Barnes, Marrujo Have Applied to Coach at Fullerton College

John Barnes of Los Alamitos High School and Mike Marrujo of Valencia, two of north Orange County’s most successful prep football coaches, said they have applied for the vacant head coaching job at Fullerton College.

Both coaches led their teams to Southern Section championships last fall. Los Alamitos won the Division III title with a stunning 8-0 victory over previously undefeated Esperanza and finished 12-2 for the season.

Valencia won the Division VI championship and completed a 14-0 season with a 27-7 victory over Tustin. Marrujo, who has a 109-26-5 record at Valencia, said he was very interested in the position.

“It’s a great job, but I’m not sure I’ll even get an interview,” Marrujo said. “I’m sure they’re going to get 200 coaches from all over the country applying.”

Barnes, who has a 96-45-5 record at Los Alamitos, said he talked to retiring Fullerton Coach Hal Sherbeck before applying.

“It’s a step up at one of the great junior college programs in the nation, but next season would be the one year I wouldn’t want to leave Los Alamitos,” Barnes said. Los Alamitos, led by quarterback Tim Carey, will be the county’s top-ranked team going into the season.

Tim Devaney of Sunny Hills and Gary Meek of Esperanza, also successful coaches in the North County, said they were not interested in the Fullerton job.

“I wouldn’t want to follow a legend like Hal Sherbeck,” Meek said.

The position closes June 19. The job is being advertised as a football/golf coach position.

The final financial statement for the Division I football championship game that featured Mater Dei against Eisenhower and drew 33,204 fans to Anaheim Stadium shows that the game was the most lucrative in Southern Section history.

Mater Dei’s ticket presale was $59,984; Eisenhower sold tickets totaling $31,504. The walk-up sale was $105,000, for a total ticket sales of $196,488.

Each school received almost $38,000 and the Southern Section office received $76,000 as its share of the profits.

The Los Angeles City and Southern sections have scheduled a press conference for June 9 at the Sheraton Cerritos to announce that the first City vs. Southern Section championship football game will be played Dec. 18.

The game was scheduled to begin last season but administrators hesitated to stage the game after KCOP decided not to televise it because the station didn’t have enough time to sell advertising. Some felt the financial success of the game would be based heavily on television revenue.

But City Commissioner Hal Harkness and Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas regretted the decision not to go ahead with a game that would have featured City 4-A champion Dorsey against Southern Section Division I champion Mater Dei, which would have been a strong box office attraction.

Under an agreement between the City, Southern Section and State CIF, each organization will earn one-third of the gate receipts.