PREPS / ROB FERNAS : After Preparatory Course, Playoffs Should Be a Whiz

Participation in the playoffs usually means a step up in competition for prep football teams.

For San Pedro High, though, that might not be the case.

After knocking heads with 4-A Division powers Dorsey, Banning and Carson in the Southern Pacific Conference, San Pedro enters the L.A. City Section 3-A playoffs with the knowledge that it has played a tougher schedule than it will probably face in the postseason.

In other words, the battle-tested Pirates should be ready for anything.

That experience makes San Pedro a leading contender for the 3-A title. The fourth-seeded Pirates (6-4) open the playoffs at 7:30 tonight against Canoga Park (3-6) at Daniels Field.

“Like the other 16 teams, we’d like to win it all,” San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh said. “But being realistic, you have to have a little bit of luck to do that. I don’t know if there is one truly dominating team in the 3-A.”

Crenshaw, the top-seeded team, beat San Pedro, 17-6, last week in a showdown for the Southern League title. Walsh, however, said the Pirates are capable of defeating the Cougars if the teams should meet again in the 3-A semifinals.

“Against Crenshaw we played probably one of our worst games of the year,” he said. “We would drive the ball, then fumble or get a penalty--things we didn’t do all year. We made some mistakes that really killed us.”

Rather than dwell on the mistakes, Walsh has kept a positive approach as his players prepare for Canoga Park.

“I’m telling them to have some fun,” he said. “It’s a new season. At the most, we’ve got four games left. We’ve been going at this thing since last February, so let’s get after it.”

Although Canoga Park probably doesn’t rank with some of the teams San Pedro has played, Walsh said it is difficult to judge unfamiliar playoff opponents on game videos.

“You look at (Canoga Park) on film, and you can’t tell how fast anybody is,” he said. “It’s hard to judge the character and depth of an opponent. As far as being able to compare them to somebody, it’s a difficult thing to do.”

However, it is hard to imagine that Canoga Park is close to the caliber of opponent San Pedro faced in conference play. Dorsey, which beat the Pirates, 14-12, is the top-seeded team in the 4-A playoffs, and Banning, which beat San Pedro, 28-7, is the third-seeded team. The Pirates’ other conference losses were to defending 4-A champion Carson, 28-7, and to Crenshaw.

After emphasizing the pass early in the season, San Pedro has relied more on its running game in recent weeks. Walsh said the team’s top three running backs--senior Geronne Shepard, junior Ambrose Russo and sophomore Jeff Williams--are all healthy for the first time since Oct. 18. That should make the Pirates tough in the postseason, especially when you consider they also have a capable quarterback in senior Rino Marconi.

Walsh, though, is concerned about the passing game, which has faltered in the past few games.

“Even when the ball has been on target, our receivers have had a tough time catching it,” he said. “We probably had four or five dropped passes against Crenshaw.”

Walsh said the Pirates need to do a better job of getting the ball to receiver Bryant Thomas, a talented junior who also plays defensive back. Bryant and Shepard are tied for the team lead in interceptions with three apiece.

San Pedro’s defense has played consistently, allowing less than 20 points in all but two games--losses to Banning and Carson. Standouts include inside linebacker Chris Lopez, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior who earned all-league honors last season; defensive end James Spelich, who has 18 sacks, including seven in a game, and a secondary led by Bryant, Shepard and Andre Hidrogo.

Walsh’s only complaint with his defense is that it has a tendency to start slowly.

“At times, we don’t come to play early,” he said. “We get awakened as the game goes along. That’s bothered me a little.”

There is no room for slow starts anymore. San Pedro’s wake-up call comes tonight. If the Pirates don’t answer in time, it could be short postseason.

Hawthorne enters the Southern Section Division III playoffs on a hot streak, having beaten its last two opponents--Inglewood and Leuzinger--by a combined 98-28.

First-year Coach Dan Robbins says one key to the Cougars’ success of late has been the maturation of the younger players.

“The last two weeks we’ve been very disciplined,” Robbins said. “We haven’t had a personal foul penalty since the second game. That pleases me.

“We only have 10 seniors. I expected that it would take time for the younger kids to come into their own. They’re growing up.”

Hawthorne (8-2) plays host to St. Paul (3-7) at 7:30 tonight. St. Paul eliminated the Cougars in the Division III semifinals last season.

Notes

Jessica Reifer, a senior midfielder for the Torrance girls’ soccer team, has been named to the California State Select Olympic Development team for girls 19 and under for the second consecutive year. Reifer was chosen after competing in tryouts in Bakersfield last month. . . . Steve Davis, a senior two-way tackle for Torrance, will play his 33rd varsity football game at 7:30 tonight when the Tartars meet Beverly Hills in the first round of the Division VIII playoffs at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Davis, who had 17 tackles in a game this season, is in his third season as a varsity starter. . . . El Segundo’s football team, which plays host to Laguna Hills in a Division VII playoff opener tonight, set a school record for most points scored in a season (302) in last week’s 40-14 nonleague victory over St. Bernard.