A Kinder, Gentler Place to Be : Football: Departure of league bully Agoura creates long-awaited balance of power.

There was not a lot of gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands among Frontier League members when it was announced that league power Agoura High was being kicked upstairs to the more prestigious Marmonte League.

“The bully is gone,” Santa Paula Coach Mike Tsoutsouvas said. “Agoura was always winning it (the league title). I only beat them once in 13 years.”

Agoura’s departure leaves the Frontier as a league of parity, not parody. Now, schools of similar enrollment such as Calabasas, Fillmore, Nordhoff, Santa Clara and Santa Paula can bash heads while the Chargers are forced to pick on someone their own size.

Last season, Santa Clara actually nosed out Agoura for the league title, but that was not indicative of the past decade. In fact, according to Tsoutsouvas, Agoura’s dominance was such that one year, at an end-of-the-year league meeting to honor the league champion in each sport, the Chargers were honored for 18 titles in 23 sports.

The Southern Section, in its realignment last fall, recognized that Agoura, with an enrollment of 1,900, did not belong in a league with the likes of Nordhoff (840) and Calabasas (1,075). Consequently, the Chargers were moved to the Marmonte League and former Tri-Valley League entrant Fillmore was moved to the Frontier. In addition, Santa Ynez was moved out of the Frontier for primarily geographic reasons, leaving a five-team league with a new complexion and a new catch phrase: balance of power.

“I think there’s no doubt there’ll be much closer competition,” Nordhoff Coach Cliff Farrar said. “Santa Clara had a great team last year and they’re going to be pretty tough again, but, overall, the competition will be much better.”

Santa Clara is the only private school in the league, and Coach Larry Lawrence has been able to put together an impressive program with an enrollment of just 725. And while the other coaches in the league tip their hats to Lawrence for his accomplishments and still must field a team to play his little powerhouse, they are nonetheless happy with the new arrangement.

“Agoura’s enrollment crops up near 2,000,” Calabasas Coach Larry Edwards said. “When you consider that the rest of the schools are near 1,000, that gives them an incredible advantage. They’re just bound to get athletes out of that number of kids.”

Santa Paula, with an enrollment of 1,100, is now the biggest school in the league. Not surprisingly, then, the Cardinals are expected to be the primary challenge to Santa Clara. And a team such as Fillmore, which would have found it difficult to beat a Santa Clara and an Agoura in the same year after moving up from Division IX to Division VIII, also now figures to make a run at year-end honors.

“We’ve been playing for third place since I’ve been here,” Santa Paula’s Tsoutsouvas said. “Now it’s up for grabs. There’s nobody who’s real dominant.”

One shortcoming of the new alignment is that the league consists of just five teams, as opposed to six in 1989. The teams will play just four league games--a relatively low number in the Southern Section--placing more importance on each game and also forcing coaches to schedule an extra preleague opponent.

“I don’t like that part,” Tsoutsouvas said. “I’d rather get into the league. I’m hoping we don’t peak by the time we get to league.”

On the whole, though, the coaches will take the trade-off. And Calabasas’ Edwards, who has just 18 players, even likes the idea of a bye week.

“Anytime you have a better chance of making the playoffs, I like it,” he said. “It’s working out well for us, because we have two league games, a bye, and then two more league games. If you split the first two games, then you’re in pretty good shape.”

In pretty good shape? It seems that as this new decade begins, the five league teams can apply that phrase to their overall condition. The Frontier, strangely, is a safer place to be.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

FINAL 1989 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Santa Clara 10-3, 5-0 Santa Paula Santa Ynez 10-2, 4-1 Santa Clara Agoura 9-4, 3-2 Fillmore Santa Paula 5-5, 2-3 Nordhoff Calabasas 1-9, 1-4 Calabasas Nordhoff 1-9, 0-5

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht. Wt. Class Ron Adelman Calabasas QB-LB 5-11 190 Sr. Tory Cabral Fillmore TB 6-0 185 Sr. Anthony Chessani Fillmore LB 6-0 240 Sr. Ben Fausset Santa Paula QB 6-0 175 Sr. Danny Lopez Santa Clara WR 5-9 150 Sr. Dustin Magdaleno Santa Paula TB 5-9 160 Sr. Paul Muro Santa Clara TB 6-0 197 Sr. Darin Rice Nordhoff DB 5-9 170 Sr. Art Sosa Fillmore QB-DB 5-9 150 Sr. Freddie Torres Santa Paula LB-FB 5-8 185 Sr.

Fillmore finished second in the Tri-Valley League last year. Agoura and Santa Ynez

will play in other leagues this season.