FOOTBALL ’89 : Obstacles Keep City Down in the Valley : Coaches Agree That Conditions Combine to Favor Southern Section in Head-to-Head Competition

Granada Hills High shocked Carson, 27-14, in the 1987 4-A Division championship game to become the first Valley team to win the 4-A football title since 1975, the year a future Heisman Trophy winner played fullback in San Fernando’s wishbone offense.

The Highlanders thus ended, for one season, a 12-year domination by two schools. Either Banning or Carson, which recovered the championship last year, had won the City title since Charles White capped a glorious Tiger campaign with a 20-8 triumph over Banning.

But in their own back yard, the Highlanders had a difficult time enjoying that glory. They had opened against neighborhood rival Alemany, a Del Rey League team that plays in Division I of the Southern Section. Alemany was to embark on a 3-5-2 season that ended with four consecutive losses and the dismissal of Coach Enrique Lopez.

But the downtrodden Indians defeated Granada Hills, 17-14. Besides that game, and a loss to Carson in the regular season, the Highlanders’ only other defeat was a 21-12 decision against Thousand Oaks, the eventual Southern Section Coastal Conference champion.

Granada Hills might have been the City champion, but the team finished 0-2 against the Southern Section, an unconvincing advertisement for City football.

That season underscores a decade-long trend. Since 1980, City and Southern Section football teams from the Valley have met 41 times, and the City can claim but nine wins. In the past two years, the City is 1-11, a record that includes such embarrassments as: Servite 35, Taft 7 (1988); Crespi 44, Taft 0 (1987); and Camarillo 43, El Camino Real 6 (1987). In addition, the same year Alemany defeated Granada Hills, the Indians thrashed Kennedy, 28-0, making the Del Rey League’s last-place team the king of the Granada Hills area.

Comparisons are commonplace between Valley City and Southern Section teams in the three major sports--football, basketball and baseball. The sections seem even in baseball, talent being shared equally from Chatsworth to Camarillo and Sylmar to Saugus. Valley City schools, which draw from all over Los Angeles via the numerous desegregation programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District, are a step ahead of the Southern Section in basketball.

But the record speaks clearly in football.

In an informal survey, coaches felt that the talent level was virtually even, but they also agree that there is truth to the following stereotype: Some of the best individual players, especially in the skill positions, wear City uniforms, but Southern Section teams play a more disciplined brand of football.

Bob Francola, Kennedy’s coach since 1986, notices that difference every time he attends a Southern Section game.

“Those teams have the same look,� he said. “You look at Canyon’s offensive line and the mechanics are great. City schools find that they’re behind the Southern Section. Their senior athletes seem more mature than the guys in the City. At that Taft-Servite game last year, those kids up front from Servite knew what it took to get their running game going and they took control in the second half.�

Sean Burwell, a freshman running back at Oregon, is unique among Valley players in that he posted 1,000-yard seasons in both sections. He rushed for 1,211 yards as a sophomore at Chaminade and gained 1,145 yards last year as a senior at Cleveland. His perspective lends support to the team-versus-individual theory.

“In the City Section, every school had at least one or two bona fide players, and the City players were faster, especially the defensive backs,� he said. “At Chaminade, we didn’t worry about a particular player, but we worried about the whole (opposing) team.�

Burwell respected the more-disciplined style of play at Chaminade, but enjoyed playing in the City more.

“In the Southern Section, they go more by the rules,� Burwell said. “They play fair and are really disciplined. In the City, they take advantage of every little thing. They hit a little harder and they let you know about it when you’re hit. There was a lot more talking going on in a City game.�

Few dispute the claim that a City game--especially early in the season--can get out of control. Penalties abound, and missed assignments and confusion are commonplace. But as coaches in both sections argue, City coaches face a more-demanding job than their Southern Section counterparts.

Accordingly, the record this decade between the sections is no accident. The following factors are working against the City Section coaches:

Availability of players.

Because a majority of City schools in the Valley accept students from all over Los Angeles, the schools have lost some of their neighborhood ties. Buses bring in talented players, but those players live as far as 50 miles away, creating logistical headaches.

City teams rarely conduct film sessions on Saturdays or run late practices during the week because of transportation considerations. And the summer, when many Southern Section schools conduct daily practices, becomes a virtual dead period for City programs.

Smaller coaching staffs.

Some Southern Section schools, such as Canyon, and Crespi under former Coach Bill Redell, boast staffs with as many as 18 coaches, including walk-ons. In contrast, when Poly Coach Kevin Kennedy resigned earlier this month after a three-year battle with staffing problems, he was the only coach in the program.

City teams are allowed two paid positions for varsity football and one for the junior varsity. And because the neighborhood flavor has diminished at many Valley schools, they struggle to find walk-on assistants.

No freshman teams and few junior varsity teams.

Nearly every Southern Section school fields three teams (varsity, sophomore and freshman) that run the same basic offensive and defensive schemes. The sophomore teams generally are part of the Friday night experience, playing as part of a doubleheader before the varsity game and in front of local fans.

Fewer than half of the 17 City schools in the Valley field JV teams. Those that do schedule games on Mondays in virtual anonymity. Often the varsity coach doesn’t even attend. And most City high schools in the Valley are three-year institutions, thereby precluding freshman teams.

Antiquated B-team format and the exponent system.

The City Section is the only one of 10 in the state still using B teams, which group players by age and size under an exponent system. B teams regularly include numerous upperclassmen who are too small for the varsity and never play beyond the B level. Although most City coaches support a program that gives smaller players a chance, they lament the lack of a genuine feeder system.

In addition, the exponent system occasionally forces a player to the sidelines. Reseda’s Jason Kiederling, an offensive and defensive lineman, sat out his freshman season and most of his sophomore year because he was too big to play B football, too young to play on the varsity (a player must be 15 years old) and because Reseda doesn’t field a JV team.

A later start every season.

Even the schedule favors the Southern Section, which kicks off a week ahead of the City. Because of league commitments, City and Southern Section teams usually meet early in the season, thereby increasing the chances of a victory by a Southern Section school with an additional game under its belt.

In addition, City rules prevent coaches from conducting summer practices before July 31. No such restrictions exist in the Southern Section.

City coaches claim that the late start presents their biggest hindrance in head-to-head competition with the Southern Section, whose coaches concede the point. “The word in the CIF is to get a City team early,� Westlake Coach Jim Benkert said.

When Alemany defeated Granada Hills two years ago, it was the first game of the year for Granada Hills--the third for Alemany.

“The Alemany people may not agree, but a lot of those results would be different if the games were played at the end of the year,� Granada Hills co-Coach Darryl Stroh said. “At the beginning of the year, they have a head start. I’d like to see a Southern Section champion play Carson every year. I’d put my money on Carson every time.�

That’s a bet that will go uncalled, but in the meantime City coaches figure to get little relief from the disadvantages they face. Still, they rail against their fate.

BUSING: A MIXED BLESSING

At the start of his first two seasons as Cleveland coach, Steve Landress used to head for the garage to check on the most important piece of equipment in the football program: a three-quarter ton pickup truck. Without the truck, he might not have enough players for a team.

Landress learned early that for many Valley City teams the most indispensable element in a successful program is transportation. So Landress kicked the tires, checked the oil and worked the old V-8 engine into shape.

And off he trekked from his Reseda home, over the hill and into South-Central Los Angeles to round up players for football practice. During conditioning drills in August, he made two round trips a day, three days a week, logging 200 miles and transporting as many as 15 players daily.

Landress has since retired that truck, but the need remains. He estimates that nearly 75% of the football players in the varsity and B programs at Cleveland live outside the school’s attendance area.

Busing can give City teams a competitive edge over Southern Section public schools whose boundaries are more closely defined by geography. Private schools have no geographic boundaries, but the number of students from which they can draw is limited because of tuition and academic considerations. Some do offer financial aid, though.

But along with the athletes, the buses bring organizational problems that threaten to drive coaches from the business.

Summer workouts are difficult to organize and afternoon practices during the school year must fit the bus schedule. Saturday film-review sessions must wait until Monday.

“Our talent is delivered on boats and those boats are yellow,� Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer said about busing. “We couldn’t make it without the athletes who are bused in. But it creates so many problems, you can’t even compare us to the Southern Section schools.�

Southern Section coaches learn to appreciate what their City counterparts face when they are enlisted for summer all-star games involving City players.

“When I coached in the Daily News All-Star Game we had daily problems with transportation,� Westlake’s Benkert said. “We had a running joke with the players. They’d wander in an hour late for practice and just say, ‘405, Coach,’ meaning they had trouble on the freeway.�

Lack of practice time not only cuts into skill development and preparation, it hinders the cohesiveness that many Southern Section teams gain in the summer. Burwell, the Cleveland transfer from Chaminade, missed that element when he joined his new team.

“At Chaminade, everyone hung out together in the summer and we were like a team when school started,� he said. “But at Cleveland, you wouldn’t see people until Hell Week. Sometimes, you wouldn’t see a guy all summer and then he’d show up at the start of school. It’s going to hurt a team when everyone’s not there the whole summer.�

Two years ago, the City approved a busing program for summer football, providing transportation for conditioning drills that begin at the end of July. But an administrative foul-up temporarily put a halt to that arrangement this year.

City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness attributed the cancellation to a misunderstanding between his office and the school district’s transportation department, but the problem has been corrected and the buses are on the road again. Still, the absence of buses delayed progress among City football teams, coaches said.

“We’ll be well behind,� Landress said. “We usually have our offense and defense in before school, but this summer has been hit-and-miss. Sometimes I had more coaches at practice than players.�

Some Cleveland players from South-Central L. A. took public transportation to practice this summer before the district’s buses started rolling, raising problems a Southern Section coach rarely faces.

“I had a mother call me at midnight to say her boy’s not home yet,� Landress said. “You can’t blame the kids for not coming to practice. Look at the dangers they face. If they get off at the wrong block they might not get to the next block because of (gang) colors.�

Perils of gang activity aside, City teams face other physical dangers, Landress said.

“Our conditioning program suffered this summer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more injuries this year because of it,� he said.

LINEMEN MAKE DIFFERENCE

When Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson coached in the Daily News All-Star Game two years ago, he was stunned when he worked with Dave Audelo of Canoga Park. Audelo was a 6-foot-4, 270-pound offensive lineman who had signed with UCLA and is now a Bruin reserve.

“He had terrible feet,� Lawson said of Audelo’s footwork. “College coaches don’t mind a big, raw kid that they can mold their way, but I was surprised by him. His skill level was not as refined as I would have expected from a player who was recruited by UCLA. In general, the City linemen weren’t as refined in their techniques as the CIF kids.�

Francola, the Kennedy coach, has come to the same conclusion. With no freshman teams at any City schools and junior varsity teams at only six of 17, City players lag behind their Southern Section counterparts, particularly in the trenches.

Francola points to John Jones, a 272-pound senior offensive lineman, as Exhibit A. Jones played sparingly as a sophomore but started every game last year.

“He’s going to be a good player, but we lived with his 11th-grade mistakes last year,� Francola said. “Now he can bench press 350 pounds and squat over 600. But the whole process was put off a year. Maybe John could have had two great years instead of one.�

A look at area all-star teams supports the claim that Southern Section schools look better up front. On the past five All-Valley teams selected by The Times, 39 linemen have earned first-team recognition and only nine were City players.

“That’s the difference between the City and the CIF,� Francola said. “Our athletes are just as good, especially the skill-position kids who never lack for sports to play. They’re always doing something to develop hand-eye coordination.

“But linemen have to be led to the sled and the weight room. We all search to develop great linemen. It’s a learned skill that comes late in a kid’s career, and that extra year makes a difference.�

ASSISTANTS: A VANISHING ACT

Crespi’s 1986 game program displays a sobering photograph for City coaches. Surrounding Bill Redell are 17 members of his coaching staff, plus a team manager. And Kermit Alexander, a former NFL All-Pro who worked part time with the Celts, isn’t pictured.

Harry Welch routinely assembles a staff of 16 coaches at Canyon, and Lawson at Chaminade is disappointed this year because he has only 11 coaches on board.

Meanwhile, some City schools rely on a Lone Ranger to run the entire program. Fred Grimes, in his fourth year at North Hollywood, has no varsity assistant, no junior varsity coach, and last year’s B team coaches quit, so he’s in charge of three teams with no help.

City schools are allowed two paid positions. If a third coach is hired, the program must field a junior varsity team.

The chief reason for the disparity between the sections is financial. The L. A. school district is the second-largest in the country--and carries all the burdens of a big-city institution. Staffing a football program ranks low on the list of priorities.

Football coaches claim that the shortage of assistants hurts their sport more than others because football draws the largest numbers and requires more preparation. Baseball rosters run about 15 deep on the varsity, and basketball gets by with as few as 10 players. But football requires squads with three and four times that many.

“Basketball and baseball players can work on their own and then walk on to the high school team,� Westlake’s Benkert said. “In football a player needs to learn a system. The blocks change for every front you face. You can be an All-American and if you don’t get it right in practice, you won’t get it done.�

Baseball and basketball players can work on their skills in sandlot games, but when was the last time an offensive lineman worked on his pass-blocking at the neighborhood playground? Coaches claim that the best way to enhance player development is through repetition in practice under careful scrutiny.

“It comes down to how many eyes you can get on players in every practice,� Chaminade’s Lawson said. “With a larger staff, you can get more kids coached every single play. Bad habits are taken care of sooner and good techniques get reinforced. That’s the big reason CIF teams look crisper.�

B TEAMS FOREVER

“The B-team system is a dinosaur,� says Schaeffer of Reseda. But the system is far from extinct in the City Section. Even coaches whose programs suffer from their existence admit that B teams have a role in the high school experience.

“Little guys ought to be able to play the game,� Stroh of Granada Hills said. “It wouldn’t be as helpful as a 10th-grade program, but I’d hate to see it go.�

There seems to be little danger of that, according to Harkness, who said that the system has strong support throughout the City. But at least one football player will not mourn its passing--should that day come.

Jason Kiederling, a 6-5, 260-pound senior lineman at Reseda, sat out his freshman year and most of his sophomore season because the exponent system worked against him--he was too big for the B team and too young for the varsity. Schaeffer urged him to attend a Southern Section school where he could play, but Kiederling stuck it out at Reseda.

“I was rooted there,� he said.

His patience has not betrayed him in terms of college interest. He has received letters from most Pac-10 schools and likely will earn a scholarship. But he urges the demise of the exponent system.

“I’m bitter about it and think they should change the rule. The next kid like me should have the chance to play,� Kiederling said.

Meanwhile, City coaches will carry their better sophomores on the varsity even though the kids would get playing time on the B team.

“B kids don’t make the adjustment until halfway through their first varsity year,� San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez said. “So I try to keep the best 10th-graders up with the varsity even if they don’t play. They ride the pine and get beat up in practice. It’s not fun for them and they sacrifice their sophomore year, but they learn how everything goes.�

Schaeffer grudgingly follows a similar plan at Reseda.

“I like to get them as young as I can and get them involved with the varsity program,� he said. “But the B program is not as good as a sophomore and freshman program. I endorse the B concept but as long as we have it, we’ll be behind.�

CITY GOES DOWN FIGHTING

City coaches looking for wholesale changes can expect to be disappointed. The battle for coaching positions and walk-on assistants will continue, and the B program and exponent system are entrenched.

The City experimented last year with running the football season parallel to the Southern Section to eliminate the time disadvantage. Although Harkness instituted the change last year, he was forced to scrap the plan because of complaints from school officials. Last year, the City played games before school started, creating administrative problems.

“Moving up keeps us in sync with the Southern Section, but a significant number of principals said they didn’t have enough help to run football games before school starts,� Harkness said. “There’s no question that in September, when we are a week apart, there is a definite disadvantage. But that’s not something when we can or will change just to minimize that disadvantage. We have other priorities.�

Harkness indicated that he may eliminate the rule that prohibits coaches from running summer practices. That change would put City programs on even footing with the Southern Section in at least one area.

“We’ve got to do some things with our rules to come to grips with reality and this is one of them,� he said.

Junior varsity teams likely will remain thin as long as enrollments are down. A decade ago, City schools fielded more competitive junior varsity teams simply because they had a larger student pool. In fact, the only reason freshman classes were added to seven Valley high schools in 1982 was to ease enrollment concerns.

But because not all schools have freshman classes, the City will not institute freshman football because of transportation problems, Harkness said.

And unless the day comes when City schools are naturally integrated, busing is here to stay. Coaches must live with the benefits and pitfalls that come with the buses.

“You have to understand the context of busing,� Harkness said. “Those programs are a fact of life. That little athletic tail on the big dog of the school district can wag till doomsday, and it’s not going to have an impact on those other programs. The only way to alleviate some of those problems is the return to neighborhood schools. And that’s not going to happen, at least not in my lifetime.�

Despite the obstacles, many City coaches seek Southern Section opponents and defend their brand of football. Stroh had to cancel his series with Alemany because of scheduling conflicts but hopes to get another shot at the Indians.

San Fernando will open the season with three consecutive Southern Section opponents--all on the road. Hernandez has scheduled Fontana, St. Paul and Crespi and wishes he had room for more Southern Section teams.

“We’ll play all of ‘em, Canyon, Hart, Notre Dame, Burroughs,� he said. “But they never seem to have an opening on their schedule for us.�

Landress at Cleveland is willing to live with all the organizational headaches because he loves City football.

“You can see it in all-star games, that we have as much or more talent than the CIF,� he said. “Carson is as good as any team in the state. San Fernando, Granada Hills and Banning are equal or better than any team in the CIF.

“We’re understaffed sometimes and because we’ve got to go through red tape we’ve got some problems on the field. But give me talent any day. Some of the best football in the nation is played in the City.

“Hey, I’m a City guy.�

The Dividing Lines

A look at several of the factors that underscore the differences between the Southern Section and City Section in the maintenance of high school football programs.

Coaches Southern Section: Some schools, such as Canyon and Crespi, boast coaching staffs with as many as 18 members, including walk-ons. Staff size is unlimited. City Section: Schools are limited to two paid positions for varsity football and one for the junior varsity. And many schools struggle to find walk-on assistants. Structure Southern Section: Nearly every school fields three teams (varsity, sophomore and freshman) that run the same basic offensive and defensive schemes. Sophomore teams gain experience playing Fridays before varsity games--and fans. City Section: Fewer than half of the 17 schools in the Valley field junior varsity teams; none field freshman teams. It is the only section in California still using B teams, which group players by age and size under an exponent system. Schedule Southern Section: Summer practices and participation in passing leagues emphasize the year-round commitment to football. In addition, the regular season starts a week ahead of the City. City Section: Practice is prohibited before July 31. City coaches claim that the late start of the season presents their biggest hindrance in competition with the Southern Section.

HEAD-TO-HEAD A look at nonleague games between Southern Section and City Section schools. 1988 Chino 29, Kennedy 15 Crespi 24, San Fernando 20 Servite 35, Taft 7 Notre Dame 25, North Hollywood 0 1987 Cleveland 31, Newbury Park 7 Channel Islands 28, El Camino Real 7 Camarillo 43, El Camino Real 6 Simi Valley 19, El Camino Real 6 Alemany 17, Granada Hills 14 Thousand Oaks 21, Granada Hills 12 Alemany 28, Kennedy 0 Crespi 44, Taft 0 1986 Cleveland 29, Royal 6 Loyola 30, El Camino Real 0 Camarillo 34, El Camino Real 14 Newbury Park 39, El Camino Real 13 Granada Hills 33, Alemany 19 Granada Hills 56, Westlake 12 Alemany 10, Kennedy 6 Kennedy 7, Simi Valley 3 Oxnard 14, San Fernando 13 San Fernando 22, Montclair Prep 7 Thousand Oaks 14, San Fernando 7 1985 Loyola 42, El Camino Real 0 Lompoc 43, El Camino Real 0 Capistrano Valley 38, El Camino Real 0 San Fernando 47, Montclair Prep 7 Rowland 24, Canoga Park 7 Monroe 0, Chaminade 0 Montclair Prep 19, Van Nuys 7 1984 Lynwood 20, Granada Hills 7 Monroe 14, Bell-Jeff 3 1983 Warren 13, Chatsworth 7 Kennedy 7, Lompoc 7 St. Francis 7, San Fernando 6 San Fernando 21, Pasadena 6 Fontana 14, San Fernando 13 Whittier Christian 35, Van Nuys 6 1982 Alemany 35, Monroe 0 St. Genevieve 27, Monroe 0 1981 Alemany 20, Sylmar 20 Southern Section leads, 29-9-3