Johnson, Norton Playing for California

Travis Johnson of Notre Dame High and Patrick Norton of Hart are among 11 players from the Valley and Ventura County region playing in a football game featuring all-stars from California against those from Florida.

The inaugural CaliFlorida All-Star game at 7 p.m. July 22 at the Rose Bowl features Johnson and quarterback Chris Rix of Santa Margarita. Both are going to Florida State.

The UCLA-bound Norton, a fullback and linebacker, was The Times’ Valley player of the year and an all-state selection.

Rix will split time with Matt Cassel of Chatsworth and Scott Vossmeyer of Crescenta Valley. Cassel is going to USC and Vossmeyer to Oregon.

Manuel White of Valencia, the state’s fourth all-time rusher with 6,745 yards, will be joined in the backfield by James Bethea of Cleveland, who rushed for 1,931 yards and 31 touchdowns last season. White will attend UCLA and Bethea is bound for California.

Hueneme receiver Keary Colbert (USC), Newbury Park tight end Will Svitek (Stanford), Birmingham kicker John Wall (San Jose State), St. Bonaventure tackle Adrian Ayala (Arizona State) and San Fernando guard Steve Nevarez (San Diego State) are also playing.

Florida will be led by four All-Americans: defensive back Cedric Edmunds (Syracuse), defensive back Abram Elams (Notre Dame), linebacker Chad Mascoe (Florida State) and linebacker Eric Moore (Florida State).

Tickets are $10 through Ticketmaster. Proceeds from the game will go to the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House.

* Six players from the region will play for the West in the 21st San Gabriel Valley National Football Foundation All-Star game at 7:30 p.m. July 14 at Arroyo High in El Monte.

The West line features Rusty Colburn of Crescenta Valley and Ken Bowman of St. Francis. Running backs include Wes Jones of Crescenta Valley and La Canada residents Falsai Dittu of Pasadena Poly and Taylor Williams of Loyola.

Bryan Henry of Crescenta Valley could see action at linebacker and fullback.

The game is sponsored by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley chapter. Proceeds go to a scholar-athlete awards banquet and scholarship fund.

MOTORSPORTS

* Bryan Herta of Valencia will start seventh in the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland CART series race today after averaging 131.463 mph on the 2.106-mile temporary road course at Burke Lakefront Airport in qualifications Saturday.

“The car is finally to where I can really work with it,” said Herta, who struggled last week at Portland in his first race substituting for injured Tony Kanaan of Brazil in Mo Nunn’s Reynard-Mercedes.

“There’s still a lot more left in it, so we’ll make some adjustments before warm-up [this] morning.”

TRACK AND FIELD

* Cal State Northridge volunteer assistant coach Avery Anderson, competing in his first decathlon, finished with 7,952 points Saturday in the Northridge Multi-Event Olympic Trials Qualifier to earn a berth in the United States Olympic trials, which will be held July 14-23 at Sacramento.

Anderson, who was a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts and UCLA, won the 110 high hurdles in 13.95 seconds.

Anderson needed a time of 4:50.35 or better in the 1,500 meters--the final event--to score the 7,900 points needed to qualify for the trials. Anderson finished fourth in 4:41.81.

FYI

* The Samba youth soccer camp at Pierce College has been canceled from Monday through July 7 but will resume the week of July 10-14.

Information: Marwan Ass’ad, (818) 341-2216.