A Rivalry That Has No Boundries : Preps: Many teachers and players at Banning and Carson have ties to the rival school. But friendships are often put aside when the teams meet on the football field.

By CAP CAREY

Nov. 6, 1992 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Kathy Blankenship proudly displays a Carson High hat in her health class. The only thing unusual about that is Blankenship teaches at archrival Banning and coaches the Pilots’ softball team.

So why the Carson hat? Simple. Her husband, Marty, is the football coach at Carson and she graduated from the school.

Blankenship is one of several people who have either attended and/or worked at Banning and Carson.

Marty, who played on Carson’s first City Section championship football team in 1966, coached at Banning from 1977-83 before returning to Carson. Saturday, his team will try to break a two-game losing streak against Banning when they meet in a Pacific League game at noon at Long Beach Veterans Stadium.

Last year, when Carson was losing its most games (6-5-1) since 1968, Banning quarterback Vaimagalo Faavi-Tua’au, a Carson transfer, would stop Kathy Blankenship in the halls and ask for updates on the Colts.

“Last year was fun,” said Faavi-Tua’au, who quarterbacked Carson’s B team in 1990. “Carson didn’t have a good year, and I would smile and rub it in a little. I’d ask (Blankenship) sarcastically how the team was doing.”

Faavi-Tua’au is one of four Banning players who have attended Carson.

Wide receiver Robert Gutierrez and Faavi-Tua’au left Carson after their sophomore years when it was discovered that they actually lived in Banning’s district. Because of an administrative error, they were told to enroll at Carson when they started high school.

While attending Carnegie Junior High in Carson, Faavi-Tua’au and Gutierrez formed a special bond with their former Carson teammates and with Principal Dhyan Lal, who became Carson High’s principal last year.

After last season, Faavi-Tua’au tried to transfer to Carson, but Lal talked him out of it.

“We are very close, he calls me dad,” Lal said of Faavi-Tua’au. “When he found out I would be here, he said he’d like for me to hand him his diploma. But I told him that his future is (at Banning) and it would be better for the team and everyone else (if he stayed.)”

Faavi-Tua’au said most of his close friends on Carson’s team are defensive linemen, which makes it difficult when he plays against them. But friendship didn’t stop him from helping Banning to two victories over the Colts last season, including a 34-14 victory in the second round of the 4-A Division playoffs.

Two other Banning players, fullback Melvin Blue and tailback Damin Hurst, said they left Carson because they did not like the coaching staff.

Blue, a junior, played at Banning last season, transferred to Carson and returned to Banning this fall when things didn’t work out.

“I felt very awkward (at Carson),” Blue said. “Some of the players didn’t want to accept me, I could tell by the way they looked at me.”

Hurst, who gained 233 yards rushing and 259 yards receiving as a junior at Carson in 1991, was granted a special transfer to Banning before the start of fall classes after having problems with Carson coaches.

“It was a lack of coaching,” Hurst said, explaining his reason for leaving. “Last year I think we played more on tradition than hard work. Banning looks out for you more. They made sure I had the right classes. At Carson, they just picked a certain player or two to look out for.”

Marty Blankenship said he wasn’t sorry to lose Hurst, who scored all three of Carson’s touchdowns in the Colts’ 21-20 regular-season loss to Banning last year.

“I really don’t have an opinion (on Hurst),” Blankenship said. “He decided he’d do better over there. The kid’s not too loyal.”

While he may not be very popular at Carson, Hurst has won over his new teammates and coaches by playing key roles in several Banning victories. He rushed for a career-high 223 yards and four touchdowns last week in a 42-8 victory over Gardena.

“He’s a completely different person since the day he came here,” Banning Coach Ed Paculba said.

Although Banning has several former Carson players, most coaching shifts have been from Banning to Carson.

At the start of the season, Carson had three former Banning players on its coaching staff--Jamelle Holieway, Rocky Garibay and John Truitt. Holieway left the staff after two games because of personal reasons.

Garibay, a former Banning assistant who says he used to preach hating Carson to his players, still feels awkward at times coaching at Carson.

“I grew up in Wilmington, red and black all the way,” Garibay said, referring to Banning’s school colors. “I think it will be funny seeing the red and black on the other side and hearing the fight song. It is such a close community. I’m still good friends with the people on the Banning staff. (Paculba) was on the staff when I was a player there.”

Garibay said he took a teaching job at Carson to get back into coaching after he transferred from Banning to Berando middle school in Los Angeles last year.

Truitt, a former standout linebacker for Banning who played at Oklahoma, said friends still tease him about coaching at Carson when he plays in pickup basketball games in Wilmington.

“I want to beat (Banning), but not too bad,” Truitt said. “I’ve got a little Pilot blood in me. I don’t want the score to be 40-0.”

The first coach to leave Banning for Carson was Gene Vollnogle, who took over the Colt program when the school opened in 1963. He retired after the 1990 season as the winningest coach in state history.

“At first the animosity really wasn’t there,” said Vollnogle, now an assistant at Los Alamitos High. “For the first three or four years, I would go and scout Banning games and Banning people would call me a traitor, but it was more in jest.”

When Marty Blankenship left the Banning staff to return to Carson in 1984, Vollnogle said Banning fans reacted angrily.

“There was really some animosity there,” Vollnogle said. “They wondered how (Blankenship) could go to the rival school. It was hard for Marty.”

Blankenship said he was cut off from his former colleagues at Banning for a while, but most of the old wounds have healed.

“I’ve gotten over it,” Blankenship said. “I was working and coaching at Banning, that’s what I had to do. But as far as loyalty, I was always a Colt underneath. When I came back, I felt I made a full circle.”

When Carson and Banning meet Saturday for the 41st time--Carson leads the series, 22-18--the rivalry might not be the same in past years.

“Now we’re all older,” Blankenship said. “The rivalry is not as intense as it used to be.”