Scribbling in the Athletic Margins

A look around the high school sports scene:

--The pressure to win seems to increase every year. Just ask Mike Southworth, 46, who recently stepped down as boys’ basketball coach at Fontana.

In five seasons, Southworth compiled a record of 109-40, including a 26-1 mark last season. The Steelers also have one of the state’s most highly regarded players in senior forward Corey Benjamin.

“To be honest, it was an easy decision,” said Southworth, whose team was 9-5 when he resigned. “My high-intensity level has not changed since I was in high school and college, and I couldn’t modify it. I think I was being too hard on the kids.

“I couldn’t go on another day with that in mind.”

--The Riverside North boys’ basketball team’s 57-game winning streak in the Ivy League ended last Friday when it lost to Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, 90-89.

Canyon Springs had been the last team to defeat North in league play, 48-47, on Jan. 10, 1991.

--With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Glendale Hoover boys’ basketball team is one of the biggest surprises.

The Dynamos, who were 0-10 in the Pacific League last season and have advanced to the playoffs only once in the past 10 years, improved to 5-1 in the league and 12-8 overall with Tuesday’s 57-55 victory over Pasadena Muir.

--No word yet on when or if guard-forward Schea Cotton will return to the Bellflower St. John Bosco lineup.

The 6-foot-5 junior has been sidelined since Dec. 26 because of hand and shoulder injuries. His mother, Gaynell Cotton, also reportedly wants her son to concentrate more on his studies.

St. John Bosco, which has won three Del Rey League titles in a row, dropped two league games last week and is 10-10.

--The Inglewood Morningside girls’ basketball team travels to Beverly Hills on Friday at 5 p.m.

When the Ocean League teams last met, on Jan. 5, Morningside recorded one of the most lopsided victories in state history, 120-3.

After the game, Beverly Hills Coach Tere Curl criticized Morningside for using a full-court pressure defense.

--With the Feb. 7 national football signing day nearing, several of the Southland’s top players have decided on colleges.

The most notable is Sylmar running back Durell Price, the two-time City Section Division 4-A player of the year, who said Tuesday he will attend Ohio State.

Price, 6 feet 1 and 220 pounds, finished his high school career with 4,135 rushing yards and 78 touchdowns.

“I made it clear [to Coach John Cooper] I don’t want to be a fourth-quarter player that goes in there and runs out the clock,” he told The Times. “I want to be the type that goes into the game in the first half and makes the score outrageous and makes the other players want to come there.”

--Los Alamitos’ touted receiving duo, Tony Hartley and Stan Guyness, decided on schools over the weekend.

Hartley, Orange County’s all-time receiving yardage leader with 3,178 yards, will sign with Oregon; and Guyness, who had 42 catches for 967 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, with USC.

--Linebacker Chris Claiborne of Riverside North, The Times’ player of the year, is undecided.

North Coach Mark Paredes said Claiborne was meeting with coaches from Arizona on Wednesday. USC is the apparent front-runner.

--A boys’ soccer game between Quartz Hill and Palmdale Highland on Jan. 9 might be replayed because of mistakes made by the referee.

Principals of the Golden League decided mistakes made by the unidentified referee affected the outcome, a 2-0 victory for Highland. Quartz Hill has not lost a league game at home in three years.

If the outcome affects the standings, a rematch will be scheduled.