Title Is at Stake for Bishop Amat, Loyola

The Southland’s biggest football game of the season so far will be played Friday night when Loyola travels to parochial league rival La Puente Bishop Amat. An overflow crowd of 10,000 is expected.

On the line will be the championship of the Del Rey League, considered the toughest and most balanced in the state. Bishop Amat, the defending Southern Section Division I champion, has won 23 consecutive games and is The Times’ top-ranked team.

Loyola suffered its only defeat against Antelope Valley in a non-league game last month, 15-14. The Cubs have won 77% of their games, including two Southern Section titles, since former USC fullback Steve Grady became their coach in 1976.

Grady, however, is 1-9 against the Lancers, who beat the Cubs in last year’s Division I title game, 7-3. The mark is a sore spot.

“Our record against Bishop Amat certainly has been frustrating for the coaching staff,” said Grady, who was voted the Southern Section player of the year in 1962 as a running back at Loyola. “Recently, they really seem to have had the upper hand with us. But we’ve had enough accomplishments around here to keep us from dwelling on it too much.”

The Cubs have won their last four games, most recently a 43-0 rout of Mission Hills Alemany last Saturday night. Their offense has averaged 33 points during that stretch, thanks in part to the emergence of running back Kadar Hamilton.

Hamilton, 6 feet and 200 pounds, started the season at strong safety, but moved to running back when senior Jerome Porter suffered a broken leg in practice. Hamilton has gained 688 yards and scored 11 touchdowns in four starts.

Bishop Amat counters with running back Rodney Sermons and wide receiver Daylon McCutcheon, two of the fastest players in the area.

“We’ll have to play all 48 minutes to have a chance,” Grady said. “But we can do it.”

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Another big football game Friday night will be the 22nd East Los Angeles Classic between Garfield and Roosevelt at East Los Angeles College. A capacity crowd of 25,000 is expected.

The showdown will be the first for Garfield Coach John Aguirre, who took over the team last February after the death of Coach Steve Robinson of a heart attack.

“Our kids had most of the off-season to try and cope with Steve’s death,” said Aguirre, who played football at Garfield from 1969-71. “But he has not been forgotten. His spirit is definitely with us.”

Aguirre, 39, said players wear patches with Robinson’s name and the years he coached at the school on their jerseys. They also point to the sky and shout his name before and after every game.

Garfield (7-1) has won six consecutive games since losing to Jefferson in the second week of the season, 20-0. Roosevelt (5-2-1) is coming off a 46-0 defeat by Fremont last Friday.

The teams have each won 10 games and tied once since the series was named the East Los Angeles Classic. Promoters are trying to move the game to the Rose Bowl next year, since many fans are turned away each year at East Los Angeles College.

Alfred N. Sanchez, a Garfield alumnus, is spearheading the effort to move the game. He said the sticking point has been raising corporate money to cover the Rose Bowl’s $158,000 fee.

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The Laguna Beach football team ended an unsettling week with a 31-0 loss to Santa Ana Century on Saturday at the Santa Ana Bowl.

The Artists were forced out of their school last Wednesday when fires raged through Laguna Canyon, destroying hundreds of homes. School was canceled Thursday and Friday. The team met Friday and elected to play Saturday’s game.

Steve Roche, Laguna Beach’s coach, said three of his 35 players lost homes. One of the players, running back Rupert Harwood, played against Century. He started and gained 39 yards in 10 carries.

“The kids wanted to play,” Roche said after the game. “It’s been a rough week, but that’s not an excuse for our performance.”

During the game, a contingent of Century fans brought flowers to Laguna Beach spectators, and the teams met at midfield for a prayer after the game.

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Barbara Fiege took over as the City Section athletic commissioner last month, but she acknowledges that she is not certain how long she will serve in that capacity.

At a California Interscholastic Federation governing board meeting last Friday in San Diego, officials unveiled several preliminary plans to restructure the CIF. All three models offered by the Strategic Planning Committee called for the demise of the City Section. It would become part of a larger section or region that includes schools from all of Los Angeles County and possibly other neighboring counties.

The City Section is the third-smallest of 10 sections in the CIF with 49 high schools. All of its schools are in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“I think there are advantages and disadvantages to the breakup of the City Section,” Fiege said. “But in the long run, I think it will be a good thing for City schools. Coaches are always asking why they don’t play others schools in their area that are part of the Southern Section. Now they might get that chance.”

Fiege also said any restructuring of the CIF probably will take years and would not be implemented until the late 1990s or even 2000.

The Strategic Planning Committee was formed in May of 1992 to study ways the CIF can better serve its member schools. Realignment is a top priority. The CIF has not considered such a plan since its inception in 1914.

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Stan Thomas, forced to resign as Southern Section commissioner last month, had expenses that totaled more than $35,000 during a 25-month period that ended in July of 1993, according to a review of his receipts by the Los Angeles Daily News.

The review revealed that thousands of dollars were spent on golf outings, weekend getaways, gasoline and meals.

Thomas frequently used his office credit cards for personal business and failed to reimburse the section in at least one instance, according to the review.

Thomas, 62, was forced to resign and ordered to pay $5,000 restitution after an Executive Committee investigation concluded that he had abused his expense account.

Prep Notes

The City girls’ team tennis playoffs began Monday in Division 3-A and will start Wednesday in 4-A. All matches are being played at the Racquet Centre in Studio City. . . . Rim of the World played its second consecutive overtime football game Friday, but the result was much different the second time. The Fighting Scots lost to Norte Vista, 20-14, on Oct. 22, but defeated Riverside Notre Dame last weekend, 21-20.

Joe Austin resigned as co-coach of the South Torrance football team last week after a group of parents reportedly complained to the school’s administration about “verbal abuse” of several players during a recent game against Torrance. Austin, who coached at North Torrance last season, would not comment on those reports, adding that he was unhappy in a co-coaching situation. Mike Christensen took over the team.

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