El Segundo Fights Realignment

The biggest battles in the Southern Section this past year have not been on any athletic field or court.

They have taken place in principal’s offices throughout the Southland, with each administrator fighting to make sure his school is put in the league of its choice.

Leagues are set every four years, and the democratic process to decide them is slow and often painful. Appeals are a regular occurrence.

The Southern Section, largest in the CIF with 487 schools, has finalized nearly all of its leagues for the next four-year cycle, which begins in the fall of 1994. Last-minute pleas were heard at the section’s council meeting last Thursday.

All of the appeals were rejected except for the one submitted by El Segundo, which protested being placed in the same league with schools two, three and four times its size in enrollment.

El Segundo, with 675 students, is scheduled to be moved from the disbanded Pioneer League to the Ocean League, which includes Santa Monica with an enrollment of 2,800 and Beverly Hills with 1,850.

William Watkins, El Segundo’s principal, told the council that principals from his area did not follow CIF rules when they put his school in a league in which it will have a difficult time fairly competing.

Principals are told to decide leagues based on enrollment, geography and competitive equity of the schools.

“Our football players would risk very serious injury regularly going up against a team that has three or four times as many players,” Watkins said. “It wouldn’t be fair to ask them to do such a thing.”

Principals from the section’s Coast Area will meet again soon to try to figure out a league setup everyone can live with. But there is no guarantee the outcome will be any different for El Segundo, the smallest school in the area.

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The Southern Section Executive Committee seems in no hurry to replace Stan Thomas, who was forced to resign as commissioner Oct. 13.

Gary Smidderks, president of the committee, said he and his constituents will meet sometime in the next month to figure out a direction on the position. Dean Crowley will continue to fill in for Thomas on an interim basis.

One name being mentioned as a possible replacement is Margaret Davis, associate commissioner of the CIF since 1983. Davis, 49, worked as an administrator for the Southern Section from 1974-83. She was a finalist for the commissioner’s job in 1986 that eventually was filled by Thomas.

“Any strong leader eventually likes to get in a top position,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t rule out my interest in the job.”

In addition to Davis and Crowley, other top candidates are Bill Clark and Karen Hellyer, Southern Section administrators with more than 10 years experience, and Ken Gunn, president-elect of the Executive Committee and principal at Walnut High.

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Smidderks said one of the reasons the Executive Committee wants to take its time replacing Thomas is because it wants to see what happens at the CIF State Council meeting this weekend in San Diego.

The meeting will include a session devoted to recommendations made by the strategic planning committee concerning the makeup of the CIF. The committee was formed in May of 1992 to study the CIF and find ways to make it more balanced. It is expected to recommend the Southern Section be downsized.

Of the 10 sections in the CIF, the Southern Section has three times more schools than the next biggest section. The smallest section, Oakland, has only six schools.

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Two Southland running backs turned in some of the top performances in the nation last Friday.

Wilbert Smith, a senior at Van Nuys Montclair Prep, rushed for 385 yards in 22 carries and had touchdown runs of 40, 35, 12, 23 and seven yards in a 63-42 nonleague victory over Cerritos. Smith has 1,891 yards and 26 touchdowns through seven games.

George Keiaho, a senior at Ventura Buena, rushed for 390 yards in 30 carries and had touchdowns runs of two, three, 72, 86 and three yards in a 74-24 victory over Oxnard Hueneme. Keiaho has 1,724 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Prep Notes

Laguna Beach won its first Pacific Coast League football game since 1989 by beating Costa Mesa Estancia, 28-27, last Friday. Estancia failed on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. . . .Officials at La Puente Bishop Amat have taken financial responsibility for damage done to the football and baseball fields at Del Rey League rival Sante Fe Springs St. Paul last Wednesday night. Unidentified vandals made holes in the football field and spray-painted the baseball dugouts and snack bar with “Bishop Amat No. 1.” Bishop Amat beat St. Paul, 24-0, before 7,000 Friday night at St. Paul.

The year of the kicker has spilled over to the high school ranks as well. Several impressive performances have been turned in this season, including the one by David Fielder of Crescenta Valley on Friday. Fielder, who is also the team’s quarterback, kicked field goals of 25, 43 and 52 yards in a 23-21 victory over Pasadena. The 52-yard kick, a school record, came as time expired. . . .Alex Lopez, a 6-foot-11 center on the North Hollywood Campbell Hall basketball team, has made an unwritten commitment to Washington.

Times’ Top 20 Football Poll

The Times’ top 20 high school football poll, with teams from the City and Southern sections.

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Bishop Amat SS I 7-0 1 2. Eisenhower SS I 7-0 2 3. Newbury Park SS III 7-0 3 4. Los Alamitos SS II 7-0 4 5. Antelope Valley SS I 6-1 5 6. Hart SS II 6-1 6 7. Loyola SS I 6-1 7 8. LB Poly SS I 6-1 8 9. Hawthorne SS III 6-1 9 10. Hunt. Beach SS II 7-0 13 11. Norco SS V 7-0 11 12. Quartz Hill SS I 7-0 12 13. Taft City 4-A 7-0 14 14. Fountain Valley SS II 6-1 10 15. Irvine SS IV 6-1 15 16. Mater Dei SS I 6-1 17 17. Paramount SS II 7-0 NR 18. Esperanza SS II 5-2 18 19. San Clemente SS I 6-1 NR 20. Peninsula SS III 7-0 NR