THE HIGH SCHOOLS / STEVE ELLING : Running Backs Meet Fates of Varying Degrees of Sorrow

For once, it might have been better to be a lineman, one of the faceless hulks in the interior line. Or a punter. A linebacker.

Anything but a running back.

Three prominent high school running backs from the region met fates last week that ranged from disappointing to tragic.

-- Tarik Smith, a preseason All-American tailback from Oak Park, was suspended for the rest of the season for attending the school’s homecoming dance last weekend while under the influence of alcohol.

-- Donte Scarbrough, the latest in a long line of talented tailbacks at Kennedy, was taken into custody by campus police Friday after allegedly stealing a jacket from another student, Coach Bob Francola said. Scarbrough was suspended for the rest of the season.

-- Shawn Cole, Glendale’s leading rusher, was shot to death Friday while allegedly participating in a robbery attempt.

“It’s like a smaller version of what kids read in the newspaper,” Francola said. “They see players getting in trouble all over, at all levels. Now we see it happening here.”

Smith’s suspension capped an unfulfilled senior year that started with a shoulder injury incurred during summer passing league play. He later was suspended for one game for skipping class, was slowed because of an ankle sprain, then last week was booted off the team along with three other players for the alcohol violation.

“I’m very disappointed,” Smith said. “It was a mistake.”

Smith, an NCAA Division I prospect, finished with 746 rushing yards. Oak Park will open play in the Southern Section Division IX playoffs Friday without him.

Scarbrough, a junior, is heir apparent to former Golden Cougar tailbacks Ontiwaun Carter (Arizona) and Elijah Raphael (Washington State). Scarbrough had rushed for a team-high 704 yards and eight touchdowns.

Whether he will be back with the team next year is uncertain.

“Will I be willing to take him back? I don’t know,” Francola said. “I have to hear the right answers to some serious questions.”

Cole’s case certainly was the most tragic. Cole last month was suspended from the football team and transferred to a continuation school for academic and disciplinary reasons. He was shot to death in Van Nuys while allegedly attempting to rob an off-duty sheriff’s deputy with a BB pistol that looks like a real handgun. The officer said he believed that Cole’s air pistol was a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire, police said.

Strong support: Thousand Oaks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in nine years but don’t expect the controversy surrounding assistant Paul Gomes to end just because the season has.

At a meeting of the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday night, dozens of players and parents stepped forward in support of Gomes, who resigned under pressure two weeks ago.

Gomes, a walk-on coach with the Lancers for the past 14 years and offensive coordinator since 1984, resigned after a parent was critical of his use of profanity. The support for Gomes, who did not attend the meeting, was considerable.

Thirty-five people stepped forward at the meeting and spoke on behalf of the coach. Several former Lancer players who are now in college faxed letters on Gomes’ behalf. The letters were read aloud by the players’ parents. Some folks even shed tears.

After Friday’s season-ending, 21-6 victory over Royal, Lancer players moved en masse to the top of the grandstand where Gomes was sitting. The players remained there for several minutes in support of the coach.

“It was spontaneous,” junior quarterback Trevor Thompson said. “It just happened.”

Thompson reiterated what many said at the school board meeting: The occasional use of profanity is prevalent throughout high school football.

Thompson said efforts to reinstate Gomes must continue.

“I hope it’s not over,” Thompson said. “I hope it gets pressed further. We need him.”

City life: Sylmar (9-0) could become the first top-seeded City Section 4-A Division team from the Valley since San Fernando in the mid-1970s.

But Coach Jeff Engilman won’t consider it much of an honor if Sylmar gets stuck playing Crenshaw in the first round. Crenshaw (5-4-1, 2-3-1) placed fourth in the competitive Pacific League, which also includes Banning, Dorsey and Carson. Crenshaw bushwhacked Saugus, 21-16, in an intersectional game Friday. Saugus was ranked third in The Times’ regional poll.

At a preliminary seeding meeting last week, Engilman said he could see the writing on the wall, and it read Crenshaw. Actually, it was on a chalkboard in the form of a playoff schematic. The 4-A bracket will be finalized at a coaches’ meeting today at City athletic headquarters.

“There’s no way a No. 1- or No. 2-seeded team should have to play anybody but the worst teams in the playoffs,” Engilman said.

Muddying the waters even more is the City seeding process. Last year, for the first time, placement in league standings was not the determining factor in the seeding process. Instead, teams were seeded according to perceived strength. Coaches raised their hands and voted for teams they thought were the strongest as the 16-team bracket was filled out team by team, seeding by seeding.

By either method, Engilman is nervous. Proud to be in the running for the top seeding, sure, but skittish.

“I think we should do it like the (Southern Section),” he said. “Have a panel sort it out and leave the coaches out of it.