SOCCER : Eligibility Ruling Forces Belmont to Give Up Title

Belmont High relinquished its City Section soccer title last week after starting fullback Octavio Calvillo was ruled ineligible by a regulations committee.

The Wednesday decision could be reversed, pending Belmont’s final appeal to the City Section Athletics Office.

According to Interscholastic Athletics Committee rules, Calvillo, who was also a starter for the Sentinel football team, could no longer participate in high school sports because he was into his ninth semester. Eight semesters is the maximum.

“It was an oversight on my behalf for not checking his cumulative semesters thoroughly,” said Jeff Hebron, Belmont athletic director.

Depending on the number of games Calvillo played for the football team, the Sentinels may also have to forfeit their 1993-94 Northern Conference title.

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World Cup officials began sewing soccer seeds in Watts last week as they unveiled a high-tech, down-sized soccer field at the Nickerson Gardens housing project.

The Skills Court, a $100,000 fenced-in synthetic turf covered with sand, is one of nine fields that are also being donated in the eight other World Cup cities as part of the soccer organization’s Legacy Tour ’94.

World Cup chairman Alan Rothenberg presided over the March 10 ceremonies, which included a soccer clinic and appearances by U.S. national team members Desmond Armstrong and Paul Caligiuri.

“After the disturbances in Los Angeles, we got together with Rebuild LA and decided that Nickerson Gardens was the best site to begin our legacy,” Rothenberg said.

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Four area high school soccer players have been named to the Southern Section’s South All-Star team, which will play at 6 tonight against all-stars from San Bernardino County at East Los Angeles College.

Goalkeeper Luis Ayala, fullback Sal Castillo and forward Sergio Ardaz, all of Bell Gardens, and defenseman Arturo Lopez of Roosevelt are part of a 22-member boys’ team coached by Bell Gardens’ Coach Orlando Brenes.