HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW : Antelope Valley Becomes the Theater for Some Cozy Rivalries

Talk already has started in the Antelope Valley.

The start of football season is around the corner and fans there are eagerly awaiting the kickoff of what promises to be a season chock-full of spirited cross-town matchups.

With the Southern Section’s realignment of the Golden League, 13 of 15 league games will take place on the valley floor.

Canyon and Saugus highs have moved to the Foothill League to make room for the newest high schools in the area: Highland and Littlerock, both of which opened three years ago.

The other four league teams remain: Antelope Valley, Ridgecrest Burroughs, Palmdale and Quartz Hill. Burroughs is the only school not in the Antelope Valley. The other five league teams are all within a 15-mile radius of one another, which promises to promote outstanding rivalries.

Although the Antelope Valley is one of the fastest growing regions in the nation, it still retains its down-home feel. Everybody seems to know everybody else.

“A lot of these (Antelope Valley-area) kids have all gone to junior high together and grown up together,” Palmdale Coach Jeff Williams said. “A lot of them are even related.”

Highland Coach Lin Parker, an Antelope Valley High graduate who coached with Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb at his alma mater about 15 years ago, thinks the camaraderie among the opposing players--and even the coaches--will make for great drama on Friday nights.

“The whole town is buzzing about the football season,” Parker said.

Picking a league favorite is not easy.

Consider:

-- Although this is only the second year of varsity competition for Highland and Littlerock, coaches have been working with virtually the same players for the past three years.

-- Quartz Hill, a two-time defending league champion, has one returning starter.

-- Palmdale, winless in 1991, has 17 returning lettermen. Twelve were starters.

-- Burroughs has not enjoyed much success in the past few years but will have 11 returning starters. “This is the first time we have a realistic shot at the playoffs,” Coach Bob Roseth said.

-- Antelope Valley, the defending co-champion, has only inexperienced underclassmen patrolling the secondary. “If you have a passing team, you’d be smiling when you play us,” Newcomb said.

League coaches have weighed the variables and have surmised one thing: The league title is up for grabs.

“Of all the Division I leagues, I think ours is the most balanced,” Parker said.

Parker’s colleagues agree.

“Anybody in our league can beat anybody else,” Littlerock Coach Jim Bauer said. “It’s highly unlikely that the league champion will go 5-0.”

All things considered, Antelope Valley--with 19 returning lettermen--has the inside track for the title. The Antelopes know how to win for Newcomb, whose teams have won three Southern Section titles in his 14-year tenure at the school.

However, Quartz Hill Coach John Albee, the league veteran in his 25th season, disagrees. Albee is picking Highland.

Highland, which lost in the first round of the Division IX playoffs last year, has not yet proved itself at the varsity level. Furthermore, the Bulldogs are not used to playing against schools with 2,000-plus students.

Highland, like Littlerock, opened with only a freshman class in 1989. This is the year--when the initial group of freshmen become seniors--that Parker and Bauer reap the benefits of starting a program from the ground floor.

“They brought them along the way they’re supposed to be,” Newcomb said. “Any coach that has the same quarterback for four years--and the same offense--has got to be happy.”

Parker and Bauer are indeed in good spirits.

For three years they have been on the outside looking in. Now they are the talk of the town.

League play does not begin until Oct. 16. Until then, talk is cheap in the Antelope Valley.

“We’re all good friends,” Newcomb said. “Except on Friday nights.”

GOLDEN LEAGUE

FINAL 1991 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Quartz Hill 7-4, 4-1 Antelope Valley Antelope Valley 7-5, 4-1 Highland** Saugus* 6-5, 3-2 Palmdale Canyon* 6-6, 3-2 Quartz Hill Burroughs (R) 4-6, 1-4 Littlerock** Palmdale 0-10, 0-5 Burroughs (R)

* Denotes schools that have transferred to the Foothill League.

** Denotes teams that were previously free-lance.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Carlos Acosta Antelope Valley RB/DL 5-10 220 Sr. Jermaine Brooks Highland WR 6-0 170 Sr. Adam Greenidge Palmdale RB 5-10 180 Sr. Kai Hampton Littlerock RB/LB 5-11 195 Sr. Bayi Hilton Antelope Valley QB 5-10 165 Sr. Eric McQuown Antelope Valley RB/LB 5-9 190 Sr. Tofi Tuipala Burroughs RB/LB 6-1 225 Sr. John Venema Littlerock RB 5-11 225 Sr. Cleveland Williams Highland RB 6-0 212 Sr. Terrence Zenno Palmdale QB 6-2 185 Sr.