8-Man Is Enough : Salaam’s Success Will Make It Harder to Belittle Small Schools

When the dust settles in the Antelope Valley--if it ever does--Eric Mobley may look a lot like Rashaan Salaam, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner.

Salaam, who only five years ago was playing eight-man football for tiny La Jolla Country Day School, now lines up at tailback for the Chicago Bears.

Mobley, a junior tailback and cornerback for Antelope Valley Christian (high school enrollment, 76) would love to follow in Salaam’s prodigious footsteps.

The success Salaam has enjoyed since leaving La Jolla Country Day has helped partially debunk the perception that eight-man football is bush league, and its less congested 80-yard field produces inflated statistics, particularly for running backs.

“Salaam really inspired me,” said Mobley, whose 2,340 rushing yards helped Antelope Valley Christian to a 7-4 record in 1994. “He opened the door for us.”

Mobley, who transferred from 11-man powerhouse Antelope Valley High after ninth grade, knows what will keep it open.

“Since I’m at a small school, I have to put up big numbers,” he said. “I have to show the scouts [that] I’m 3,000 yards good.”

Antelope Valley Christian, which is ranked second in the preseason Southern Section 8-man Small Division poll, opens at home Saturday at 1 p.m. against fourth-ranked Shandon in a game which might draw its fair share of scouts.

Mobley, 5 feet 10 inches, 180 pounds, has already received a recruiting letter from the University of Washington, a rare overture to a junior from an eight-man program.

Aaron Ligons, a senior receiver, has letters from Washington State, Clemson and Texas A&M;, among others. Although he is only 5-6, 145 pounds, Ligons bench-presses 275 pounds and has been clocked at 4.45 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Ligons and Mobley share more than aspirations of major college football. Both play for their fathers--Mark Ligons is the third-year head coach, Eric Mobley Sr. is the defensive coordinator--and both have younger brothers as teammates on Antelope Valley Christian’s 19-player squad.

“In hitting drills, [younger brother] Carl tries to match up with me,” Aaron Ligons said. “It makes me work harder, and I appreciate it.”

To a point.

“Sometimes, the siblings, they want to show each other up,” said Mobley Sr. of his sons, Eric Jr. and Justin, the starting quarterback. “We just have one rule out here: don’t call us Dad.”

Said Aaron Ligons of the coach/son relationship: “It’s hard, because I feel I have to work three times as hard as everyone else. My mom gets sick of it, too. We’re always talking football over dinner.”

If Eagle football is a family affair, senior transfer Darville Bivens is the unrelated guest of honor.

The phone number of the 6-2, 227-pound fullback and linebacker is included in the files of several schools, including Washington State, Texas A&M;, UCLA and Wisconsin. He recorded 14 unassisted sacks and 74 tackles last season for Playa del Rey St. Bernard.

“He’s a real throwback,” Coach Mobley said of Bivens. “ ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ It’s refreshing.”

The Antelope Valley Christian coaching staff believes the addition of Bivens will be enough to lift the Eagles to a league championship, if not a small division title.

Though polite and well-mannered in conversation, Bivens can get downright nasty on the field.

“We often try to keep him from hurting our kids,” Coach Ligons said.

Bivens and Mobley Jr. give Antelope Valley Christian a pair of runners who barrel over smallish defenders as if they were road reflectors.

In order to better challenge the backfield duo during a recent practice, Coach Mobley instructed his defensive minions to utilize their shoulder pads.

“Let them be your steering wheel,” he advised.

But on the next play, the coach’s son answered that strategy by staying behind his own big wheel--Bivens.

The rampaging fullback flattened a prospective tackler, sending him sliding like a boogie board on ocean surf. Mobley Jr. knifed behind him and scurried onto open grass, leaving eight bewildered schoolmates where Antelope Valley Christian expects to leave opponents.

In the dust.

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A look at other eight-man teams in the region:

Agape League (Small Division):

* First-year Coach Jim Bondra has his squad at Bethel Christian (2-7 in 1994) hitting the weights.

“We have to improve our team tackling,” Bondra said. “Our young guys are still filling out.”

Sophomore Tyler Thompson takes over at quarterback and junior linebacker K.C. Jacoby, coming off a 102-tackle campaign, leads the defense. Bondra said his roster of slender saplings is a year away from league championship contention, but he would be satisfied with a three-victory improvement.

* Tim Schaeffer would be satisfied to have a varsity program. Schaeffer, the new athletic director and football coach at Grace Brethren (2-6), will decide on Sept. 12 if the school has enough players to field a varsity unit. So far, only 10 players have come out for the team. Lineman Tyler Wolfe is the only senior. The others are sophomores and freshmen.

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Heritage League (Small Division):

* First-year Coach Bill Culpepper is probably in for a learning experience at Viewpoint (2-8).

Culpepper, formerly defensive coordinator at Westlake High, promises to imbue the benefits of vertical physics to his players in run-happy eight-man. Senior Pete Chizever is the favorite target of junior quarterback J.R. Sichel.

“I don’t think eight-man is so different that you can’t throw the football,” Culpepper said. “We’ve still got to protect the quarterback and get rid of the ball quickly.”

Newcomers Chris Dentzer and Rhamy Magid are the leaders of the defense, but Culpepper says his squad still lacks “one special player.”

* A 23-player squad doesn’t sound like an abundance of depth, but for L.A. Lutheran (4-3), it’s a relative plenty.

Coach Stan Dobler, accustomed to stretching 15-man rosters, can play most of his guys one way. Four-year starter Raul Ortiz III, a center and defensive end, won’t be one of them. Driving the offense: a solid senior backfield, with quarterback Justin Obacz and tailback Chris White, who didn’t play last year.

“Chris gives us some speed we haven’t had before,” said Dobler, who plans a ground-oriented offensive attack and vary formations defensively.

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Delphic League (Large Division):

* Defending Large Division champion Faith Baptist (10-1) is taking the cliche, big shoes to fill, literally. Tim Greer, a 5-7, 135-pound sophomore, won’t need a shoehorn to slide into the cleats of Judd Graznow, a three-time All-Southern Section quarterback.

Despite the nine-inch drop-off behind center, Coach Greg Weiss expects Faith Baptist--which clobbered league rival Brentwood, 60-26, in the championship game--to be “a good football team by Week 7.”

They may be better than that, thanks to returning stalwarts tight end/linebacker James York, fullback/linebacker David Arleano and two-way lineman Cisco Prado. Faith Baptist’s bulky offensive front averages more than 200 pounds and should provide sufficient time to throw, provided Greer can see over them.

* Campbell Hall will have varsity football for the first time, making it unlikely to repeat its 8-0 junior varsity record.

Mason Yamaki, a junior who last season rushed for more than 900 yards, welcomes two seniors to the offense--quarterback Justin Wallace and receiver Mike Appel, each of whom has overcome academic difficulties. Wallace, Yamaki and Peter Levine ignite Coach Tim Jensen’s 3-3-2 defense, which shut out six opponents last season.