Preps / Rob Fernas : ’87 Feud Sets Stage for Grid Star War With San Diegans

In terms of excitement, on and off the field, last summer’s College Prep All-Star Football Classic in San Diego was in a class by itself.

The game, which matches graduates of L.A. City Section high schools against their counterparts from the San Diego Section, was more like a feud. There was bad blood before the kickoff, and it resulted in several fights during San Diego’s 26-19 victory.

Arnold Ale remembers. The Carson linebacker was a spectator last year when fighting nearly carried over into the stands.

“The players were fighting, and the fans almost got in a fight too” he said. “That’s the game I really want to play in. I’ve got a personal grudge for that game.”

Ale will get his chance at 7:30 Saturday night when he joins the L.A. team in its quest for revenge at Mesa Community College in San Diego.

Ale, who performed well Saturday in the Shrine All-Star game at the Rose Bowl, is one of 13 South Bay players on the L.A. squad, co-coached by Henry Pacheco of San Pedro and Frank D’Alessandro of Monroe.

Notre Dame-bound Ale will be joined by six of his Carson teammates: running back Alfred Lowe, tight end Cephus Robey, wide receiver Bryan Reeves, defensive lineman Thomas Leonti, and linebackers Rick Tiedemann and Arthur Warren.

Other South Bay players on the team are tight end-defensive lineman Titus Tuiasosopo and defensive back Andrew Buggs of Banning, linebacker Bo Owens of San Pedro, running back Derrick Duren of Gardena, and running back Corey Henry and offensive lineman Fredrick Rodgers Jr. of Westchester.

The San Diego team is headed by 6-9, 310-pound defensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy of Morse High, a Washington recruit, and running back Darrin Wagner from Orange Glen, the section’s offensive player of the year.

Last year’s game made headlines two days before the kickoff when the San Diego team was sent home from its camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (is that Camp Pendelton?) for rowdy behavior. The San Diego team also made an unexpected visit to the L.A. team’s headquarters at the Naval Training Center, (do we need to say where it is?) setting off ill feelings.

“That fired up everybody on the City team,” said game coordinator Jerry Weiner. “Especially Pacheco. I’ve never seen him so mad.”

Pacheco coached last year’s L.A. team with Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle. San Diego opened a 19-0 lead in the second quarter, but L.A. City came back to tie the game, 19-19, in the fourth quarter. San Diego won it on an 82-yard kickoff return in the final minutes. The game ended after L.A. City had marched to the San Diego 10-yard line.

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It turns out that the attendance estimate of 12,000 at the Shrine All-Star game was an exaggeration. Official figures revealed that only 7,632 fans showed up at the Rose Bowl to watch the state’s top prep football players.

Shrine organizers had said they needed a crowd of at least 20,000 to make the 37-year-old game profitable enough to continue, but Al Malaikah Temple of the Shriners announced that the game will be played again next year.

Those who did show up were treated to an exciting contest. The North beat the South, 22-21, on Mike Crusafulli’s 28-yard field goal with seven seconds left.

Carson’s Ale was one of the bright spots for the South. He caught a 4-yard touchdown pass playing tight end made six tackles at outside linebacker. Eisenhower linebacker Michael Smalls, who will room with Ale at Notre Dame, led the South with 11 tackles.

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These are changing times for the Miraleste football team.

The school named former assistants Darrin Del Conte and Todd DeAngelis co-coaches last week, and the Marauders might be in a new league by Monday.

Athletic Director Tom Graves met with CIF Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas and a representative of the Santa Fe League last week to discuss the possibility of Miraleste joining the former all-parochial league, which adds El Segundo in football this fall.

Graves said if Miraleste is allowed to join the Santa Fe League, it would increase the league’s membership to nine schools in football and force every school to drop one league game in order to accommodate the Marauders.

“I think it would work,” Graves said. “The Pac-10 is able to determine a champion without all of the teams meeting each other.”

Graves said a decision is expected this weekend when the state executive council addresses the issue.

Miraleste hopes to compete in the Santa Fe League in most boys sports and in the Camino Real League in most girls sports. Graves said tennis, wrestling and cross-country teams will probably compete on the free-lance level, while swimming and water polo teams will most likely compete in the Ocean League.

Palos Verdes and Morningside, state runners-up last season, are the top seeds in the Bell-Jeff Summer Hoop Finale girls basketball tournament that starts Saturday at Bellarmine Jefferson High School in Burbank.

Palos Verdes, the top seed, returns all but one player from the team that won the Southern Section 3-A title and reached the state Division II finals. The Sea Kings are led by 6-4 twins Heather and Heidi Burge.

Morningside, the two-time defending tournament champion, is seeded No. 2 and boasts 6-5 junior center Lisa Leslie, an all-CIF pick who helped the Lady Monarchs to the Southern Section 4-A title and the state Division I finals.

Other contenders in the 24-team field include Lynwood, the Southern Section 4-A runner-up; Hanford, the defending Central Section champion; Gahr, winner of the L.A. Games, and Santa Barbara, a 4-A semifinalist last season.

In games involving South Bay teams Saturday, St. Mary’s meets Santa Barbara at 4:10 p.m. and Bishop Montgomery faces Burroughs of Burbank at 5:30.

Palos Verdes and Morningside have first-round byes and will open the tournament on Sunday. Palos Verdes plays the winner of the Redlands-Hart game at 11 a.m. and Morningside meets the winner of the Notre Dame-Fontana contest at 7:40 p.m.

The finals are scheduled for 8:10 p.m. Aug. 5.

El Segundo’s American Legion baseball team failed in its bid for a third straight district title, losing Sunday and Monday in the double-elimination 4th Area Tournament at Blair Field in Long Beach.

After opening the tournament Saturday with a 10-4 win over Millikan, the Eagles were beaten by Gahr, 2-0, and Lakewood, 3-1. Ironically, it was a lack of offense, considered the team’s strength, that did in El Segundo.

“We got great pitching and great defense, but we just didn’t swing the bats,” said Coach John Stevenson. “It was frustrating.”

Rolling Hills, co-champion of the Bay-Pacific League with El Segundo, lost its first two games in the tournament, and fourth-place Hawthorne lost two of three games.