Title Game Put on Hold by TV; Maybe Next Year

The long-awaited football showdown between the Southern Section Division I and City 4-A Division champions will have to wait another year.

The game, which was to have been played Dec. 20 at Cerritos College, has been postponed because TV station KCOP (Channel 13) decided that it needed more time to put the game together. The game also does not have final approval by the California Interscholastic Federation State Federated Council, which is expected later this week.

“The game was announced prematurely because it never was on for this season,” said Rick Feldman of KCOP, which proposed the game last spring. “We decided that the game is not going to happen this year. We still have exclusive rights for the game but final approval is still needed and we feel that in order to televise it right, we should wait until next year.”

Despite the setback, the playoff game should be good for Southern California prep football fans. After years of public demand, a matchup between the two sections’ champions had only been a topic of discussion until KCOP got involved.

Money played a major role. Television rights to the five-year deal are $50,000 for the first game; $65,000 in 1993; $80,000 in 1994 and $100,000 in 1995 and 1996. The sections will split all gate, concession and parking receipts.

In today’s era of struggling high school sports budgets, sponsorship will be important, and the Southern Section has been a pioneer in getting sponsor revenue. Sponsorship is new to the the City Section, though.

“We have never really needed sponsorship because we are a school district,” said Lee Joseph, City associate athletic commissioner. “In order for the Southern Section to survive, it needs two things, sponsorship and playoff revenue. They have to go out and get sponsors, and they have a paid person to do so. The City has only needed to have its games because we only had one school board to deal with. If we have a bad year, our program still functioned.

“However, that might be changing because it looks like it may be time for sponsorship for us now,” he said. “Everyone is having problems, and getting money from other areas would help.”

A sponsor is exactly what sports producer Jim Miller needs. Miller has had problems getting backers for a proposed local cable game-of-the-week package.

The package includes weekly regular-season games involving City and Southern Section schools, and the City football playoffs.

“I’ve approached the same people who already support the Southern Section and maybe the same people who will support the (City vs. Southern Section) championship game, and I’ve been turned down by all of them,” Miller said. “Everyone tells me that the package is good. So, I really don’t know what the problem is.”

Miller’s deal, which includes 20 cable systems in five counties representing 1.3 million Southern California households, is expected to begin near the end of the regular prep football season and continue through the playoffs and into basketball season.

A championship football game between the sections will come too late for Gene Vollnogle, former Carson and Wilmington Banning Coach who won 10 City 4-A Division titles in 34 years before his retirement last year.

“We have always wanted to play the winner of that group,” Vollnogle said. “For years, we tried to get them to play us, but we only could play them early in the regular season when we were at a disadvantage because they started earlier than us.

“Once, our principal at Carson wrote a letter to Bishop Amat when they had (Pat) Haden and (J.K.) McKay to play a championship game between the (section) champions, but the game never developed.

“I think that having this game is great because it will be the closest thing to having a state championship,” he said.

Prep Notes

Football Coach Butch McElwee of Burbank Burroughs resigned Sunday and was replaced by former Burroughs coach Bob Dunivant. McElwee said he had planned to resign at the end of the season but decided to get out now. Burroughs is 0-2. . . . Loyola rebounded from its season-opening loss to Mission Viejo by pounding Long Beach Jordan Saturday night at Glendale High, 51-25. The Cubs rushed for 488 yards, 297 of them in the third quarter. Senior running back Matt Vanis gained 238 yards in 18 carries and scored three touchdowns.

Fairfax quarterback Rahim Muhammad scored all four touchdowns in the Lions’ 27-0 victory over Reseda Cleveland on Friday. Muhammad scored on runs of one, three, three and 37 yards. . . . Los Angeles High is off to a 2-0 start in the City after its 22-13 upset over Belmont on Friday. . . . Former Dorsey running back Lamont Warren rushed for 60 yards and scored two touchdowns in Colorado’s 58-0 victory over Minnesota Saturday.

Three of the top five cross-country runners for Villanova this season are former Southern California standouts. At the Fordham University Invitational last Saturday, Villanova won its first meet championship since 1986 with Terrence Mahon of La Habra finishing first; Louie Quintana of Arroyo Grande third and Dave Hartman of Canyon Country Canyon fourth.

Times’ Prep Polls

CITY SECTION

No. School Div. Record LW 1. Banning 4-A 2-0 2 2. Carson 4-A 1-1 1 3. Kennedy 4-A 2-0 3 4. Dorsey 4-A 0-1 5 5. San Fernando 4-A 2-0 4 6. Fairfax 4-A 1-0 8 7. Washington 3-A 2-0 NR 8. Bell 4-A 2-0 NR 9. Poly 4-A 1-1 NR 10. El Camino Real 4-A 2-0 NR

SOUTHERN SECTION

No. School Div. Record LW 1. Eisenhower I 2-0 1 2. Fontana I 2-0 3 3. Esperanza III 2-0 4 4. Bishop Amat I 2-0 5 5. Mission Viejo II 2-0 6 6. Mater Dei I 3-0 10 7. Thousand Oaks II 2-0 9 8. Loyola I 1-1 8 9. Redlands I 3-0 NR 10. Hawthorne III 2-0 13 11. Arroyo Grande VII 2-0 12 12. Quartz Hill I 1-1 2 13. Dominguez II 2-0 NR 14. Glendora IV 2-0 15 15. Capistrano Valley II 1-1 NR