Rooney Unbeaten With Young Team

Kevin Rooney never had a more inexperienced team in his 23 seasons as football coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High.

The Knights were unranked in the preseason top-25 ratings by The Times and had 13 non-senior starters.

All Notre Dame did was become one of only three teams in the state to finish 14-0. It was the first perfect season in school history, helping Rooney be selected as coach of the year by The Times.

En route to winning the Southern Section Division III championship, Notre Dame knocked off City champion Lake Balboa Birmingham, Division IV finalist Westlake Village Westlake and Division III’s top-seeded team, Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, which went into the championship game unbeaten.

“This was his best job coaching in his career,” said assistant Jeff Kraemer.

Helping Rooney has been defensive coordinator Joe McNab, who has coached at Notre Dame for 22 years.

“One thing that made it special is we had so few seniors, and yet they did such a great job leading everyone else,” Rooney said.

It’s not every season that a group of players fulfill their potential.

“I enjoyed being around them every day,” Rooney said. “They were really determined and didn’t get distracted.”