mission Hills.

Asked about Warren, Redondo Athletic Director Greg Fucci said, “I think he has an excellent reputation.”

Warren guided Rolling Hills to a 123-46 record, three Bay League titles and six CIF playoff appearances in six seasons.

Warren said family obligations that prevented him from keeping the Harbor College coaching job are no longer a problem. He was named Harbor’s coach in April, but resigned several weeks later after his mother suffered a stroke.

Former Torrance Coach Carl Strong was named to replace Warren.

“I couldn’t devote any time to Harbor,” Warren said. “I was tied in with my mother even more than I thought. The time commitment was unbelievable and emotionally it was unbelievable. It wouldn’t have been fair to Harbor because the spring is an important time for recruiting.”

Warren said his mother, who lived in Arizona at the time of her stroke and was transferred to a hospital in Las Vegas, is now being cared for in Torrance. That has allowed him time to coach again.

“Everything is settled,” he said. “I always liked coaching, and Redondo is one of the few jobs I was interested in because I want to stay close to my home.”

Warren, a real estate investor, lives in Palos Verdes Estates.

Banning’s football team figures to receive a boost from defensive lineman Tawan Hall, a recent transfer from Serra.

How recent?

Hall became eligible Friday, flew to Hawaii on Saturday and played that night in the Pilots’ 14-6 season-opening victory over Kahuku before 10,250 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The rest of Banning’s team had arrived three days earlier.

“He had never worked out with the team,” Banning statistician Harold Holstein said. “He had to petition the (L.A. City Section) to allow him to play.”

Holstein said the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Hall contributed one primary tackle and four assists in the game and earned the praise of Banning coaches.

“They said he is a Division I player,” Holstein said.

Two other transfers also had encouraging debuts for Banning.

Andre Faavi-Tua’au, a junior who played for Carson’s B team last season, started at quarterback and completed three of eight passes for 109 yards, including a 97-yard touchdown to wide receiver Chris Smith. Faavi-Tua’au also rushed for 31 yards in six carries.

Don Moala, another junior from Carson, played middle linebacker and had one primary tackle and two assists.

Faavi-Tua’au and Moala were given the option of transferring to Banning because both were mistakenly assigned to Carson last year, although they reside in the Banning district of Carson.

“The junior high errored and misdirected them,” Banning Coach Joe Dominguez said. “During the spring they had the option to stay (at Carson) or come to Banning. They wanted to come to Banning.”

Carson co-coach Marty Blankenship said Faavi-Tua’au would have contended for the Colts’ starting quarterback job.

“It was a mix-up from the junior high,” Blankenship said. “The counselors sent their transcripts over here. The Banning coaches found out and wanted them to come over to Banning, where they belonged.”

Mira Costa, which has played in the last three CIF 5-A Division girls’ volleyball finals, is ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ preseason divisional poll.

Mustang Coach Dae Lea Aldrich welcomes back seven letter winners from last season’s team that lost in three games to Corona del Mar in the 5-A title match. Standouts include setter Aimee Lay and 5-9 outside hitter Shannon Parke.

Mira Costa has won eight Southern Section major division titles, more than any other school. Five have come during Aldrich’s reign as coach.

Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood has donated complete training room equipment and refurbished the weight rooms at Morningside and Inglewood high schools.

We’ll get an idea of how much the new facilities have helped the schools’ football teams when they meet Friday night at El Camino College.

Chadwick football Coach Sid Grant, whose team opens the season Saturday against Coast Christian of Redondo Beach, says he has two players that are being recruited by Division I colleges: guard/linebacker Mac McKinnie (6-5, 220) and tight end/defensive end Nate Severson (6-4, 200).

Notes

Coaches from both teams were critical of the officiating Saturday in Banning’s 14-6 victory over Kahuku in Hawaii. Banning was penalized 21 times for 240 yards and Kahuku had 15 infractions for 168 yards. When one penalty went unexplained, Banning Coach Joe Dominguez went on the field and drew a penalty for leaving the sideline. The officials picked up the flag on that one. . . . Aside from football, Peninsula High teams are ranked in preseason CIF top 10 coaches’ polls in girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ cross-country and water polo. The girls’ tennis team, which includes several players from Palos Verdes’ 4-A Division champion team of 1990, is ranked No. 1 in 4-A. The boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams are ranked second and third, respectively, in Division I and the water polo team is ranked 10th in 3-A. . . . The 1991 CIF Southern Section football press guide and master schedule is available to the public. Copies are available for $8 at the Southern Section office (11011 E. Artesia Blvd., Cerritos) or for $10 by mail.