Corley Hits Royal Flush in Petition for Playoffs

The Royal High boys’ team will continue a tradition of tilting at windmills this season, now that Kevin Corley, the Highlanders’ coach, has successfully petitioned the Southern Section to move up his team to Division I for the playoffs.

Royal, long a Division I team, was dropped to Division II when the divisions were realigned for this year based on enrollment. Corley said the school was fewer than 20 students short of the Division I cutoff.

“I asked the boys if they wanted to go up and they said yes, that it was a matter of pride,” Corley said.

The Highlanders won Division I titles in 1988, 1995 and 1997. Corley said Royal was the division’s second-smallest school in 1995 and its third-smallest in 1997.

Thousand Oaks, which remained in Division I after the realignment, is the only other member of the Marmonte League in the division. Willie Ruiz, Simi Valley’s first-year coach, said he was unaware he could have petitioned to move up and would have done so had he known.

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The Oak Park boys’ team, which during the last two seasons built a reputation for outbursts against opponents and referees, has been accused of similar behavior this season by Ken Erenberg, Montclair Prep’s coach.

Erenberg said a Mountie player was knocked down by an Oak Park player during warmups to the teams’ Dec. 14 game at Oak Park. Erenberg said Eagle players then injured three of his players during Oak Park’s 4-0 victory and initiated nearly a dozen physical and verbal confrontations.

“They acted and played like a dirty team,” Erenberg said. “I was in shock.”

Jacob Asadi, Oak Park’s coach, was unavailable for comment, but second-year assistant Buck Henderson said he recalled no incidents at the game.

“The game was physical and verbal, but that’s soccer,” Henderson said. “Our players have read and signed a three-page packet of rules and the consequences for breaking them and we’re holding them to that.”

Henderson said Dick Billingsley, Oak Park’s athletic director, expressed disappointment with the team’s sideline conduct earlier this season and the players involved were reprimanded.

Erenberg said he was unaware of Oak Park’s past problems. School administrators last season removed the team from the playoffs.

That move came after several Eagle players were ejected for fighting in one game and after midfielder Aaron Benditson used his hand to spatter a referee with blood in another.

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The Hart girls’ team plays on one of the region’s best-tended fields, thanks to the efforts of Coach Oliver Germond.

Germond said he spread grass seed on the field in late spring and let it grow almost a foot high before mowing it in the summer.

Germond’s lush creation figures to take a beating during the Hart tournament next week.

The secret to maintaining the field?

“It’s all in acquiring the right key,” Germond said. “In this case, the one that turns on the sprinklers.”

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It already has been a long season for John Wall, Birmingham’s outstanding goalkeeper.

Wall, a junior, needed stitches after being kicked in the chin in a game against San Fernando on Dec. 3, then broke his nose against El Camino Real on Dec. 10.

Wall had nose surgery but is expected to begin practicing next week.

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Soccer Top 5

Rankings of regional high schools by The Times’ sportswriters:

Boys

RK: 1

LW: 1

Team (League): Birmingham (NW Valley)

Rec.: 3-0-1

RK: 2

LW: NR

Team (League): Buena (Channel)

Rec.: 8-2-1

RK: 3

LW: NR

Team (League): Highland (Golden)

Rec.: 9-3-1

RK: 4

LW: 3

Team (League): El Camino Real (NW Valley)

Rec.: 5-1

RK: 5

LW: 4

Team (League): Thousand Oaks (Marmonte)

Rec.: 9-1-4

Girls

RK: 1

LW: 1

Team (League): Westlake (Marmonte)

Rec.: 8-0-1

RK: 2

LW: 3

Team (League): Chaminade (Mission)

Rec.: 7-1-1

RK: 3

LW: 4

Team (League): Harvard-Westlake (Mission)

Rec.: 7-1

RK: 4

LW: 2

Team (League): Buena (Channel)

Rec.: 10-2-1

RK: 5

LW: 5

Team (League): Chatsworth (Coast / Valley)

Rec.: 6-1-1