Battle Lines Are Drawn in Releaguing Proposal

In terms of competitive battles, nothing in the South Bay beats the power struggle being waged by school administrators over the releaguing proposal in the Southern Section’s Coast Area.

Representatives of the 16 schools currently grouped in the Bay, Ocean and Pioneer leagues voted 10-6 last week to eliminate the Pioneer League and place those six schools in expanded, eight-team Bay and Ocean leagues for a four-year cycle beginning in 1994.

Unhappy with that arrangement, the Pioneer League schools plan to appeal the proposal to the Southern Section Releaguing Committee at a June 2 hearing at the section office in Cerritos. A section spokesperson said the Releaguing Committee will make a decision to uphold or deny any appeals, based on arguments presented by both sides.

Further appeals could then be filed with the Southern Section Council. All told, the issue could drag on until October, when a final decision regarding league alignment must be made in order to arrange schedules for the 1994-95 school year.

The situation has strained relationships between administrators. Last week’s vote was divided into two camps--the 10 Bay and Ocean league schools on one side and the six Pioneer League schools that favor keeping three leagues.

“There are an awful lot of bad feelings,” said Roger Bryant, the longtime athletic director at South Torrance. “I’ve never seen it like this before.”

The Pioneer League schools--South, North Torrance, West Torrance, Torrance, El Segundo and Centennial--contend that the proposal of two eight-team leagues places them in an inequitable situation with regard to comparative enrollment and competitive parity, two of the three criteria recommended by the Southern Section for releaguing. Distance between schools is the third.

Under the proposal, the four Torrance schools--whose enrollments range from 1,400 to 1,800--would be grouped with Peninsula, Leuzinger, Hawthorne and Inglewood in the Bay League. The latter four schools, all current members of the Bay League, have enrollments ranging from 3,000-plus for Peninsula to 1,900 for Inglewood.

The Torrance schools, which made it clear they wish to be in the same league, do not think they can compete against that lineup.

“Basically, we’re fighting for the survival of our athletic programs,” North Athletic Director Steve Schmitz said.

Said Bryant: “I don’t think it would be the death of sports at South, but I do think it is unfair.”

The Ocean League would consist of holdovers Morningside, Redondo, Mira Costa, Culver City and Beverly Hills, along with El Segundo and Centennial from the Pioneer League and Santa Monica from the Bay. The schools are all relatively close in enrollment except for two--Santa Monica, which has about 2,700 students, and El Segundo, the smallest public high school in Los Angeles County with an enrollment of 650.

El Segundo wants no part of Santa Monica on the football field, even though the Vikings were 0-10 last season. El Segundo Athletic Director John Stevenson said he expects Santa Monica, which has a new football coach and principal, to return to prominence in the next few years.

“Football is a numbers and injury sport,” Stevenson said. “The selection pool (for players) at a school of 3,000 is three times greater than at a school of 1,000. You don’t have as many two-way players, and it’s better for the safety and welfare of the athletes.

“If it’s predetermined that you have no chance to succeed, then all you’re going to be is cannon fodder. On the lower levels, you take it bad. If you have a good sophomore football player, he’s on the varsity because you can’t afford not to have him there. Then the sophomore team gets annihilated. Then people get discouraged and drop out.”

The other argument made by Pioneer League schools is that by eliminating a league, the number of guaranteed playoff berths for 16 teams is reduced from nine to six, representing the top three finishers in two leagues.

So why would Bay and Ocean league schools vote for this proposal? It’s a matter of scheduling. Because they are in five-team alignments, the leagues must cross-match their teams every week during the league season to fill out their schedules. This has led to problems not experienced by Pioneer schools, administrators said.

“A lot of schools are not real happy about the way things are set up right now,” said Steve Carnes, the Leuzinger athletic director and football coach.

Said Beverly Hills Principal Ben Bushman: “When you compete in five-team leagues, it’s a little bit of an aggravation. Cross-leaguing has not been 100% smooth.”

Bushman changed his vote last week in favor of two eight-team leagues after originally voting for the leagues to remain the same. When the first vote ended in an 8-8 deadlock, Coast Area chairman Bernard Samuels, the Santa Monica principal, called for another vote. Beverly Hills and Inglewood changed their votes on the second ballot.

“After thinking about it, we decided to go for stability and an eight-team configuration,” Bushman said. “No one influenced us.”

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One of the possible releaguing proposals favored by Pioneer League schools involves bringing the six Moore League schools into the fold. This plan would place Peninsula, Hawthorne and another Bay League school, perhaps Inglewood, in the Moore League with Lakewood, Millikan, Long Beach Jordan, Poly and Wilson.

Compton, the sixth Moore League school, would join Leuzinger and Santa Monica in the present Ocean League lineup. The Pioneer would remain the same.

A similar plan came within one vote of reaching the table for a final vote at last week’s meeting. But because Morningside and Inglewood would have been placed in the same league--a situation neither school wants--that plan is not considered suitable.

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Tony Uruburu, the new football coach at North Torrance, knows something about divided loyalties.

Uruburu was an assistant last season at Fresno State after serving as a graduate assistant for two years at USC. Fresno State upset USC, 24-7, in the Freedom Bowl on Dec. 29, a loss that cost Trojan Coach Larry Smith his job.

Now that Uruburu is coaching at North, he was asked if he would consider scheduling a game against Mary Star, his alma mater. Uruburu and Mary Star football Coach Mike Marinkovich were teammates in high school, and Marinkovich was the best man at Uruburu’s wedding last summer.

“I know Mary Star is not on our schedule next year,” Uruburu said. “But you never know, it could happen.”

After thinking about it, though, Uruburu said he probably wouldn’t want to play the game at Daniels Field in San Pedro, Mary Star’s home field.

“It would be weird to be on the (visitor’s) side at Daniels Field,” he said. “We’d better play that one over here.”

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St. Bernard baseball Coach Bob Yarnall has a good idea why his team has struggled. The Vikings entered the week in last place in the Mission League at 1-11 and were 8-13 overall.

In Yarnall’s first seven seasons as coach, St. Bernard pitchers gave up a total of 28 home runs. This season, the Vikings have surrendered 36 homers.

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More than 500 juniors representing the cream of Southern California’s prep football talent are expected to participate Saturday in the Reebok Preseason Combine at El Camino College.

Players will be drilled in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle, bench-press (185-pound repetitions) and vertical jump. Another drill features quarterbacks passing to receivers, who will be covered by defensive backs.

A staff of 70, including current and former pro players, will offer advice and instruction in football techniques as well as recruiting procedures and NCAA regulations.

Organizers expect college coaches from across the country to attend the combine, which takes place during the NCAA recruiting evaluation period. The combine begins at 9 a.m. and is free of charge to the public.

Among the South Bay players expected to participate are receiver-defensive back Justin Stallings of Hawthorne, running back James Durroh and lineman Matt Redman of Peninsula, and receiver Shadeed Muhammad of Carson.

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Carson, which is trying to win its first league baseball title since 1974, lost its lead in the Pacific League on Tuesday.

The Colts’ 7-5 upset loss to Gardena, coupled with Banning’s 3-2 victory over San Pedro in eight innings, left Carson and Banning tied for first place at 11-4 with two games remaining. The leaders will meet in a league finale Tuesday at Carson. In today’s games, Banning plays host to Gardena, and Carson visits San Pedro.

Two area teams won league championships Tuesday. Westchester clinched the Western League title with a 6-1 victory over Palisades, and Mary Star won its second consecutive Santa Fe League title with a 4-2 victory over Murphy.

It marks the fourth time Westchester has won a league title in 20 seasons under Coach Ron Kasparian, who had championship teams in 1975, 1983 and 1984.

Notes

Ocean League champion Mira Costa (18-0) has been seeded second behind Capistrano Valley (16-0) in the Southern Section Division I boys’ volleyball playoffs and will play host to Buena of Ventura (8-6) in a first-round match at 7:30 p.m. Friday. In a Division II opener, Pioneer League champion North Torrance (15-2) will play host to Millikan (12-2). . . . Ginger Anderson drove in four runs Tuesday to help San Pedro’s softball team complete its second consecutive 10-0 season in the Southern Pacific Conference with a 16-1 victory over Narbonne. The Pirates (23-3), the defending City Section champions, open the playoffs May 20 after a first-round bye.

Four South Bay schools will be among those honored Wednesday night when the 11th annual “Shake for Sportsmanship” awards are presented at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers-Cincinnati Reds game. The schools were singled out by a vote of their peers--members of their respective leagues--for outstanding sportsmanlike conduct during the school year. Winners included Peninsula (Bay League), Morningside (Ocean), El Segundo (Pioneer) and Narbonne (Southern Pacific).

West Torrance pitcher Jennifer Ramos was named most valuable player of the El Segundo softball tournament after pitching a four-hitter Monday in a 4-0 victory over El Segundo in the championship game at Recreation Park. It was Ramos’ fourth consecutive shutout. . . . Torrance golfer Ted Oh shot a low score of two-under-par 69, but it wasn’t enough to get the Tartars past the Southern Section team regionals Monday at Royal Vista Country Club in Walnut. Torrance finished fourth with a 410 score. Only the top three finishers--Hart (375), Alemany (403) and Loyola (404)--qualified for the team final on Monday in Goleta.

South Bay Baseball Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters. Through Tuesday’s games Rank, School, League: Record 1 Peninsula (Bay): 18-5 2 El Segundo (Pioneer): 19-5 3 Westchester (Western): 20-7 4 Mira Costa (Ocean): 17-7 5 Redondo (Ocean): 16-9 6 West Torrance (Pioneer): 15-9-1 7 Mary Star (Santa Fe): 15-7 8 Banning (Pacific): 13-7 9 Carson (Pacific): 16-12 10 South Torrance (Pioneer): 12-11