Tough Schedule Taking Toll on Campbell Hall

Campbell Hall, a small private school and the defending Southern Section V-AA Division basketball champion, is off to a 2-5 start, which can be viewed from two perspectives:

1) Based on their won-loss record, the Vikings have played poorly.

2) Based on the level of competition, they have played well.

Campbell Hall lost three games--to public schools South Gate, Santa Barbara and Hart--by a total of nine points. The Vikings have beaten Taft and Kennedy, City Section 4-A Division teams.

Campbell Hall has a high school enrollment of approximately 190.

“We’re after respect,” Coach Jon Palarz said. “But we’re after victories too.”

Wins might not be easy to come by, at least over the short term. On Saturday, Campbell Hall will play St. Paul, a Division III-A team, in the first round of the Century High tournament in Santa Ana. In the second round, Campbell Hall will face either Trabuco Hills, the defending II-A champion, or Los Amigos, a II-AA team.

HOLIDAY SURPRISE

Montclair Prep’s 80-76 nonleague victory over Crossroads on Tuesday might not seem like much of an upset, but it qualifies as a mini-shocker in small-school circles.

Crossroads entered the season as the state’s top-ranked Division IV team, according to Cal-Hi Sports. Furthermore, Crossroads center Austin Croshere (Providence) and swingman Bakir Allen (UC Santa Barbara) already have signed NCAA letters of intent. The Roadrunners are the defending Southern Section IV-A champions.

Croshere had 16 points, and Allen was held to seven by swingman Akil Anderson, a 5-foot-10 freshman.

“He’s built like a fireplug,” Montclair Prep co-Coach Howard Abrams said of Anderson. “Defense is determination and sweat, and he’s a believer in that.”

Meanwhile, five Montclair Prep players scored in double figures, including Blake Sonne, who had 12 points and made a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining to hand the Mounties (7-3)--a Division V-AA team--a four-point lead.

TRIVIA TIME

How many football teams in the region produced two 1,000-yard running backs, and how many of the ballcarriers can you name? (Answer below).

THINGS CHANGE

In an effort to increase scoring, the South Torrance girls’ soccer tournament, which took place the past two weekends, was played without the offside rule.

“It was really a mess,” said Burroughs Coach Mike Kodama, whose team played in the tournament. “It’s pretty tough when you’re putting up the money to go to the tournament, and you want to work on certain things defensively--like the offside trap.”

Tournament fees were $185 and bus-rental fees for the Indians were $700 a day.

“My whole feeling is that (the offside rule) is not something that is going to change,” Kodama said. “It’s not like (tournament officials) are going to govern what is going to change in the sport of soccer. But I guess it’s worth a try.”

GIRL OF STEELE

Highland soccer player Jennifer Steele is the only girl at the school to play on the varsity all four years, an impressive feat considering this is only the third season the school has fielded a girls’ team.

When Steele was a freshman, girls tried out for the boys’ team. She made the boys’ varsity and started at forward.

TRIVIA ANSWER

Five area schools produced two running backs who topped the thousand-yard plateau: Eliel Swinton and Wilbert Smith of Montclair Prep, Devon Passno and Derek Swafford of Ventura, Bryan Wilkins and John Venema of Littlerock, Don DiDomizio and Junior Liufau of Rio Mesa, and Tyrone Crenshaw and Ibn Bilal of Sylmar.

Justin Giovannettone (1,474 yards) and Franklin Saunders (930) of Chaminade came close.

Rio Mesa, in fact, nearly produced three 1,000-yard backs, even though none of the trio had more than 124 carries. David Belger rushed for 812 yards. So why were the Spartans 5-5? They passed for only 315 yards, fewest among area Southern Section teams.

Staff writers Kennedy Cosgrove and Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.