Drop in Class May Vault Notre Dame to League Title

Notre Dame surprised its following when the Knights fled the powerful Del Rey League this season to join the fledgling San Fernando Valley League.

The move dropped the Knights from the Southern Section’s new Division I conference to Division VII and ended the school’s rivalry with Crespi. The Knights also dropped Loyola from the schedule, and considering Notre Dame’s performance against both schools the past two years, who could blame the Knights for saying “no way” to the Del Rey.

Notre Dame was 2-8 in league play the past two years and lost to Crespi and Loyola by a combined score of 145-24. In its preseason poll, the Southern Section, which ranked Notre Dame No. 2 in Division VII, went as far as to describe the Knights as “so much cannon fodder” for the Del Rey powerhouses.

Kevin Rooney, Notre Dame football coach and athletic director, is quick to respond to such an unflatterring description.

“We won as many championships in the last eight years as Crespi won . . . which is none,” he said.

Small consolation. But things might change for the Knights as members of the revamped Santa Fe League, which includes Bell-Jeff, Chaminade, Harvard and St. Genevieve but sheds Cathedral, Pater Noster and Salesian.

Just like that, Notre Dame, rather than serving as cannon fodder, might be lighting the fuse.

“Notre Dame’s got to be the choice of the league,” said Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson, who led the Eagles to an undefeated league record and a berth in the conference championship game last season in his first year.

Said St. Genevieve first-year Coach Kevin Kane: “Coming down from the Del Rey League, naturally, that’s who everybody would pick.”

Said Harvard Coach Gary Thran: “I’m sure they have to be regarded as the favorite just because of their history.”

Rooney likes his team’s chances for a league title but hardly thinks that the Knights will rout every opponent.

“I think we should certainly be considered one of the contenders for the league championship,” he said. “But I think Chaminade, Harvard and St. Genevieve are all good football teams. I think it will be a pretty competitive league.”

Said Thran: “I think Notre Dame brings a lot to the league, but I don’t think they are going to dominate like everyone says they will.”

Easy for Rooney and Thran to say. Both coaches have more than 40 players, while the rosters of Chaminade, St. Genevieve and Bell-Jeff are thin.

Chaminade, which last season was stocked with stocky linemen and solid skill-position players, has 28 players. “Last year,” Lawson said, “we only had two two-way players.” This year, the Eagles may use as many as 11.

“It’s going to be a challenge, having 28 players,” Lawson said. “But we’re going to be the ‘Great 28.’ ”

Kane doesn’t find anything great about having 28 players. But that’s exactly what he has, too. In fact, with several “walking wounded,” Kane is down to 22.

“It’s gotten to where if we really wanted to scrimmage, we couldn’t--not with a real full team,” Kane said. “Right now, we’re trying to recruit some guys on campus.”

Bell-Jeff, which had 47 players last year, weighs in with 33 and dropping. “That’s not bad for us,” Coach Doug Woodlief said.

What is bad for the Guards is the departure of last season’s league cannon fodder: Cathedral, Pater Noster and Salesian.

“I guess the way the league is set up now,” Woodlief said. “we’re going to be the little guy.”

But hopefully, for Bell-Jeff’s sake, not cannon fodder.

S.F. VALLEY LEAGUE Predicted Finish 1. . . . Notre Dame(8-2) 2. . . . .Chaminade(7-3) 3. . . . . Harvard (6-40 4. . St. Genevieve (4-5) 5. . . . Bell-Jeff (2-8) Predicted record in parentheses.