Morningside Football Title Forfeiture Ruling Expected on Saturday

A decision on whether Morningside High will have to forfeit its 1991 Southern Section Division VIII football title for using an ineligible player last season will be made Saturday, Section Commissioner Stan Thomas said.

The Southern Section Executive Committee will meet at 10 a.m. at the Singing Hills Golf and Tennis Resort in El Cajon to hear the case against Morningside lineman Stacy Maxwell, who reportedly turned 19 before Sept. 1 of last year, making him too old to compete in interscholastic athletics.

Morningside Principal Liza Daniels and George McKenna, superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District, are expected to attend the meeting.

Thomas said Morningside probably will be stripped of its first section football title for playing Maxwell, who apparently was granted athletic eligibility even though Morningside never obtained the student’s official transcript from his previous school.

McKenna said Maxwell gained eligibility with forged records. Maxwell’s actual age was not discovered until recently.

Thomas said it is unlikely that Morningside’s football team will be placed on probation because the school reported the rules violation to McKenna, who wrote a letter informing the Southern Section.

Contrary to what Thomas said last week, there is a good chance that Division VIII runner-up Temecula Valley will be awarded the championship if the title is taken from Morningside. The Monarchs defeated Temecula Valley, 27-20, in the division final Dec. 14 at Temecula Valley.

Rick McLaughlin, who was hired in July to coach the Loyola Marymount men’s volleyball team, has announced the signings of three players.

Identical twins Steve and Darren Gable of Peninsula High and Claude Doumerc of Huntington Beach High will enroll at Loyola in the fall.

Steve Gable is a 6-foot-5 middle blocker and Darren is a 6-5 opposite hitter. Both earned All-Bay League honors last season.

“They wanted to stay together because they’re tight,” McLaughlin said. “They’re both good players. It’s double good for us.”

McLaughlin says it’s unlikely that Darren will start this season, but Steve probably will.

“Steve is one of the top 50 freshman this year,” McLaughlin said. “He needs to work on blocking, but he has a good ability to hit side out at a high level.”

Steve’s toughest competition will come from Doumerc, a 6-5 middle blocker, who earned All-Southern Section honors last year after leading Huntington Beach to the 4-A Division final.

“They’re gonna battle it out,” McLaughlin said. “Claude is a real good blocker.”

Justin Bell of Manhattan Beach posted a personal best of 19 feet 7 1/2 inches in the long jump to place third in the Youth Boys division at the Junior Olympics national track and field championships last week at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Bell’s jump was more than foot better than his previous best of 18-3. He entered the competition ranked 20th among the qualifiers. Michael Banton of Mt. Vernon, Wash., won with a jump of 20-3, and Patrick McCall of Los Angeles was second with a jump of 19-10 1/4.

Bell, who recently completed the eighth grade at American Martyrs school in Manhattan Beach and will enter Loyola High in the fall, was one of four athletes from the Rancho Palos Verdes/Marathom’s track and field team to compete in the national meet that drew more than 5,200 competitors from around the country.