New Day Rising for Downfallen Crespi Football

The glory days are long gone. The No. 1 national ranking a distant memory.

As we near the turn of the century, Crespi High football has been turned upside down.

Forget about the playoffs. Never mind the lack of talent. Crespi is doing the only thing it can.

“For the most part, we’re starting over,” said Richard Fong, in his third year as athletic director.

Crespi, the only school in the region to win the equivalent of the Southern Section Division I title, is a long way from the apex of its success in 1986.

After wallowing in mediocrity for the last five seasons (25-28), the Celts have hit rock bottom.

Forced to promote 28 sophomores to the varsity team while dropping the junior varsity program because of lack of participation, Crespi (1-3) has been outscored, 119-34, in four games this season.

The Celts’ shining moment, if you can call it that, came last week when they managed to eke out a 12-7 victory over Burbank, a team which has won only three its last 24 games.

“I don’t understand what happened to Crespi in the last couple of years,” said Bill Redell, the former Celt coach who is in his seventh year at St. Francis. “Maybe it’s just cycles that they go through.”

Crespi was thrown into the spin cycle in March when former coach Tim Lins, opting to work closer to home, left to take over Moorpark’s program.

The domino effect ensued.

Nine players transferred to other schools, and many who stayed decided to quit football.

“There are several guys who would have played football if the guys [who transferred] had stayed,” first-year Coach Ron Gueringer said.

When the dust finally settled, only two players with any significant varsity experience returned.

Yet, while the chances of winning another football game this season are slim, folks at Crespi are upbeat.

“We have a pretty good foundation in our younger class,” said Gueringer, an assistant under Redell at Crespi from 1984-88. “And we think we can compete with anybody in two years.”

Impossible? Perhaps.

But consider this: Crespi was 0-9-1 in 1984. Two years later, the Celts annihilated St. John Bosco, 49-14, in the Big Five Conference final--the equivalent of Division I--and were subsequently ranked No. 1 in the nation by one publication.

Of course, current coaches and administrators aren’t predicting the same kind of turnaround, but they are collectively thumping their chests.

“If people are going to beat us, they better beat us this year, because they’re not going to beat us next year,” said Fong, the Celts’ defensive coordinator. “You can print that in big, bold type.”

Indeed, Crespi’s future looks bright.

The freshmen team has outscored four opponents, 140-7, and the campus is buzzing.

“But they still have a long way to go; they haven’t got into tough Mission League play yet,” Gueringer said. “The true measure of [how good they are] is three years down the line.”

Sustaining excellence--should the Celts achieve it again at the varsity level--will be no less a task for Gueringer than it had been for Lins the previous 10 seasons.

Crespi, with a small enrollment of 475 boys, is one of only two teams in the region to compete in Division I since 1992. And with the exception of a semifinal appearance in 1993, the Celts were hardly contenders.

Under Lins, Crespi suffered five first-round playoff losses, including two in Division III, and failed to make the playoffs in 1995, ’96 and ’97.

Many argue that Crespi has too small a talent pool to compete with the likes of Loyola, Bishop Amat and Mater Dei--schools that have two, three and four times as many students, respectively.

“I honestly felt even when I was there, ultimately, we were probably a Division III team,” Redell said. “I think we had the talent to compete in Division I, but I don’t think we could compete in Division I year in and year out.

“I walked into a team that had tremendous talent. Every once in a while you’re going to hit a stage of good football players. I think Crespi probably rode that wave for a while.”

Despite a declining talent pool after the 1994 season, Lins never lobbied to get out of Division I. To be the best, he said, you have to play the best.

“As far as through the 1990s, schedule-wise, I don’t know who played a tougher schedule,” Lins said. “We were not afraid to play anyone. We played everybody. We never complained about what division we were in or what league.”

Crespi found the same attitude in Lins’ replacement.

“We have aspirations of playing big-time football, so we’re going to want to go Division I,” Gueringer said. “I think Crespi has all the tools to be the Bishop Amat or Mater Dei of the Valley, and to be competitive year in and year out.

“I think if you build a tradition and a foundation and you put things in place, good things will happen.”

Fong, however, is quick to caution against a move back to Division I, opting to evaluate the situation when the possibility exists.

Crespi, which played in Division III last season, will remain in the division at least through the 2001 season.

And that’s good news for a program on the mend.

“For the division we’re in, if the guys from the freshman class stayed here through their senior year, we could be champions,” Fong said.

Plenty of Crespi supporters agree.

“I see that things are being done right over there, and it’s just a matter of time,” Lins said.

Ditto for Redell.

“Crespi will be back,” he said.