Officials Hope Changes in Game Are Reflected at Gate : Football: West Torrance group believes moving Lions all-star contest to Saturday and changing site will be beneficial.

New date, new site, same game.

The 28th West Torrance Lions all-star football game will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Redondo High.

The game, matching teams of seniors from South Bay high schools, has traditionally been played on the first Thursday night in August at El Camino College. Officials decided to change the date and site in an attempt to draw a larger crowd.

Game chairman George Swade said scheduling the game closer to the end of the academic school year would also create fewer conflicts with family vacations and players preparing for college.

Officials moved the game to Redondo to reduce facility rental fees, a move that Swade said is expected to save about $2,000 in expenses. The rental fee of $3,800 at El Camino was the same as last year, but rising game costs necessitated the move.

“The facilities at El Camino are far superior than a high school, but it was a matter of finances,” Swade said. “Instead of putting more money out, we wanted to cut back to give back more.”

The Lions game, the state’s second-oldest high school all-star football game, has raised more than $700,000, according to officials. Beneficiaries include the YMCA, Boys Scouts and Salvation Army. Officials say in recent years an average of $25,000-$30,000 has been raised.

West Torrance Coach Kerry Crabb, who will coach the West team, says moving the date of the game was a good idea. For the past two weeks, Crabb has been conducting practices with his high school team in the morning and the all-star team in the afternoon.

“It makes for a very long summer, but it is a big honor to coach the Lions game,” Crabb said. “The only time most (coaches) get off is the first three weeks of August before practice for fall football begins again. To coach an all-star team during that period really takes a bite out of your coaching staff.”

Not all has gone smoothly. By moving the date of the game, it created a conflict with training camp for the Shrine game, scheduled on July 24 at Veterans Stadium. Practice for that game, which matches the state’s top senior players from Southern California against their Northern California counterparts, began Thursday. Players in the Shrine game are not allowed to participate in any other all-star game during the eight-day training camp.

Carson’s James Pepe and Morningside’s Stais Boseman, who were selected to play on the East team in the Lions game, and Hawthorne’s Tevita Moala, who was named to the West team, opted to play in the Shrine game.

Mostafa Sobhi of Hawthorne was also chosen to play in the Shrine game, but decided to play in the Lions game. Sobhi, a 6-foot-6, 270-pound lineman who will attend Washington, cited the Lions game’s local flavor and relaxed atmosphere as factors in his decision.

“Personally, I didn’t want to spend two weeks in a camp being overworked and not being able to do anything at night,” Sobhi said. “I’ve heard horror stories about the Shrine game. It’s too impersonal. Here you know everybody, it’s a fun game.”

East Coach Joe Austin, who will return as coach at South Torrance in the fall after three seasons at North Torrance, said scheduling conflicts with other all-star games are inevitable. Several players on the East team played on a California all-star team in Hawaii before the Lions game.

Austin supports the decision to move the game to July.

“August is the absolute worst time they could have done it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what time they held it because there’s always something going on, but it’s best to have it when football is still fresh in everybody’s mind. In the middle of the summer, more people are thinking about doing other things than going to a football game.”

Other prominent players on the West team are lineman Chad Sauter, kicker Dave Finley, and Josh Waybright of South Torrance, center Jim Omatsu of West Torrance and running back Corey McCoy of Hawthorne.

The 5-9, 160-pound McCoy was named the Bay League offensive player of the year. He led the area in rushing with 1,335 yards and scoring with 23 touchdowns and 143 points.

Leandrew Childs of Inglewood will quarterback the West team after West Torrance’s Ryan Marshall suffered a knee injury in practice. Frank Ramirez of North will quarterback the East team.

Ramirez, the Pioneer League offensive player of the year, passed for 4,460 yards in two seasons. Last fall he passed for a South Bay-leading 2,389 yards and 26 touchdowns to propel the Saxons to a 10-2 record.

Ramirez will be joined by North receiver Dean Halvorson. Halvorson, a Pioneer League first-team selection on offense and defense, caught an area-leading 67 passes for 1,058 yards and eight touchdowns.

The East defense includes linebackers Vaimagalo Faavi-Tua’au, the Pacific League of player of the year, and Brandon Moore, a two-time All-City selection, of Banning.