For 3rd Year in Row, Banning Gets Back at Carson’s Expense

For the third consecutive year, Carson High has lost a prominent football player to rival Banning.

Running back Sean Turner, who ranked among Carson’s leaders in rushing, receiving and scoring last season as a junior, has transferred to Banning and is contending for a starting position, Banning assistant Michael Allen said.

“He looks pretty good,” Allen said. “He’s got good hands.”

Turner ranked third in receiving last season for Carson with 21 catches for 231 yards and four touchdowns. He was third on the team in scoring with five TDs and sixth in rushing with 82 yards, helping the Colts (9-4-1) reach the City Section 4-A Division final.

Allen said Turner received an opportunity transfer last spring. Elmer Garrett, assistant principal in charge of athletics at Carson, said opportunity transfers are frequently given to students who experience problems at their present school.

“They try to improve their behavior or grades at another school,” Garrett said. “After one semester, they have the right to return if they improve, or they can remain at the receiving school. They might choose to stay there if they like it.”

Last August, Carson running back Damin Hurst obtained an opportunity transfer to Banning after having problems with Carson coaches. Hurst led Banning in rushing last season and will attend Fresno State, according to Allen.

Carson lost another highly regarded player in 1991. Quarterback Vaimagalo Faavi-Tua’au transferred to Banning before his junior year after it was discovered that he lived in Banning’s district and was mistakenly assigned to Carson as a sophomore. Faavi-Tua’au started for Banning each of the past two seasons and will attend Nevada Las Vegas.

Carson Athletic Director Saul Pacheco said the recent transfers could be the result of players looking for more playing time.

“I think what happens sometimes is they want to go someplace where they’re going to have a chance to play,” Pacheco said.

Because Carson emphasizes the passing game, some speculate that running backs in the Colt program see run-oriented Banning as a school that affords them a better chance to showcase their talents.

Allen said that was one of the reasons why Jermaine Claxton, a promising sophomore running back, transferred to Banning after playing on the Carson B team last season. Claxton’s older brother, Ernest, was Carson’s leading receiver and an All-South Bay second-team choice last season.

However, a Carson assistant said Thursday that Jermaine Claxton has been working out at Carson and is expected to return for the fall semester.

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Banning should be loaded at running back this season.

Aside from returning fullback Melvin Blue, the Pilots have added Turner and Eric Whitfield, another touted transfer who rushed for 966 yards and 17 TDs at Gateway Christian in Harbor City last year.

Ricardo Diaz, who scored 25 TDs for Banning’s B team as a sophomore, also figures in the picture, as does Claxton if he stays at Banning.

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As usual, Carson’s football schedule is one of the toughest in Southern California.

The Colts open the season against two teams that were unbeaten last year, Bishop Amat and San Diego Morse, before playing Anaheim Servite, perennially one of the toughest teams in Orange County. Bishop Amat, the Southern Section Division I and Reebok Bowl champion, beat Carson, 14-10, last season. Morse, the San Diego Section champion, beat the Colts, 13-6.

That’s quite a beginning for Dave Williams, Carson’s new coach.

Notes

Two former West Torrance football players who played the past two seasons at El Camino College have signed with NCAA Division I-A schools. Linebacker Alex Schultz will attend Western Michigan and free safety Brian Malinofsky will attend New Mexico. Ivan Wilson (South Gate), El Camino’s top running back last season, will play for Sonoma State, a Division II school. Twenty players from last year’s El Camino team are going to four-year colleges. . . . Leuzinger is expected to begin looking for a new basketball coach in a week or two, according to insiders. Jimmy Ellis, the Olympians’ coach the past two seasons, was laid off from his teaching job in July and will not return.