Bishop Montgomery Job May Be Filled

Barring a last-minute change of heart, Bob Tompson said Saturday that he will become the new football coach at Bishop Montgomery.

The school has already offered the job to Tompson, a former assistant at St. Bernard and El Camino College. He planned to give Bishop Montgomery an answer today.

“There’s not much doubt that I’m going to take it,” he said.

Tompson, 33, who has coached football at six schools in the past eight seasons, said he welcomes the chance to end his nomadic ways.

“I’m tired of moving around,” he said. “I’m married now and I’ve got a baby on the way. I want to settle down and build a program, and I think Bishop Montgomery is a great place to do it. They have a lot of tools over there.”

Tompson will replace Steve Carroll, who resigned in January after coaching the Knights to a 6-4 record and a third-place finish in the Mission League in his third season. Tompson also has interest in succeeding Carroll as athletic director.

“We’re still discussing the athletic director position and bringing some of my (assistant) coaches along,” Tompson said. “That’s the reason I needed a couple of days to think about things.”

Tompson coached Pius X to a 7-2-1 record last fall in his first season at the Downey school. But the team had to forfeit six victories and a tie because several players were ruled academically ineligible, a situation that cast Tompson in an unfavorable light. He is also Pius X’s athletic director.

“Coming to a new high school, I thought everything was in order,” he said. “I took some things for granted. In reality, none of the kids ever knew when they were on probation or ineligible. At least it wasn’t done the previous year.

“We went all over the June grades, and we thought we had it covered. But we didn’t go back to March.”

Tompson said when he investigated the situation, he discovered that Pius X had been allowing academically ineligible athletes to compete in several boys’ and girls’ sports dating back to the 1990-91 school year.

“We had to take the blow and start over,” he said.

Before working at Pius X, Tompson was the coach at Daniel Murphy in 1990, the quarterback coach at Occidental College in 1988 and ‘89, the tight end and receiver coach for a national championship team at El Camino in 1987, an assistant at St. Bernard in 1985 and ‘86, and an assistant at Nevada Reno in 1983 and ’84. He also taught and served as athletic director at Mary Star.

El Segundo baseball Coach John Stevenson is big on 5-foot-6 Jim Zambarelli, the Eagles’ shortstop and leadoff hitter. Entering Saturday’s game against South Gate, Zambarelli had reached base safely in 13 consecutive plate appearances without the benefit of an error.

“He’s a phenomenal little guy,” Stevenson said. “He’s only a 5-6 junior, but he’s a very powerful 5-6. He can really hit.”

Zambarelli, who has two home runs, also has a good eye. Last summer, he walked 11 consecutive times in the American Legion playoffs at Blair Field in Long Beach.

“I’ve never seen that in all my years of coaching,” Stevenson said. “But it’s not like he’s just up there looking to walk. He just doesn’t swing at bad pitches.”

Zambarelli’s father, also named Jim, was a football and baseball standout at North Torrance in the early 1970s. Stevenson said he remembers the elder Zambarelli from the days when El Segundo had a heated baseball rivalry with North, which was coached then by Jim O’Brien.

“Zambarelli Sr. was an exceptional player, and the son is emerging as a real force,” Stevenson said.

El Segundo will begin defense of its San Fernando Valley League title Wednesday when it travels to meet Bell-Jeff of Burbank. Senior right-hander Matt Gangawere is expected to start for the Eagles, and that usually results in a victory.

Gangawere has a 21-2 record in the past year. He was 10-1 last season, 8-1 during the summer for El Segundo’s American Legion team and is 3-0 this season.

“He’s very savvy,” Stevenson said of his ace. “He’s one of those guys who keeps you in the game with good pitching. He’s not going to strike out 15 people. He makes people hit.”

It hasn’t hurt that El Segundo has supported its pitchers well. The Eagles (6-1) scored 72 runs in their seven games.

The Mira Costa boys’ volleyball team appears to be rounding into form after a slow start. The Mustangs, who lost four of their first five matches, won their fourth consecutive match Friday night with a 15-11, 15-10, 15-11 victory over University in West Los Angeles.

“It was a really good win for us,” Coach Mike Cook said. “We turned the corner. We have a ways to go, but it’s a far cry from where we were two weeks ago.”

As usual, outside hitter Cameron Green led Mira Costa. The 6-4 senior who is being recruited by several Division I colleges had 11 kills, five digs, 10 service points and three blocks.

The Mustangs, ranked sixth in the Southern Section 4-A Division, improved to 5-4 overall. Their four losses have all been against highly ranked teams: Loyola, Peninsula, Newport Harbor and Palisades.

Cook believes Mira Costa is capable of joining that elite group.

“I’ve always thought that we have the talent to play in the CIF final,” he said. “We just have to play like it.”

Rich Masson, who is resigning after 10 seasons as the Carson boys’ basketball coach, won’t soon forget his final game of 1992.

Masson coached a team of City Section all-stars to a 144-136 victory over standouts from the Southern Section in the 10th annual All-Star Prep Classic at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday night.

The City all-stars led by 16 at halftime, but fell behind by 19 at the end of the third quarter before rallying in the fourth quarter.

“It was pretty crazy,” Masson said. “I can’t ever remember a point swing that big.”

Guards Brandon Martin of Washington and Burt Harris of Fairfax, both USC recruits, led the City team. Martin was named most valuable player.

Peninsula guard Raquel Alotis scored 15 points to lead the Southern Section all-stars to an 82-73 victory over the City Section in the girls’ game of the All-Star Prep Classic.

Four Peninsula players combined for 37 points. Center Jeffra Gausepohl had nine, guard Kristen Mulligan had seven and forward Monique Morehouse had six.

Washington forward Charisse Sampson overcame three early fouls to lead all scorers with 16 points. San Pedro’s Fatima Warren added 13 points for the City team and Banning’s Rayjanette Lampkin had 11. Banning center Michelle Campbell did not play because of a knee injury suffered in practice.

The game was closely contested until the Southern Section broke a 71-71 tie by scoring 11 of the last 13 points.

Where would the Redondo athletic program be without Ted Silva?

The senior played quarterback on the Sea Hawk football team that reached the second round of the Southern Section playoffs, he played point guard on the basketball team, which also reached the playoffs, and Thursday he helped the baseball team move into second place in the Ocean League.

Silva pitched a three-hitter and struck out 12 in a 2-0 victory over Mira Costa. Redondo improved to 2-1 in league play, 1 1/2 games behind first-place Beverly Hills (4-0).

Speaking of football/baseball players, Rino Marconi drove in two runs Thursday to help San Pedro defeat Narbonne, 8-3, and remain in first place in the Pacific League.

Marconi, a senior shortstop, broke a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. The Pirates improved to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in league play.

Last fall, Marconi was quarterback of the San Pedro football team that reached the semifinals of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs.

A day after being knocked out of first place, West Torrance regained a share of the lead in the Pioneer League baseball race with a 7-4 victory over host South Torrance on Friday.

Darrin Nicholson drove in three runs to help West rally from a 2-0 deficit and improve to 3-1 in league play. That leaves the Warriors tied for first with Torrance, which beat West on Thursday, 3-2. South slipped to 1-1.