Pass OR Fail

Under overcast skies, Cal State Northridge was overrun with high school football players Friday.

Wearing shorts, T-shirts and confident swaggers, they converged on several makeshift fields to begin play in the two-day Northridge passing tournament, filling the air with footballs and reminding everyone that another season is around the corner.

With 40 teams each guaranteed three games Friday, there was no shortage of action for fans, who watched the seven-on-seven touch contests from the comfort of their lawnchairs.

Drawing a sizable chunk of the attention were two of the region’s biggest guns--quarterbacks Ryan McCann of Agoura High and David Neill of Hart. Their matchup in an afternoon game produced eight touchdowns, but in the end it was the rookie who claimed the upper hand.

Neill, a senior who was a little-used backup last season, continued his steady improvement by passing for five touchdowns and intercepting a pass to lead Hart past Agoura, five touchdowns to three.

Agoura wasn’t able to stop the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Neill until time expired on Hart’s final possession. His performance was further proof that the Indians’ quarterback legacy--they’ve had an All-Southern Section selection for 12 consecutive seasons--is in capable hands.

“He’s one of those sleeper kids that people are just starting to learn about,” said Dean Herrington, Hart’s offensive coordinator. “He has matured a lot physically and mentally, and he’s turning into a big-time college prospect. We’re excited about this season.”

Neill said he has received “quite a few” recruiting letters and has been contacted by coaches from Washington and Oregon State, despite the fact his only varsity action at quarterback was in mop-up duty for Travis Carroll last year.

A straight-A student, Neill displayed a strong arm and nice touch on his passes, in addition to possessing a disarming sense of humor.

Asked what part of his game needs the most work, he said: “I’m not up there in leadership. Nobody likes me.”

Herrington said just the opposite is true.

“He’s a good, sharp kid with a great future,” he said. “When he played junior varsity football [as a sophomore] we didn’t know if he would ever play [varsity] for us. He didn’t have a good grasp of things.

“But you could see he started to mature toward the end of last season. And being the sixth man on the basketball team gave him a lot of confidence.”

Neill helped make it a rough game for McCann, a 6-4, 205-pound left-hander who passed for more than 2,000 yards last season and is entertaining offers from several Division I schools.

Playing free safety, Neill intercepted a pass by McCann that was deflected on Agoura’s first possession. After Hart marched down the field for a touchdown, the Indians dug a deeper hole for Agoura by intercepting McCann’s first pass on the ensuing possession.

“We had a bad start,” said McCann, whose top five prospective colleges are UCLA, Arizona State, California, Notre Dame and Illinois.

“Our defense didn’t give us a chance to come back. It’s tough in these tournaments. You can’t make any errors.”

McCann wasn’t particularly impressed with Neill.

“He couldn’t move and he’s got a slow release,” McCann said. “But I’ll give him credit. He got the job done.”

Informed of his rival’s assessment, Neill was taken aback.

“Ouch,” he said. “That’s OK. We won. That’s all that counts.”

Hart hopes to keep making it count all the way to today’s championship game at 5 p.m. at the Northridge track stadium. Bring your lawnchair.