Two Longshots Make It to Big Five Semifinals

The bottom suddenly dropped out of the Big Five Conference football playoffs last week with Bishop Amat of La Puente and Loyola of Los Angeles both losing.

However, the semifinal in the top bracket is still a good one. Undefeated Fontana, No. 1 in the Southern Section and dominant from the start, faces Crespi of Encino, which has a 10-1-1 record and junior running back Russell White, still the most dominant and exciting player in the Southern Section.

But the bottom-bracket semifinal is Long Beach Wilson against Fountain Valley, and that’s surprising.

Wilson is 7-4 and lost to Bolsa Grande of Garden Grove, St. Anthony of Long Beach and Huntington Beach in the first three games of the season, and to Long Beach Poly in the next-to-last regular-season game.

Wilson, obviously, is also playing much better than its record, having surprised two quality Big Five opponents, Eisenhower of Rialto and Loyola, in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Fountain Valley is 8-4 after starting out 0-4. Most recently, the Barons sent Bishop Amat to its now-annual quarterfinal crumble last Friday, 42-14.

Fountain Valley Coach Mike Milner has been motivating his team with letters from and appearances by members of the school’s Hall of Fame, including Matt Stevens, who played quarterback at UCLA, and Mike Newton, a defensive back at Stanford. They are from an era when Fountain Valley teams went far into the playoffs and were supposed to. As for this group, who would have guessed it?

Add upsets: Loyola, which had allowed 50 points in its first 11 games--4.5 an outing--gave up 23 to Long Beach Wilson, more than twice as many as any other opponent this season.

Calexico of El Centro, which had scored 555 points in its first 11 games--50.5 per--was held to a field goal in a 14-3 quarterfinal loss to Victor Valley.

More out of disdain for “settling” for three points than lack of a kicker, Canyon of Canyon Country has attempted only eight field goals the last two seasons. Tom Gahrey has missed only one, but he still made All-Golden League, mainly because he kicked 37 straight conversions last year.

But last Friday in the Coastal Conference quarterfinals against Pasadena, Gahrey became more than just a point-after player. He put the finishing touch on the game, kicking a 31-yard field goal with five seconds left to give the Cowboys a 22-21 win.

That put Coach Harry Welch and the Cowboys (10-2) into the semifinals for the fifth straight season. They meet Channel Islands (10-2) at Hueneme High in Oxnard Friday night.

When Carson meets El Camino Real of Woodland Hills (0-7-2) in the quarterfinals of the City 4-A playoffs Friday, the Colts (9-0) will be going for win No. 200 in the school’s 25-year history. In that time:

--They have outscored the opposition, 7,407 to 2,839, even while going 2-6 in 1963 and again in ’64.

--They have won eight City titles.

--They have averaged 5.7 All-City players a year.

--They have gone 86 games without being shut out.

--They have been to the playoffs 17 straight years.

--Of the 36 City teams they have played, 20 have never beaten Carson.

--They have gone undefeated three times: 11-0 in 1966, 12-0 in 1971, and 12-0 again in 1972.

This season looks like a good bet for undefeated season No. 4.

Templeton won the Large Division championship and Coast Christian of Redondo Beach took the Small Division title when the two Southern Section eight-man football finals were played last Friday.

Templeton beat Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia, 42-20, as Phillip James caught 13 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns. Templeton finished at 9-2, Rio Hondo at 10-1.

Sophomore running back Earl Rhodes keyed Coast Christian’s 52-7 win over St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano, rushing for 190 yards and 4 touchdowns. Rhodes finished with 2,083 yards and 34 scores for Coast Christian. Jerry Stephens added three touchdowns--two on interception returns--for Coast Christian, which was unbeaten in 12 games. St. Margaret’s finished at 10-2.

A 26-20 loss to El Toro in the Southern Conference quarterfinals ended Hawthorne’s season with a 9-2-1 record.

The final scoring summary for Hawthorne shows that Curtis Conway passed or ran for 39 of the 42 touchdowns the Cougars scored this season.

Prep Notes

The Southern Section boys’ soccer preseason coaches’ poll has Mater Dei of Santa Ana leading the 4-A, Diamond Bar the 3-A, Brea-Olinda the 2-A and Santa Paula the 1-A. The girls’ leaders are Mission Viejo in 4-A, San Gorgonio of San Bernardino in 3-A and Agoura in 2-A. . . . Former Temple City football Coach Bob Hitchcock won seven Southern Section football titles, not six as reported recently. Dwayne DeSpain of Hacienda Heights Los Altos could tie Hitchcock for the most coaching championships in Southern Section history with a title this season in the Eastern Conference. Los Altos (11-1) plays South Hills of Covina (10-2) in the semifinals Friday at Citrus College.