Championship Week Is No Longer a Private Party

Call it the revenge of the public schools.

Sorry you had to watch in street clothes, Santa Ana Mater Dei. Enjoy the off season, La Puente Bishop Amat. Too bad you had to turn in uniforms, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

The Southern Section football finals this weekend from Division I through Division X involved only public high schools.

The Pope cannot be a happy man.

“It’s sweet,” Mission Viejo Coach Bob Johnson said. “I love it.”

The Division I final Saturday night at Edison Field, won by Long Beach Poly, 42-28, over Huntington Beach Edison, was the first all-public school final since 1989.

Does it mean the private schools had a lousy recruiting year? Does it mean the public schools have overcome all their so-called disadvantages?

There’s no need for deep analysis. The private schools just had an off-year. Don’t shed a tear for the Mater Deis or Bishop Amats. They’ll be back.

But public schools are offering stronger competition because of the 1994 state law that introduced open enrollment, a way for students to choose schools regardless of where they live.

Private schools never had boundaries. They could bring in students from anywhere. Open enrollment has given public schools a weapon to challenge private schools in attracting top students from areas outside their neighborhoods.

The successful football programs from public schools are getting stronger because players are congregating to a select group of teams. Edison has players who could be attending Huntington Beach or Fountain Valley. Poly has players who have moved to Long Beach to play on nationally ranked teams.

You can argue whether open enrollment has been good or bad for high school sports. It has created turmoil by allowing students to transfer at their own whim and is helping produce an environment of super programs that win year after year.

But open enrollment is also rewarding public schools for raising their standards, whether in athletics or academics.

Daring. Innovative. That’s the attitude Edison displayed from start to finish Saturday night, but it still wasn’t enough to topple Long Beach Poly.

It’s easy to become intimidated and feel overwhelmed against a Poly team filled with future NCAA Division I-A players. But Edison (11-1-1) played with the kind of courage and passion that overcomes disadvantages in height or weight. There was A.J. Martinez deciding on his own to try to fake punt on the Edison 17-yard line and turning it into a 37-yard run.

There was Coach Dave White twice allowing his team to go for it on fourth down inside the five-yard line, and quarterback Tommy Grady responded with touchdown passes of two and three yards to Denny Flanagan. Flanagan was the player of the game even in defeat. He caught four touchdown passes, giving him 20 this season. He wants to become a kindergarten teacher, but he’ll have to delay his plans. He has more football to play.

In 25 years of covering high school sports, I have never seen a stranger ending to a football game than Dorsey’s 19-14 victory over Woodland Hills Taft in the City Championship game Friday night.

All Taft had to do with seven seconds left was get off a punt from its 32-yard line to secure victory. Dorsey had no timeouts and little hope. But the Dons blocked the punt and recovered in the end zone as time expired.

On Saturday, Taft Coach Troy Starr said if he had a second chance, he would have attempted an 85-yard field goal with the hope of running out the clock.

Top college prospects for 2003: 1. Receiver Steve Smith, Woodland Hills Taft; 2. Defensive lineman Matthew Malele, Carson; 3. Defensive end Lawrence Jackson, Inglewood; 4. Receiver Whitney Lewis, Ventura St. Bonaventure; 5. Quarterback Tommy Grady, Huntington Beach Edison; 6. Running back Ashton White, Santa Margarita; 7. Quarterback Cary Dove, Taft; 8. Running back Dennis Keyes, Van Nuys Birmingham; 9. Receiver Mark Bradford, Los Angeles Fremont; 10. Defensive back Quintin Daniels, Los Angeles Loyola. 11. Quarterback Dominic Breazeale, Alhambra; 12. Defensive back Ryan Vickers, Venice; 13. Quarterback Matt Engle, El Segundo; 14. Receiver Gary White, Los Angeles Jefferson; 15. Linebacker Lance Broadus, Taft; 16. Defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, Chino; 17. Defensive back Danny Burney, Sylmar; 18. Offensive lineman Drew Radovich, Mission Viejo; 19. Receiver Noah Smith, Taft; 20. Running back Charles Burnley, Valencia.

Top five City teams for 2002: 1. Taft, 2. Carson, 3. San Pedro, 4. Wilmington Banning, 5. Fremont.

Top five Southern Section teams for 2002: 1. Long Beach Poly, 2. Loyola, 3. Mater Dei, 4. Los Alamitos, 5. Chino.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com