Beverly Hills in Good Hands With Saraf : * Prep football: Sure-handed receiver is a big reason behind Normans’ 3-0 start.

After Beverly Hills High quarterback Ziv Gottlieb was named to the 1990 All-Southern Section Division III team, he began to receive letters from colleges interested in his football prowess.

When Gottlieb told his teammate, receiver David Saraf, about the letters, Saraf was surprised. “I didn’t know that juniors were supposed to get (such) letters,” he said.

While many colleges expressed interest in Gottlieb as a junior, none had contacted Saraf, whose football credentials as a junior were nearly as impressive as those of Gottlieb.

Last year Gottlieb completed 168 of 326 passes for 2,639 yards and 20 touchdowns. His passes went mostly to three players: Saraf and seniors Darren Smith, a wide receiver, and Greg Holmes, a running back.

Saraf led the team in receptions with 53 for 969 yards and nine touchdowns and was among the top 10 receivers in the Southern Section. Although Saraf was named to The Times’ All-Westside team, he was somehow overlooked for All-Southern Section recognition.

Beverly Hills Coach Carter Paysinger said that Gottlieb and Saraf are among the best players in Southern California and that both should have made 1991 preseason lists of top players in the area.

Paysinger said that Gottlieb was listed among others to watch on such lists but Saraf was not. “The lack of attention for David has been really shocking to me,” he said.

Saraf, however, said he is “not at all disappointed” about not getting recognition.

Although college scouts have begun to express interest in Saraf, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior said he is “not really looking for (an athletic) scholarship. That would be a bonus, and I would take it. But what I want is recognition athletically and academically.”

He said his cumulative grade-point average at Beverly Hills High is 3.4, which may bring him an award or two at graduation ceremonies. However, if he continues to record big numbers on the field, he is bound to receive even greater recognition for his athletic ability.

Saraf made a scintillating debut in Beverly Hills’ opener, a 20-16 victory over Santa Monica. He didn’t win the game single-handedly, but he made a big contribution by catching two touchdown passes and intercepting two passes as a defensive back.

He maintained his sizzling pace the following week as Beverly Hills defeated Compton Centennial, 31-14. He caught two touchdown passes, including one that he probably shouldn’t have caught.

On the latter play, a Centennial player deflected Gottlieb’s pass away from Saraf, but Saraf maintained his concentration, somehow caught the ball and scored on a 68-yard play.

In last week’s 46-22 victory over Inglewood, Saraf had six receptions for 157 yards and three touchdowns.

For the season, Saraf has 21 receptions for 447 yards (a 21.3-yard average) and seven touchdowns.

He has made a believer of at least one observer: Santa Monica Coach Ron Guercio.

“He was one of the boys that beat us,” Guercio said. “He’s a good athlete, one of the top three that were on the field that night.

“He caught one (scoring pass) on a defensive breakdown, but one he caught on his back in the end zone--that was a great snag. He made a nice interception on the goal line, and there’s not too much more you can say. The figures speak for themselves. I’m not happy he did it against me, but he’s a (NCAA) Division I boy.”

As good as some of the Division I receivers that Beverly Hills has produced in the 1970s and 1980s? As good as Jeff James at Stanford, Hosea Fortune at Rice and San Jose State, Derek Graham at Princeton or Michael Moore, who is currently at UCLA?

“I would say that David, as far as catching the ball, does it as well as any receiver we’ve ever had here,” Paysinger said.

A wide receiver-defensive back at Beverly Hills in the early 1970s and later a coach of receivers and quarterbacks at his alma mater, Paysinger said that Saraf has “exceptional hands.”

Saraf, who has been timed at 4.65 seconds for 40 yards by Beverly Hills coaches, uses his quick reaction to his advantage as a defensive back.

“He is such a good athlete,” Paysinger said. “On man-to-man coverage, you become a receiver as soon as you pick up the route and the ball, and that’s what he does so well.”

Saraf prefers offense to defense because as a defensive back “you’ve got to watch a receiver, realize what he’s doing and adjust. But on offense, you’re in control--you set the tempo.”

Saraf said much of the credit for his success goes to Gottlieb. The two are familiar with each other’s abilities because they have played together since they were freshmen.

“Ziv knows what I’m going to, do and I know where’s he’s going to throw the ball,” Saraf said. “I know where he is going to go when he’s in trouble because that’s what I would do.”

Saraf also plays soccer and is a sprinter and middle-distance runner in track, but he said that “football is my No. 1 sport. I love to challenge other people and see who does best. I guess the aggressiveness is what attracted me to tackle football--I love that.”

Last year the football team finished with 6-6, but Saraf thinks that this year’s team, which is 3-0, should do much better.

Saraf said 1990 was a rebuilding season under Paysinger, who was then in his first year as coach.

“It was a learning year for us juniors,” he said. “This year we are putting it all together, taking the little pieces from last year and making (them) positive.

“There’s something about this year’s team; everyone knows everyone. (Coaches) decided in our freshman year that they were going to build around us. This is the year; we’re focusing everything on this team.”