PREP COLUMN : A List of Best and Worst in Football

Questions and answers at the halfway point of the football season:

* The South Bay’s most talented team? Carson. The Colts were plagued by turnovers and mistakes last month in back-to-back losses to Morse of San Diego and Granada Hills, but no team in the area has more talent at more positions. Wingbacks Theron Hill and Damin Hurst and wide receiver Tony Knox are all capable of turning modest plays into a big gains. It would be hard to find a quicker high school player than Hurst, a 5-foot-8, 150-pound junior. And the defense is tough, especially against the run.

* The most error-prone team? Carson. In five games, the Colts have committed 18 turnovers and been penalized 484 yards, resulting in four touchdowns and a two-point conversion being called back. They showed signs of getting better last week, committing only one turnover in a 28-7 victory over San Pedro.

* The most talented player? Morningside quarterback Stais Boseman. Many compare the 6-3 junior to Curtis Conway, the former Hawthorne quarterback who now plays receiver/quarterback/kick returner for USC. Like Conway, Boseman is an explosive runner who can pass the ball adequately when the situation calls for it. In four games he has rushed for more than 500 yards and nine touchdowns and passed for five TDs. Without him, the Monarchs would still be a good team. With him, they have won their four games by an average margin of 17 points and are ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division VIII poll.

* The wildest rumor? That Boseman will turn 19 before Sept. 1, thus making him ineligible for interscholastic sports as a senior. This seems to be wishful thinking on the part of Morningside’s opponents. For the record, Boseman is 17 and will turn 18 on March 10, according to his mother, Alice Caruthers. He repeated the second grade because of a reading problem, but he is not too old to participate in sports next year, as some have suggested.

* The hottest topic? Shootings at games. Unfortunately, too much time and effort has been devoted to lunatics who disrupt high school contests. Adepressing sign of the times.

* The most astute observation? South Torrance Coach Don Morrow: “I don’t think there’s any one great team in the South Bay this year.”

* The best team? Banning. The Pilots have demonstrated the most consistency in winning their first five games, but there could be problems on the horizon. The team’s passing attack is anemic and the defense seems susceptible to giving up the big play, which might hurt when it plays Carson on Nov. 15.

* The most disappointing team? Torrance. The Tartars (1-4) opened the season ranked No. 4 in Southern Section Division VIII and favored to win th Pioneer League title. Heading into league play, though, they appear no better than the third- or fourth-best team. First-year Coach Bill Bynum might have underestimated the difficulty of establishing a new offense built around the passing game. Moreover, the defense has allowed an average of 36 points in the past three games.

* The most surprising team? Inglewood. The Sentinels, who couldn’t buy a victory in recent years, are 3-2 and suddenly a threat in the competitive Bay League. Credit new Coach Angelo Jackson with a job well done.

* The most unpredictable team? Redondo. The Sea Hawks had lost big to Peninsula, 42-22, and disappointingly to North Torrance, 21-13, before rebounding with a 21-18 victory last week over Hawthorne, then the No. 2 team in the Southern Section Division III rankings.

* The best running back? Hawthorne tailback Morell Ollis. This is big year for running backs in the area. Koury Clark of Bishop Montgomery, Brian Durbin of Peninsula, Shayzar Hawkins of Banning, Na’il Benjamin of Inglewood, Montres Gordes of Morningside and Ryan Brady of South are among the best. But we give the nod to the 5-9 Ollis for his combination of speed and toughness.

* The favorites in league races that begin this week? Bay League: Hawthorne (Cougars have best talent). Ocean League: Morningside (Boseman and company are too tough). Pioneer League: South Torrance (Spartans are looking good after last week’s upset of previously unbeaten Beverly Hills).

* The most competitive league race? Pioneer. Any one of the four Torrance schools appears capable of winning the title. Said South’s Morrow: “North seems to be coming on and Torrance is kind of a mystery team. Everyone thought they would be the team to beat. And West seems really solid. I think it’s the most competitive league since I’ve been here.”

Technically, St. Anthony had every right to expose an ineligible South Torrance football player who participated in a game against the Saints two weeks ago.

Ethically, though, it seems a bit much.

South was forced to forfeit its 21-14 victory over St. Anthony on Oct. 4 because a player who participated in the sophomore game that afternoon later played in the varsity game. An athlete cannot compete on more than one level on the same day, according to CIF-Southern Section rules.

No argument there. But what irks South is that the player in question, who was allowed to play because of an oversight, had virtually no impact in the varsity game. The 5-7, 130-pound sophomore participated on four kickoffs--two of which were not returned--and did not make a play.

For this, St. Anthony filed a grievance with the Southern Section office.

“We think it was an absolute chicken (bleep) thing to do,” said a South official.

No argument there.

The forfeit kept St. Anthony’s unbeaten record intact. South is 3-2 instead of 4-1 after last week’s 28-18 victory over Beverly Hills.

Jerry McIlvaine, who coached South Torrance’s baseball team to seven league titles from 1958 to 1977, is expected to be named the Spartans’ new coach this week.

McIlvaine, 60, now retired as a teacher, interviewed for the job Tuesday.

“I have to feel I will get the job because the principal called and asked me if I wanted it,” he said. “The problem is they don’t have a lot of candidates that can be walk-on coaches. I just kind of fit the bill.”

A South player, Alan Hook, was the first to ask McIlvaine if he would take the job after former Coach Bob Grant resigned to take an assistant’s position at El Camino College.

“I guess the thing that really made me want to coach again is that so many people asked me to do it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be fun.”

McIlvaine said Don Morrow, the South football coach, will serve as his main assistant.

After coaching South’s baseball team for 20 years, McIlvaine returned as an assistant to Roger Gurich in 1984 and helped guide the team, led by Chris Donnels, to the Southern Section 4-A Division title.

Peninsula football Coach Gary Kimbrell says he is looking to simplify the game plan when the Panthers open Bay League play at Leuzinger at 7:30 Friday night.

“We have to quit trying to confuse the kids as coaches and get back to the basics,” he said.

In Kimbrell’s case, that usually means running the ball. A lot. Peninsula tailback Brian Durbin and fullback Guy Pisani have combined for 951 yards and seven touchdowns rushing already this season.

Notes

Inglewood’s football team, which originally had a bye this week, will play Central of El Centro in a nonleague game at 7:30 Saturday night at Coleman Field in Inglewood . . . El Segundo High will hold a “Hot Shot” basketball shooting contest Saturday as an athletic fund-raiser. Players of all ages can compete for trophies in four age categories. The event starts at 9 a.m. in the El Segundo gym and costs $3 per player.

South Bay’s Football Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Rank School, League Record 1 Banning (Pacific) 5-0 2 Morningside (Ocean) 4-0 3 Carson (Pacific) 3-2 4 Peninsula (Bay) 4-1 5 Hawthorne (Bay) 4-1 6 South Torrance (Pioneer) 4-1 7 San Pedro (Southern) 4-1 8 Inglewood (Bay) 3-2 9 North Torrance (Pioneer) 3-2 10 Redondo (Ocean) 3-2