Notebook : Cutting Team to 30 Works for University

University football Coach Mark Cunningham took a drastic step this season when he listened to his players and limited the team to 30 players. It was successful. After consecutive 1-9 seasons, the Trojans were 4-5-1 and in the playoffs for only the fifth time in 25 years.

He calls them the Dirty 30.

“Our record didn’t indicate it, but we were competitive with all but Corona del Mar and Irvine last year; in five games, we were ahead at halftime,” Cunningham said. “And we had kids sitting on the sideline talking about pizza and squirting water bottles at each other. It made me decide I was going to go with 30 kids who were focused.

“I do a player evaluation at the end of each season, and the football players coming back said if we only have 11 guys, then we only have 11 guys, but we can’t have people who don’t care.”

So he let 23 potential varsity players eliminate themselves during preseason workouts.

“If Myron Miller (and Costa Mesa) can make it to the finals with 22 kids (last year). . . ,” Cunningham said. “I think those guys were all on the same page, they had the same goals, the same vision, the same focus. If you have 21 kids or 41 kids, if they have the same focus and same goals, you can make it work. We ended up with 30 that I think fit that mold.

“The kids said they wanted someone to feel football is important, and if you wear the uniform, you’ve earned it. They didn’t want anyone wearing the uniform they felt didn’t earn it, and if the kids are saying that, I have to listen.”

The Dirty 30’s first step toward repeating Costa Mesa’s success of a year ago was a misstep; the Trojans were beaten, 24-0, by top-seeded La Mirada in the first round of the Division VIII playoffs.

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El Dorado Coach Rick Jones put into perspective this week his team’s forfeitures--and the lack of a playoff game despite winning its first league title since 1981.

“One of the things you have to deal with as coach is take difficult situations and build a positive situation out of it,” Jones said. “The positive here? This is definitely a dose of real life. Things happen to you that you don’t deserve. As football players and as people, we can only stay the course, fight the battle and learn how to deal with that. Or you can quit. El Dorado football is more than football.

“If they leave here knowing only how to block and tackle, then we’ve failed as coaches.”

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El Dorado’s ineligible player was a ninth-semester senior. Though most coaches agree that an oversight is an oversight and it’s a shame to make students suffer for an adult’s mistake, they generally forget there is one person who would know whether the player was ineligible--the player himself.

One person who has faced down his share of 11th-hour accusations of using ineligible players is Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes.

“We’re going to have an incredible checklist for every athlete that comes to this school,” Barnes said. “But it still won’t be 100% foolproof. It still won’t be perfect and someone still can lie to you and break the system.”

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Los Alamitos wide receiver Brad Melsby broke the Orange County record for career touchdown receptions and has moved near another record.

Melsby had eight receptions for 146 yards and three touchdowns during the Griffins’ 37-22 victory over Bellflower St. John Bosco in the first round of the Division I playoffs Friday. He has 35 touchdown receptions for his career, surpassing the old mark held by Kennedy’s Rick Parma, who had 34 from 1973-75.

Melsby also has 176 career receptions, one shy of the county record held by former Los Alamitos receiver George Sagen. Sagen caught 177 passes from 1990-91. La Puente Bishop Amat’s J.K. McKay, who played at USC, holds the Southern Section record with 207 receptions from 1968-70.

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The State girls’ volleyball tournament begins tonight with some curious pairings that have Orange County coaches shaking their heads.

In Division II, Huntington Beach received the top seeding and Edison is seeded fourth. Both teams were beaten Thursday in the Southern Section Division I semifinals.

But Edison (17-2, 9-1 in league) won the Sunset League and Huntington Beach (16-4, 8-2) finished second. The teams split their head-to-head league matches but Edison was ranked seventh in the final CIF State coaches’ poll and Huntington Beach was ranked 10th.

“It’s good for us so I thought CIF did a heck of a job,” Huntington Beach Coach Rocky Ciarelli said laughing. “But it’s kind of weird.”

Said Edison Coach Dave Mohs: “I’ve stopped trying to figure it out. I just hate things that seem to have no logic.”

Edison opens the State tournament tonight with a home match against Bakersfield North and Escondido San Pasqual plays at Huntington Beach.

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Naming Newport Harbor the top-seeded team for the Southern California region of the State girls’ volleyball tournament was the easiest decision for the state committee.

The Sailors, top-ranked in the nation by polls in USA Today and Volleyball Monthly, defeated Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, 15-5, 15-1, 15-7, in the Southern Section Division I final Saturday, posting the most lopsided victory in the history of major division finals.

And there is more bad news for the Sailors’ opponents.

“Saturday, we played the best we have this season by far,” Glenn said. “But we can play better.”

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They said it:

* “We’re an Orange County team and we think this game should be played in Orange County.”

--Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes, saying why the Griffins are playing host Long Beach Poly at Orange Coast College Friday instead of Long Beach Veterans Stadium--which is the home field for both teams.

* “If you don’t win on the road in the first round, you don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.”

--Myron Miller, Costa Mesa football coach, on the day the seedings were released. The Mustangs lost in the first round, on the road, to Riverside Norte Vista, 28-12, in Division VIII.

Chris Foster and Michael Itagaki contributed to this story.