They’re Living in a Perfect World : At 5-0, Harbor College Football Team Is Off to Its Best Start Since 1965

For the better part of 25 years, football at Harbor College has been regarded by many students as a sport that takes up time between baseball seasons.

“When we wore Harbor football T-shirts last year, people would laugh at us,” sophomore tight end Anthony Griffin said.

No one is laughing anymore, and no one, for that matter, is eager for the football season to end.

The Seahawks are 5-0, their best start in 27 years, and could finish with as many victories, 11, as they have accumulated in the previous four seasons.

Last week, Harbor beat Western State Conference opponent Santa Monica College for the first time since 1974.

The victory lifted Harbor into the JC Athletic Bureau’s state top 20 at No. 14. No one at Harbor can even recall the last time the football team was ranked.

“There’s definitely a lot of excitement around here,” Athletic Director Jim O’Brien said. “We’ve gained a lot of respect and there’s a lot more people in the stands.”

Until this season, Harbor has been noted for its baseball program, which has won three state titles and 12 league championships since 1976.

Fourth-year football Coach Don Weems has experienced his share of disheartening moments, but none of them this season.

“Life is easy this time,” Weems said. “The first couple of years I was here we just weren’t ready to beat quality teams. . . . We have better athletes and I finally have the trust of some players. For the first time I would say we have about 10 kids that can play at a four-year college.”

Weems, a former defensive coordinator at Nevada Las Vegas, entered the 1992 season with a 10-20 record at Harbor. In 1989, he took over a program that was coming off a 1-10 season.

The Seahawks finished 3-7 in 1989 and 5-5 in 1990. Last year, Harbor slumped to 2-8.

But what a difference a year and a new offensive coordinator makes.

The Seahawks lead the WSC in rushing and have the league’s second-leading rusher in sophomore Ira Moreland (140 yards a game). In 1991, Harbor’s offense ranked last in the 12-member WSC. This year the Seahawks’ offense ranks fifth with an average of 327 yards.

The man responsible for Harbor’s improved offense is Leo Hand, who has installed the Wing-T offense he used as coach at Serra High.

“One of the major changes this year is in the coaching staff,” said Weems, who gave Hand complete control of the offense. “Leo has done a great job. He totally turned our offense around. We’ve gone from last to close to first and we’ve gone from not winning to winning a lot. It’s making our defense play better too.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Ruben Hernandez says the improved play of the offense has motivated the defense.

“We went from always slouching our heads and hating to admit, ‘Yeah I play at Harbor College,’ to “Yeah! I play at Harbor College!’ with a lot of pride,” said Hernandez, an El Segundo High graduate.

“We needed an offensive line and an offensive coordinator. There’s more enthusiasm this year on offense and (with the offense) making drives and scoring TDs, it makes our life easier.”

Hand, an English teacher at Serra, quit as coach after the 1990 season. He guided the Cavaliers to a 24-1 record and Southern Section championship in two seasons as coach.

But after a season away from the action, Hand began looking for another coaching opportunity. Harbor answered the call.

“We’re still not done yet,” Hand said. “We still have a ways to go. I want to start to balance it up, throw the ball more. People stereotype us as a running offense, but we throw too.”

Hand says Harbor has to make believers out of several community college skeptics.

“This is a respectable team,” he said. “This is not a fluke at all. I think we’ll finish with a very good record.”

Harbor opened the season with a 17-13 victory over East Los Angeles College. The Seahawks shut out Pierce, 10-0, in their WSC opener Sept. 26 and beat West L.A., 13-9.

Although the strength of Harbor’s team was questioned after it beat three of the state’s weakest teams, the Seahawks have since defeated Valley and Santa Monica.

Harbor went into the Santa Monica game with a 5-18-1 record against the Corsairs. The Seahawks had lost eight in a row to Santa Monica.

“It feels great,” sophomore linebacker Reginal Taylor said. “This really feels good. “A lot of teams beat up on us during my freshman year. Now we play for respect.”

Sophomore cornerback Eric Williams says the 1991 season was so depressing, he considered not returning.

“I guess I knew it couldn’t get any worse,” he said. “It had to get better. But still a lot of schools, they don’t believe it. They think it’s a fluke, luck. Well we’re for real.”

With each victory, the Seahawks continue to set school records. The last time a Harbor football squad did this well was 1965, when the Seahawks finished 8-2 and won the Lions Bowl in Santa Maria.

The best season in the program’s 42-year history was 1964, when Harbor finished 9-0. A victory at Compton on Saturday will mark the first time since 1964 that a Harbor team has gone 6-0.

“It’s great to sit back and think how later in the years they’ll talk about us, about the 1992 team,” said Moreland, a Hawthorne High grad. “This really is exciting. There’s even more people in the stands and that feels good.”

Griffin, who was one of several players who considered quitting after the 1991 season, says he never envisioned this kind of turnaround.

“It feels so good waking up on Sunday morning knowing that we won,” he said. “I can hold my head up and tell people where I go.”