Prep Review / Tom Hamilton : League Changes Will Have to Wait : County Principals Overwhelmingly Reject Two Proposals

It’s back to the drawing board after Orange County principals last week overwhelmingly defeated two proposals to realign leagues that would have gone into effect in the fall of 1990.

Jim Ryan, Foothill High School principal, chaired a 10-man committee that considered nine proposals and selected two to be voted on by county principals.

Among the objections to the proposals were Saddleback remaining in the Sea View League, Los Alamitos moving to the Sunset League and Woodbridge moving to the South Coast League, sources said. Details of the proposals were not made available.

Saddleback, with an enrollment of 2,600 students, competes against four schools in the Sea View League with enrollments of 1,200 to 1,400 students. Many think Saddleback should be placed in the South Coast League, where the average enrollment is 2,200 students.

Woodbridge, with an enrollment of 1,700 students, has dominated the Pacific Coast League the past three years, but most think the school is not ready to compete in the powerful South Coast League.

Los Alamitos, with an enrollment of 2,025 students, would be the smallest school in the Sunset League.

The committee decided to reconvene on March 29 after both proposals were rejected.

Ryan is uncertain what action the committee will take at the next meeting, but it’s a good bet most of the county’s leagues will remain intact. But the committee will have to make a decision on where to place Century High, a new school opening in the fall in Santa Ana.

There’s also the unsettled business of where Santa Margarita will compete in 1990. The Southern Section’s executive committee recommended that the parochial school be grouped in the Catholic Athletic Assn. and placed in a parochial league.

Santa Margarita had requested to be placed among the county’s public schools because it wanted to compete against neighboring schools, but that request was denied by the executive committee. The request has been rejected by the county’s public schools and the Southland’s parochial and private schools because administrators think Santa Margarita’s location would create travel and scheduling problems.

The Catholic Athletic Assn. has appealed to the state level in its bid to reject Santa Margarita, but look for the appeal to be denied and the school to join the Angelus League in 1990.

Oakland leftovers: Southern California boys’ and girls’ teams claimed State Division I basketball titles, but for the most part, Northern California teams dominated play in the five divisions.

Crenshaw of the Los Angeles City Section won its fourth title since 1983 under Coach Willie West with an impressive 70-63 victory over Oakland Skyline in Division I boys’ play.

The Cougars went scoreless for nearly three minutes to open the game, but showed their explosiveness by scoring 32 points in the second quarter. Crenshaw was easily the quickest and deepest team in Oakland.

Morningside made it three state titles for Southern Section representatives by defeating Oakland Fremont for the Division I girls’ title. Brea-Olinda girls in Division III and Santa Clara boys in Division IV were the other winners for the Southern Section, which qualified eight teams for the finals.

But Southern California teams won only four of the 10 titles, although Glendora’s Tracy Murray stole the show in a losing cause in the Division II boys’ game.

Murray scored 64 points in an 89-83 loss to Menlo Atherton, tying the Oakland Coliseum Arena record set by Rick Barry of the Golden State Warriors in 1975. Murray scored 32 of his team’s 37 points in the first half and all 28 of Glendora’s points in the first quarter.

Center Rick Swanwick of Trabuco Hills scored all 25 of the Mustangs’ points in the second half, which meant Swanwick and Murray accounted for 57 of their teams’ 62 points in consecutive halves.

And John Paye, a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, made history when he led Menlo School to a 52-41 victory over Mission Prep in the Division V girls’ title game.

Paye became the first to coach a team and play on a team that won state titles. Paye was the starting point guard for Menlo School when it defeated Santa Clara, 53-51, in the Division II boys’ championship game in 1983.

Corporate conflict: The state championship was sponsored by Reebok and Coca-Cola under the second year of a three-year corporate sponsorship contract, but at least one of the state’s 10 section commissioners isn’t overly thrilled with the agreement.

Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner, showed the section’s general council a copy of a monthly bulletin that prominently displayed basketball star Tracy Murray, the state’s single-season and career scoring leader.

Thomas told the group his office had received a call from a Reebok representative complaining that Murray was wearing a shoe manufactured by a rival company.

“Enough is enough,” Thomas said. “For 75 years, we (Southern Section) lived without Reebok, and we can live without them down the road.”

A new look: The National Federation of High School Athletic Assn.’s basketball committee has made some revolutionary proposals for the 1989-90 season. Among the changes that will be considered include:

--Replacing four eight-minute quarters with two 18-minute halves.

--Extending the limit to six personal fouls before a player fouls out.

--Establishing a 45-second shot clock. High school boys’ games are the only basketball games on any level without a shot clock.

--Requiring all players to wear a protective mouthpiece.