Marshall Plan on Alpha’s Agenda

Being a returning letterman is usually a source of pride for athletes.

For Jermaine Marshall, the distinction might cost him his football career.

The senior tailback is back at Kilpatrick, a camp for juvenile offenders, where two years ago he rushed for more than 1,700 yards after running afoul of the law.

That makes him the first returner at Kilpatrick in recent memory.

And that’s a problem.

When Kilpatrick joined the Alpha League in 1994, it was with the promise that the Mustangs would never have a returning player.

Opposing coaches say it was that promise that helped persuade small Christian schools such as L.A. Baptist and Village Christian to accept a school that draws Division I-caliber athletes from schools such as Antelope Valley, Palmdale and Sylmar highs.

“I don’t think it was so much a hard and fast rule as it was an understanding,” said Coach Mark Bates of L.A. Baptist.

That understanding could become law Monday night, when Alpha League administrators meet at Village Christian.

It’s possible Marshall’s high school career could end right then and there, making Kilpatrick’s game Friday night at Cerritos Valley Christian his last.

The issue is not a surprise to Coach Sid Ware of Kilpatrick.

“We kind of figured that people would complain,” Ware said. “He’s like a neon sign flashing in the night. If he was Joe Blow who only played freshman football somewhere before coming here, no one would care if he were a returner or not.”

Perhaps not.

But Marshall, who played at Antelope Valley last season, is hardly a nobody.

He’s a 6-foot, 205-pound mismatch in pads who rushed for 260 yards and five touchdowns in 19 carries last week in the Mustangs’ 36-0 opening victory over Silver Valley.

With Marshall’s talent and Kilpatrick’s schedule, it’s not out of the question that he could gain 3,000 yards in a full season.

“I don’t want to penalize the kid,” said Coach Mike Plaisance of Village Christian. “I’m sure he wasn’t sent there on his own volition. But we need to know if this is going to be a precedent-setting situation. If it is, it definitely puts the rest of us at a marked disadvantage.”

Kilpatrick advanced to the Division XII final last season without Marshall, but championships are secondary.

The Mustangs are probably the only school in the Southern Section to have an athletic dormitory, but there is nothing glamorous about being a Kilpatrick athlete.

There are no home games.

Crab grass and dirt cover a half-field in the center of a campus that is surrounded by chain-link fences and razor wire.

The facility is part boot camp, part school, part prison.

There are no such things as bathroom stalls, just a line of toilets against a dormitory wall in full view of supervisors and guards.

To Kilpatrick officials, Marshall represents one of about 130 inmates they are charged with rehabilitating.

“Whatever is best for the kid is what I’m most concerned about,” said Athletic Director Duane Diffie of Kilpatrick.

Sports are an important tool in that rehabilitation.

Kilpatrick is the only juvenile facility in the L.A. County system to field an interscholastic athletic program.

Most young offenders with athletic backgrounds are directed to Kilpatrick in an effort to better facilitate their rehabilitation.

“People think we’re cheating, but we’re not,” Ware said. “A judge sent him to us. We were more shocked than anyone that he was sent back to us.”

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Just an opinion, but Alemany and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are getting really good at hiring and firing the wrong people.