Hart Has Goods, Not Hardware

Despite winning 86% of its seven-on-seven passing games this summer, Hart High went without a tournament championship for the first time since 1990.

Seems unlikely that a successful program built around the pass would find futility in a game it should dominate.

But then again. . . .

“It’s getting harder and harder to win [passing tournaments] because [other teams] are working on their passing game instead of their offense,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “[Their quarterbacks] stand at the line of scrimmage and throw the ball. . . . You can’t do that in [11-man football].”

Some teams will do whatever it takes to win in passing tournaments, regardless of how ridiculous the changes are to their offensive and defensive schemes.

Herrington said the Indians played a team this summer that didn’t use a linebacker.

“There was no one in the middle,” he said. “They were all covering our receivers. In a real game, we would have run a quarterback sneak for 40 yards.”

To be sure, the absence of a passing tournament championship for the first time in seven years means very little in the way of Hart adding to its streak of six consecutive Foothill League championships.

And after all, the team was 44-6-1 this summer.

“No one’s gonna remember who’s winning this tournament and who’s winning that tournament come September and certainly not come playoff time,” Herrington said.

“I don’t think anyone is going to display their passing-league tournament trophies in their trophy case. We’ve got a bunch of them in our equipment room and I’m trying to figure out what to do with them.”

*

David Neill didn’t lead Hart to a tournament championship . . . but he has certainly won over his coaches.

Neill, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound senior-to-be, was relegated to mop-up duty for Travis Carroll last season, but has made great progress this summer and could be one of Hart’s best, Herrington said.

“Right now he’s the starter,” Herrington said. “He’s got the tools. Down the line he could be very good.”

*

It’s Week 4 of Sloan Bunting’s tenure as football coach at Monroe High and even he has to admit, it gets a little easier every day.

Consider his plight: Bunting was hired to replace interim Coach Don Senegal, who replaced Fred Cuccia after Cuccia suffered a debilitating stroke and missed the 1996 season.

Bunting, 17-2-1 as coach of the freshman-sophomore team at Grant the past two years, was thrown into a tough situation when he was hired earlier this month.

Many of the Monroe players were upset when Principal Joan Elam told Cuccia he would not be allowed to reclaim his job for the 1997 season. They were upset further when Senegal, a long-time assistant of Cuccia’s, was not named head coach.

Enter Bunting to a room full of disapproving faces.

One day after Bunting’s opening remarks to a team he was meeting for the first time, four players transferred to Kennedy High through open enrollment.

All four players--Michael Goode, Paul Jones, Micha( Arnold and Jamal Cockrel--are wide receiver-defensive backs.

“They didn’t think I was gonna throw the ball a whole lot,” Bunting said.

“When you’ve got two running backs like I do, you’re not gonna throw a whole lot.”

Last season running backs Vinny Walker, who averaged 6.2 yards per carry, and George Garcia, who averaged 7.2, combined for 2,759 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns. Both will be back this season.

Among the area’s rushing leaders last season, Walker gained 1,794 yards, second to Dante Clay of North Hollywood.

Bunting, head coach at South Pasadena High from 1984-87, said he will employ a double-wing offense to best utilize Walker and Garcia.

And while he was sorry to see the foursome leave, neither he nor the team has shed any tears.

“They weren’t bad kids,” Bunting said. “To be honest with you, I don’t care that they left. I want what’s best for [them]. If they thought Kennedy was better for them, then they should have left.

“If they didn’t want to be a part of [Monroe football], that’s OK.”

Meanwhile the players who stayed are helping Bunting get comfortable in his new role.

“It’s not easy [but] the kids are making it easier every day,” he said.

“They’re working hard and they’re giving me their full attention. They really want direction and that’s what I’m here for.”

*

The four Monroe players headed to Kennedy weren’t the only ones to bolt.

Rocco Cuccia, a starting lineman for Monroe the past two seasons, said he has transferred to Alhambra High.

Cuccia, son of Fred Cuccia, left Monroe after the school year when he learned his father would not be allowed to reclaim his position.

The 6-foot, 250-pound senior-to-be is vying for a starting position as Alhambra’s center.

The Cuccias plan to move from their La Canada home into the Alhambra area in two weeks, Rocco said.