THE PREPS / ERIC SHEPARD : Division II Might Be Number I

No one can blame City and Southern Section officials for organizing this season’s inaugural Reebok Bowl, which will match the sections’ large-division football champions on Dec. 14.

The game was designed to yield a true Southland titlist and marks the beginning of a lucrative five-year television contract with KCOP-TV that will provide badly needed cash to strapped athletic programs.

Midway through the season, however, a small problem has arisen. The best team in the Southern Section, Anaheim Esperanza, does not compete in the large division and, therefore, is not eligible for the Reebok Bowl.

In fact, many of the Southern Section’s better teams are not in the large division, including Pasadena Muir, Los Alamitos, Compton Dominguez, Newhall Hart and Anaheim Servite. They all play in Division II.

The Southern Section has 11 football divisions, with I supposedly the toughest and XI the easiest. Divisions are based on enrollment, quality of program and geographic location.

Normally, Division I is the best. But occasionally a lower division is stronger, as seems to be the case this season.

Los Angeles Loyola, La Puente Bishop Amat and Encino Crespi are all 5-0 and the only undefeated and untied teams remaining in Division I. Division II has seven undefeated teams.

Esperanza, which has outscored its opponents, 217-14, moved to the top of The Times’ poll last week. It will play league rival Los Alamitos in two weeks in a game many consider the best in the section this season.

“If we go all the way and win our division, I certainly would feel disappointed if we didn’t have a chance to play in the bowl game,” said Gary Meek, Esperanza’s coach. “I think it is very difficult to say Division I is better than the rest. I think the top few divisions are very equal.”

Jim Brownfield, Muir’s coach agreed, saying: “It shouldn’t matter what division a team is in. You would hope you’re going after the best game.”

Southern Section officials said when the bowl agreement was reached, they chose Division I because it is usually their best.

“But I’ll admit we’ve had discussions about rotating our entry among divisions,” said Bill Clark, the section administrator in charge of football. “We’ve also discussed forming a committee to pick our entry. The problem is, nobody wants to be on the committee.”

Clark said the only way the Division II champion would play in this year’s bowl is if the Division I champion, for some reason, was not able to go.

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The City is less complicated because it is a smaller section and has only two divisions, 4-A and 3-A.

Teams that finish in the top half of their conferences compete in 4-A the next year. The others go to 3-A. This assures much more strength in the large division.

But this appears to be a down year in the City. Traditional powers Carson, Dorsey and Wilmington Banning are all struggling near the .500 mark. So far, only Crenshaw and Sylmar have established themselves as contenders.

At this point, the Southern Section representative would be a heavy favorite.

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The two most attractive matchups of the season, Fontana-Rialto Eisenhower and Esperanza-Los Alamitos, will probably result in fans being turned away at the gate.

As of Monday, Eisenhower was scheduled to play at Fontana on Oct. 30. That same night, Esperanza will meet Los Alamitos at Placentia Valencia High, where Esperanza plays its home games. Fontana’s stadium holds 10,000 and Valencia’s 5,300.

The Fontana-Eisenhower game was moved to Oct. 29 at Cal State Fullerton to accommodate the expected large crowd. But Fullerton officials later nixed the Thursday night game because of the parking problem it would cause for night students. With few other options, school administrators moved the game back to Fontana.

Esperanza Athletic Director Jim Patterson has had plenty of outside requests to move the Los Alamitos game to Cal State Fullerton, but he said the school does not want to give up its home-field advantage or concession revenue.

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As football moves into the second half of the season, there have been plenty of surprises:

--Most improved team: Riverside Ramona is 4-1 after going 0-10 last year. The Rams lost for the first time last Friday to Santa Ana Mater Dei, 21-7.

--Biggest disappointment: A tie between Wilmington Banning and Los Angeles Dorsey, the teams that met in the City 4-A championship last season. Banning has struggled to a 3-2 record, Dorsey is 1-1-1 and neither is playing well.

--Best coaching job: Mike Herrington’s for Newhall Hart. The Indians are known for their explosive offense, but this season they’re playing defense as well. The team has given up only 19 points in five games and posted two shutouts.

--Top performance: Travis Kirschke’s for Esperanza. The defensive tackle has been the leader on team that has four shutouts.

--Top rookie: Davis Delmatoff of Hart. In his first season at quarterback since his freshman year, the senior has completed 59% of his passes for 1,479 yards and 17 touchdowns.

--What ever happened to . . . ? George Keiaho of Ventura Buena. After opening the season by rushing for 415 yards and five touchdowns against Westlake, the junior tailback has gained only 297 yards and scored six touchdowns in the last four games.

--Lack of scoring: Los Angeles University is the only team in the Southland that has yet to score. The Warriors have been outscored, 75-0, through five games. Their closest margin was a 7-0 defeat inflicted by Fairfax on Oct. 9.

Times’ Top 20 Football Poll

The Times’ top 20 high school football poll, with teams from the City and Southern Sections.

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Esperanza SS II 5-0 1 2. Bishop Amat SS I 5-0 2 3. Loyola SS I 5-0 3 4. Eisenhower SS I 4-0-1 4 5. Muir SS II 4-1 5 6. Hart SS II 5-0 6 7. Los Alamitos SS II 5-0 7 8. Fontana SS I 4-1 8 9. Dominguez SS II 5-0 9 10. Servite SS II 4-0-1 10 11. Nogales SS III 5-0 11 12. Mater Dei SS I 4-0-1 12 13. Ran. Alamitos SS VII 4-1 13 14. Crespi SS I 5-0 14 15. Baldwin Park SS III 5-0 15 16. Saugus SS II 4-0-1 16 17. North Torrance SS IX 5-0 17 18. Sylmar City 4-A 4-0 19 19. Crenshaw City 4-A 4-1 20 20. S. Margarita SS IV 5-0 NR