Parkinson Returns From Nebraska, Decides to Stay (at USC)

With his final recruiting trip completed, lineman Brent Parkinson of Canyon Country’s Canyon High returned home and made the decision that many had expected since the beginning of the football season.

He will attend USC this fall.

The highly recruited Parkinson, a 6-foot 6-inch, 235-pounder, said he decided Sunday night after returning to Los Angeles with Quartz Hill’s All-American running back, Aaron Emanuel, from a weekend trip to the University of Nebraska. Parkinson, who had narrowed his choices to USC, Nebraska and Washington, and Canyon Coach Harry Welch made the announcement Monday afternoon, although it will not become official until Parkinson signs a national letter of intent Feb. 13.

“I had the same feeling every time I came home from a trip,” Parkinson said. “I went to Nebraska, and then I came home and felt a lot better. It’s a nice school, but the state’s just not for me. The same with Washington. But it was not the same way with USC. After that trip, I came home and got a big lift.

“I’m really glad it is over. I had a nice time, but it can be really difficult at times for the players. I think it was the best decision I could have made for myself.”

As for Emanuel, Parkinson said his weekend companion had given little indication which school he would choose. They did discuss the future, however.

“I said, ‘I’d really like to go wherever you go,’ ” Parkinson said. “But I made my decision for myself this weekend. I don’t know which way he is leaning.”

Quartz Hill Coach John Albee said Monday that Emanuel is planning to visit Arizona State this weekend and will decide after that.

Add Parkinson: He earned All-Southern Section and Times Valley Lineman-of-the-Year honors playing at 225 pounds. Since then, he has gained 10 pounds-- mostly from working out.

“There’s just a little bit of that recruiting food in there,” he joked.

Add recruits: Los Angeles Banning quarterback Jamelle Holieway visited the University of Oklahoma last weekend, his final trip.

What came of it?

It looks good for Sooner fans.

“He called me this morning before I left and said he’d be happy there,” Holieway’s mother, Charlie Evans, said Saturday. “He stated that he could be happy playing there for four years.

“He’s been saying he wants to go to Oklahoma since he was playing Pop Warner.”

His mother and stepfather, David Evans, are partial to Holieway’s other option, California. They said they believe he would get a better education there and they would get more chances to see him play more in games against USC and UCLA.

The one that got away: A good Venice basketball team had an even better Fairfax squad on the ropes in a Western League game Friday and was on the verge of upsetting The Times’ third-ranked team in the City.

The Gondoliers were up by four points with 18 seconds to play in overtime, 69-65, and had Chris Harris at the line for two free throws. Harris missed both, however, then missed a third after Fairfax’s Tony Thomas was called for stepping into the lane too soon.

Fairfax pulled within two on a pair of free throws by Thomas, but Venice was still in control with the lead, Corey Stevens at the line and only seven seconds left. Stevens missed, though, and Fairfax hurried the ball downcourt to Jerome Jenkins, who sent the game into a second overtime by sinking a 25-foot shot.

Venice made one of its two free throws in the final three-minute period, and Fairfax got another long-range jump shot, this time from Peter Gerber with 45 seconds remaining, to win, 71-70.

Washington State scouts were watching Pasadena football films with an interest in running back Cleo Bates, but they came away with a discovery--Andre Washington.

Washington, a two-time All-Pacific League tight end with the Bulldogs, wasn’t exactly getting the star treatment from recruiters at the time. But the Cougars, noting that Washington, at 6 feet and 205 pounds, had the strength and speed to play linebacker, were impressed by the films and began pursuing him.

It paid off recently when Washington made a verbal commitment to the school.

The Northwestern Lehigh School Board in Pennsylvania ordered Pleasant Valley High to forfeit its wrestling match with Jim Thorpe High rather than compete against a girl, 17-year-old Michelle Green, who wrestles in the 126-pound class.

Before the decision came down from district offices, though, Pleasant Valley Coach Ken Santoro said his first response was to take on the challenge by sending a wrestler out with orders to “rip her arm off.”

He eventually agreed with the board’s ruling, though, saying that it would have been an awkward situation at best.

“Some kids at that age have never kissed a girl and they’re supposed to go out there and wrestle her?” Santoro said.

Prep Notes Unless he gets a head-coaching offer, Steve Landress, who recently resigned as co-coach of Manual Arts’ football team, will become an assistant at Pierce College next season under his longtime friend, Jim Fenwick. . . . Mater Dei’s Tom Lewis became the seventh-leading scorer in Southern Section basketball history Friday night, scoring 33 points in 19 minutes against St. Paul and moving past Bill Boyd. . . . Does anybody have a tougher football schedule next season than Esperanza? Before even getting into Empire League play, the Aztecs will meet, in order, perennially strong Marina, Southern Conference champion El Modena in a rematch of the title game, and then Big Five Conference champion Riverside Poly.

Out-of-State Rumor Mill: Offensive tackle Roman Matusz of Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey reportedly has made UCLA one of his final choices along with Nebraska, Texas and Penn State. . . . The Trojans and Bruins are both in the running to get Quintus McDonald, highly regarded linebacker-tight end from Montclair, N.J.