NOTEBOOK : Bell Earns Passing Marks in Summer League Tournament

The Bell High football team took first place in the 1994 Pepsi-Cola North County Passing League Tournament, held at El Camino and Rancho Buena Vista high schools July 29-30.

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The seven-on-seven, touch football tournament fielded 25 teams, including Bell and Fremont. Other Southland schools competing were Riverside Poly, Oceanside, San Clemente, Rancho Buena Vista, Hawthorne, Hart, Canyon Country, Norte Vista, San Diego El Capitan and Temecula Valley.

Bell, the only team to go undefeated throughout the tournament, beat Hawthorne, 28-0, San Dieguito, 28-7, and San Clemente, 35-28, in the first round on July 29.

The Eagles then moved into the championship bracket, where they defeated San Bernardino Los Amigos, 21-12, Riverside Poly, 52-6, Riverside Canyon Springs, 35-21, and Escondido, 35-12, in the championship game on July 30.

Henry Santiago, who begins his first full season as Bell head coach after sharing an assistant coaching role with Ray Galarze for two years, eagerly anticipates the upcoming season after his team’s impressive performance.

“I am very pleased with the results,” Santiago said. “These kids have been working very hard in the off-season and I am very excited to take this (accomplishment) into the regular season.”

Offensive stars for Bell in the competition were quarterback Gustavo Valenzuela, wide receivers Freddie Alcala and Gary Herrera, tight end Dickie Purcell and running back Vern Bernard. On defense, cornerbacks Dulio Orellana and Josh Moreno, free safety Freddie Hernandez, and linebackers Jesse Macias and Alex Rodriguez turned in stellar performances.

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Switching jobs--Randy Rodriguez has resigned as head football coach at Lincoln High to become the offensive coordinator at Garfield High.

Lincoln administrators honored the 10-year coach’s wishes in the search for his replacement, choosing Joe Silva, a Lincoln assistant for the past three years and a former player under Rodriguez.

An All-Northern Conference lineman as a senior in 1985, Silva, 27, had applied for an assistant position but was stunned when he was offered the head coaching job despite being a walk-on.

“My ultimate goal was to become a head coach. The chance came sooner than I thought,” said Silva, a plant manager at Allesandro Elementary School. “I’ll do some of the things that Randy ran, but there will be some new ideas and new wrinkles.”

Silva’s staff, all walk-ons, will be entirely Lincoln alumni, including Woody Carrillo, a 1972 graduate who was an assistant under Rodriguez and head coach at Cathedral from 1991-93.

The remainder of Silva’s staff--his younger brother Steve, Ricky Chavarria, Gabe Cotero, Willie Flores and Gus Flores--are all former Tiger players.

“It won’t be easy as a walk-on, but all the coaches have ties to Lincoln,” Silva said. “That’s most important.”

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Karwasky rolls--Cal State Los Angeles tennis coach Tina Karwasky has won the United States Tennis Assn.’s grass-court championships in the women’s age 35-and-over class for the second consecutive year. She defeated Marlie Buehler, 6-1, 6-3, in the final in Philadelphia.

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This and that--Clarence Scott of Fremont High placed second in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 9 inches in the intermediate boys (age 15-16) division in the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympics at the University of Florida. Ivan Gainses of Dallas won the event at 22-11 3/4. . . . Eric Scott, a wide receiver from Crenshaw High, has transferred to UCLA from Northwestern. He will sit out this season, but has three years of eligibility remaining starting in 1995. . . . The finals of the Say No basketball classic will be held today at Los Angeles Trade Tech College. Women’s tip-off is 1 p.m. Men’s competition begins at 2:30 p.m. . . . The Cal State L.A. Volleyball Action camp is Aug. 15-19 for girls and boys, grades 6-12. Cost is $99. Information: (213) 343-3080.