JUST PREPS : Who Plays the Best Football? : City Schools May Have More Skilled Players, but Southern Section Has Depth and Money

There are 98 players on current NFL rosters who played for one of the 396 Southern Section football programs.

There are 50 NFL players who played for one of the 49 Los Angeles City schools.

With an average of more than one NFL player per school, the City holds a clear advantage in producing pros.

Does this mean that the City plays better football than the Southern Section?

Probably not.

“There might be a slight advantage toward the City in producing skill-position players, but because of its depth, the Southern Section is a little deeper talent-wise and for the most part has more good teams,” Dorsey High Coach Paul Knox said.

The debate regarding which section plays better football has become a tradition around Southern California at playoff time.

Southern Section supporters claim their teams would dominate the City’s, and City fans say that their top teams would have too much talent for any in the Southern Section.

“We still argue about who would beat whom, whenever we talk about high school football,” said USC standout Keyshawn Johnson, who played for two City high schools, Palisades and Dorsey. “Guys who went to a [Southern Section] school always say that they were better, but I tell them not when I was in high school.”

The only time the Southern Section Division I champion played the City 4-A Division winner was in 1992, when La Puente Bishop Amat defeated Sylmar, 31-10, in the CIF/Reebok Bowl at Anaheim Stadium.

“That was really a tough game for us,” said Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman, whose Spartans were 13-1 that season. “Our kids didn’t even know who or what Bishop Amat was. Our season had been so long, and they were as a team better fundamentally than we were.”

The championship matchup was discontinued primarily because of a lack of fan support.

“If the game was held years earlier, it probably would have captivated more interest,” said Glenn Martinez, Bishop Amat’s athletic director who has been an assistant coach for the Lancers’ football team for 18 years. “The debate is not the same because the interest is just not there.”

Bishop Amat’s easy victory did not come as a surprise. Over the last 20 years, Southern Section teams have rarely lost to City schools during the regular season.

Coaches say there are several reasons for this edge.

“When City teams play [Southern Section] teams, normally the games are held early in the season,” Knox said. “At that time of year, [Southern Section] teams have a clear advantage over City teams.”

Southern Section teams begin fall practice one week earlier than City schools because of the academic calendars, so it is not uncommon for City teams to be behind their Southern Section counterparts in early season preparation.

Southern Section teams also have considerably larger coaching staffs than City teams, which is the product of attendance and booster help.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have a longtime [former Carson High] City coach in Gene Vollnogle working on our staff the last few seasons, and we’ve talked about the differences,” said Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes, whose team defeated Washington and Carson from the City this season.

“The biggest thing is that City schools have a hard time paying assistant coaches. For example, we have 10 to 11 coaches on our staff who are paid through our booster club, while most City teams do not have that many.”

Or, for that matter, a booster club.

Added Sylmar’s Engilman: “Southern Section schools have a bigger money structure to work with. City teams are lucky to have four paid coaches, [and] most of our coaches are walk-on coaches. They usually come whenever they are able to, and that is not too often during the week. It is not uncommon for us to have just one or two coaches working with the team only days before a big game. I don’t think the top teams in the Southern Section have that problem.”

Bishop Amat has a budget of $60,000 for football every year, which does not include booster contributions. The budget for some City schools is less than $10,000.

Most coaches agree that there is a correlation between financial support and success.

“I know that there are [Southern Section] schools that have even paid equipment managers and trainers,” Engilman said. “At our school, I’m the trainer.

“I also think that money plays an underlying role in the quality of the coaching. For example, if coaches don’t win at a CIF school, they are fired. In the City, if you’re not winning or if a program has a history of being sub-par, it’s OK because you are a teacher first. Many of the CIF programs have a couple who are teachers, but many have plenty of time just to coach.”

Having the resources to build a program helps because Southern Section schools are able to field large freshmen and junior varsity teams. While Bishop Amat has up to 75 players on its freshmen team, many City schools are lucky to have enough players for a weekday practice.

That’s why in the City, the fortunate programs usually are able to distance themselves from the rest.

“Having more money in a program enables schools to have more benefits to keep kids motivated to play football,” Johnson said. “In many ways, it is an urban vs. suburban thing. At Dorsey, we were able to have things like new uniforms and equipment because of former athletes who came back and contributed the funds. But, at a school like Manual Arts, the money support may not be there.”

Martinez sympathizes with the City schools’ plight because he grew up in Los Angeles and attended Franklin before he began working at Bishop Amat.

“I’m a city guy at heart, so I understand their problems,” he said. “When I first arrived at Bishop Amat, the first thing I noticed was that City schools always had restrictions, compared to CIF schools. In terms of what they could or could not do, costs were always a problem in the city in comparison to the [Southern Section].”