Pius X Football Is Making a Fresh Start : High schools: The team is trying to rebound after forfeiting seven victories and a tie for using ineligible players last season.

Only 14 players showed up for pre-fall varsity football practice at Pius X High.

This from a team that was 7-1-1 and had clinched a Southern Section playoff berth at one point last season.

But that’s what can happen when a school has to forfeit seven victories and a tie for using ineligible players.

Pius X not only was 0-9 all of a sudden, it ended up losing its principal, athletic director and football coach. A few players considered transferring to nearby Downey Warren, a public school.

That called for creative measures.

No football team, no homecoming.

That was the word from the new football coach, Larry Manfull, as he urged players to go out for the football team at an assembly this month.

The student body of 750, of which girls outnumber the boys almost two to one, responded.

A week before its opener, the Warriors’ roster had increased to 30.

“I don’t know if it was the girlfriends or what,” Manfull said. “Within a week we had about 15 guys come out. Surprisingly, we haven’t had any of them quit.”

That isn’t the only fallout from last year’s ineligibility ruling.

A couple of weeks ago, Pius X played Bishop Montgomery in its season opener.

Coincidentally, last year’s Pius X coach, Bob Tompson, is now football coach and athletic director at Bishop Montgomery.

Bishop Montgomery won, 37-13.

After the game, Tompson said: “It was a tough situation. I’m glad it’s over. Pius players were going down left and right. They were definitely out of shape. We smashed-mouthed them; wore them down with physical ball.”

Bitter feelings apparently still linger about what happened last season.

Although no names were released, Southern Section officials said “multiple players who were scholastically ineligible” had been participating.

Tompson said he believes the Southern Section learned about the ineligible players through someone in the Pius X administration.

“It was an inside job all the way, that’s for sure,” said Tompson, who says he was not fired. “If I was asked to leave it would be funny to come out with a better job. I know there are people over there that think I got fired because I heard about it and there is no such truth to those rumors.”

Ken Johnson, Pius X’s principal last year, is now the principal at San Bernardino Aquinas High. He declined to be interviewed.

Thompson credits Johnson and the rest of the administration for their commitment to him in helping improve the football program at Pius X.

Had Pius X advanced to the playoffs last season, it would have been a big turnaround for the program. From 1988-90, the school had a record of 1-29.

Manfull, 51, who played at Coe College in Iowa from 1959-62, is left to pick up the pieces. He has been coaching for 24 years, including 10 as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton.

Manfull said he never discussed what went on last year.

“I don’t even know who the ones are that were ineligible, to be honest with you,” he said. “When you look at it, that isn’t any concern of mine. My concern is that the players that we have on my team are eligible, which they are.”

There is still optimism among Pius X players such as Skinner Avinger, the Warrior quarterback the past two years, who also starts at strong safety.

“The first game was a step,” Avinger said. “We just had to get over that step and now we should be fine.”

Just playing is worth it to Avinger.

At a recent practice, he stood on the sideline recovering from bronchitis while his teammates ran sprints. He occasionally shouted words of encouragement.

“I hope they let me practice tomorrow,” Avinger said, walking over to help a tired friend. “I don’t like sitting around while they’re running.”

At Pius X, they have learned to appreciate the simple things.