Rivalry week in Southern California football brings league races to a head

There have been big weekends this season, but most of them involved a lot of nonleague games. This week, the big games matter. A lot.

A State Bowl Open Division berth could be riding on the outcome of some.

You'd be hard-pressed to find bigger games than those taking place in the Big VIII, Trinity and South Coast leagues.

There doesn't figure to be much breathing room at Norco, where the host Cougars (6-1, 3-1) try to stop the Centennial (Corona) (7-0, 4-0) juggernaut. The game lost a little luster when Norco lost 24-21 to Roosevelt (Corona) a few weeks ago but Norco and Centennial are so interconnected they are like Ali vs. Frazier — you can't name one without the other, it seems. It also means that you can throw records and previous results, common opponents and most everything else out the window when trying to dial in a winner. Kelsey Young will run, freshman quarterback Coltin Gerhart will continue to impress and the field at Norco will be rocking as fans try to get into the head of Centennial quarterback Michael Eubank.

Eubank received a couple of scholarship offers from San Jose State and Utah State before rushing for a season-high 128 yards in a 69-13 victory over Santiago-Corona. The buzz at the beginning of the season was about how recruiters had missed the boat on Eubank. Well, they're swimming toward it now.

Centennial, which defeated Mater Dei 44-13 earlier this season, will have a rooting interest in the other big game of the night.

The annual clash between Mater Dei (Santa Ana) (5-2, 2-0) and Servite (Anaheim) (7-0, 2-0) takes place at Angel Stadium, where the host Friars plan to honor the team from 1960 that won a Southern Section championship in its first season of varsity competition. Added fuel to this longstanding rivalry will be that Servite wants to prove last season's 30-20 victory wasn't a fluke (it ended a 20-year winless streak). First place being on the line might also provide a little incentive.

Servite has won 18 in a row, including last season's Pac-5 and State Division II Bowl titles, and its defense has been outstanding. In seven games, the starters have allowed only six touchdowns – two on drives of 22 yards or less. The most effective team against the Friars has been St. John Bosco (4-3, 0-2), which fell 32-24 over the weekend; a week earlier, Bosco had led Mater Dei in the fourth quarter before losing, 31-20. It was Mater Dei's fifth consecutive victory after looking bad in its first two games of the season. The season debut of running back Corbin Anderson added an additional element to Mater Dei's arsenal. He rushed 18 times for 113 yards, and he's going to keep Servite honest as it deals with wideout threat Victor Blackwell, part of the USC tandem that includes Mater Dei quarterback Max Wittek.

St. John Bosco (Bellflower) is still a major player in the Trinity League race: the Braves play host to Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) (6-1, 2-0) this weekend. In the MaxPreps state rankings, the Trinity League is well represented by No. 6 Servite, No. 11 Santa Margarita, No. 16 Mater Dei and No. 27 St. John Bosco.

Many eyes will also be focused on the South Coast League game that has Mission Viejo (7-0, 1-0) – ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps – playing at San Clemente (7-1, 2-0). The host Tritons have come from behind in their last two games, which is good and bad: they can't afford to fall behind by too much against Mission, but if they do, they won't give up. They trailed Dana Hills last week, 21-7, after 13 minutes but came back to win, 42-28. Forty-two points might not be enough to beat Mission Viejo, which has averaged 45.7 points on the season, and might feature the return of USC-bound linebacker/quarterback Tre Madden, who has missed four games with a foot injury.

OTHER BIG GAMES ELSEWHERE
As for the Marmonte League, quarterback Marc Evans and St. Bonaventure (Ventura) (6-1, 5-1) may have made a statement: The Seraphs beat Thousand Oaks, 52-0, on Friday as Evans tossed three touchdowns and the defense returned two interceptions for scores. When Westlake (7-0, 6-0) played Thousand Oaks in the league opener, they scored "only" a 31-3 victory. You might not be able to tell much from comparing such scores – especially when Westlake beat Oaks Christian (5-2, 5-1) which beat St. Bonny – but beating a program like Thousand Oaks (4-3, 3-3) by 52 points is shocking.

The season-opening loss to Alemany by Oaks Christian isn't looking nearly so bad at this point in the season. Alemany (7-0), in the Serra League of the Pac-5 Division, just defeated Crespi, 28-17, behind the play of quarterback Vernon Adams – who passed for thee touchdowns and ran for another – and appears headed for a Nov. 12 showdown with Bishop Amat (8-0) to determine the league title and probably one of the four seeded positions in the playoffs.

In another Norther Division league, four teams share first place in the Golden League with 3-1 league marks: Quartz Hill, Knight (Palmdale), Eastside (Lancaster) and Highland (Palmdale). Something has to give this week: Quartz Hill plays Eastside.

BET THIS GETS MENTIONED AT THE REUNION
Valley Christian (Cerritos) defeated Maranatha (Pasadena), 70-64, in five overtimes, and the two teams combined for 1,301 yards, the second-highest total in state history. It eclipsed the 1,295 yards netted by Corona Centennial and Mater Dei in 2007, which had been the record prior to Clovis Buchanan and Bakersfield gaining 1,339 yards in 2009. Mater Dei's 51-37 victory and Buchanan's 56-41 victory were in regulation.

CVC and Maranatha were tied, 40-40, at the end of regulation.

Valley Christian's Ryan Fronke completed 16 of 44 passes for 370 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions; Trevor Rodriguez rushed 16 times for 151 with three touchdowns, and James Griffin eight for 89; Jacob Dupuy caught five passes for 141 yards.

For Maranatha, Andrew Elfers completed 34 of 51 passes for 587 yards and six touchdowns and no interceptions, and he also rushed 21 times for a team-high 69 yards; Josh Jones (184 yards) and Mark Jebbia (94 yards) caught 10 passes apiece, but Jeremy Major caught six for 151 yards and three scores, and R.J. Straker caught six for 133.

According to the most recent Southern Section record book, which does not include statistics from 2009, Elfers' 587 yards passing are a section record, eclipsing the 564 by Doug Baughman of Bolsa Grande in 1996.

In the final minute of regulation, Maranatha missed a 32-yard field goal and CVC drove 80 yards to tie the score. According to the Pasadena Star News, the game lasted about 4-1/2 hours, and was delayed 32 minutes during an injury. At least four players were knocked out of the game. The first half alone lasted two hours.

Ten scoring drives took less than one minute, and the longest drive consumed only 113 seconds on the clock.

SUPERIORR PERFORMANCE
Superiorr Reid of Arlington (Riverside) (6-1, 4-0) topped the 1,000 yard mark with a workhorse performance in a 41-27 victory over Canyon Springs-Moreno Valley. He carried 31 times for 261 yards and four touchdowns. Arlington looks like it's headed for an Inland Valley League championship showdown with Rancho Verde (7-0, 4-0) on Nov. 12. Reid certainly has the look: he's 6-3, 225 and has piqued the interest of Boise State.

STAUNTON TO RETIRE
Jim Staunton, the CIF-Southern Section commissioner for the past 10 years, announced that he will retire at the end of July. This decision has been known among the Executive Committee since May.

Staunton intends to teach at Concordia University in the Masters program. During his tenure, which began with the fall season in 1999, the section acquired property and moved from Cerritos to Los Alamitos; joined with the Josephson Institute to develop the 16 principles of Pursuing Victory with Honor; created the Ethics in Sports Commissioner's Committee to spearhead "Champions for Character" to recognize the best in high school sportsmanship; oversaw 400-percent growth in corporate sponsorship, and the increase of 505 schools to 580. He also worked to affect changes to the transfer rule, multi-campus status, penalties for discipline, and the statewide appeals protocol.

"I'm gratified at the opportunity to serve this section for the last 11 years," Staunton said. "Service to our schools and student athletes has been our first priority. It has been a wonderful term of service."

THREE DOTS AND A CLOUD OF DUST
The City Section finals will be held at East L.A. College. ... Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) coach Bill Redell told the Los Angeles Times that quarterback Trevor Gretzky, who is also a baseball player that has committed to San Diego State, is not recovering from a shoulder injury as expected and probably won't play the remainder of the season. ... Oaks Christian scored five touchdowns on defensive turnovers as the Lions scored a 65-0 victory over Simi Valley. ... Bishop Amat (La Puente) junior Jalen Moore roared for 278 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-31 Serra League victory over Loyola. This came a week after running for 270 in a victory over Crespi for the Lancers (8-0) . ... Chaminade (West Hills) drove 73 yards in the final four minutes to score a 29-26 victory over St. Francis. The victory, which came on Terrell Newby's five-yard touchdown run with 55 seconds remaining, kept Chaminade unbeaten at 7-0.

For the second week in a row, Servite blocked a punt that paid dividends. This week, Karlton Dennis blocked a punt and one play later, Malik Felton scored from 10 yards to extend Servite's lead to 25-14 with 11:02 left in the third quarter. A week earlier against JSerra-San Juan Capistrano, Servite blocked two punts that led to touchdowns, one an eight-yard drive right before halftime that gave the Friars a 20-7 lead, and in the second half that Dennis returned for a touchdown in the 41-7 victory. ... Eli Pleasant of Kennedy (La Palma) recovered three fumbles, and also scored three touchdowns, in a 29-7 victory over Western. ... Luis Soto of Saddleback (Santa Ana) carried 43 times for 282 yards and a touchdown in a 28-15 loss to Costa Mesa.

OTHER NOTES
Ammar Moussa, a senior at Arcadia, tied the course record at the Mt. SAC Invitational as he ran the 2.91 mile course in 14 minutes, 24 seconds, leading his team to a first-place finish in the Sweepstakes race. He is the defending state champion, obviously for a good reason. ... Bill Schnobrich of Village Christian (Sun Valley) has passed the 400-win total, doing so as the Crusaders' girls' volleyball coach over the weekend. He also coached boys' volleyball and boys' soccer, and has a .736 career winning percentage.

PASSINGS
Roy Vujovich, who coached football across three decades, died from natural causes last week. He was 83. Vujovich coached Glendale from 1952-65, and Hoover from 1969-74. In 1966 he was the coach at Glendale College. He also played football, first at Garfield, and then at UCLA.

COMINGS AND GOINGS
Jim Cruz has resigned as softball coach at Redlands East Valley after 10 seasons.

RECRUITING NOTES
Jalen Jefferson, a linebacker at St. Bonaventure, has committed to California.

Bruce English, a guard at Lutheran (La Verne), has committed to Loyola Marymount to play men's basketball.

Chaminade (West Hills) has several players who have committed to college baseball programs, including pitchers Mathew Troupe and Dalton Brown to Oregon State and Duke, respectively; second baseman Tanner Reibenspies to San Diego State; outfielder Michael Dingilian to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; catcher Jason D'Andrea to Cal State Dominguez Hills; and outfielder Brandon Rapoport to Washington.

St. John Bosco (Bellflower) also has several players who have made commitments, including pitcher Koby Gauna to Cal State Fullerton; infielder Taylor Sparks to UC Irvine; and infielder Dante Flores to USC. ... JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) also has several commits: Clay Williamson to Fullerton, Austin Hedges to UCLA and Tyler Krause to Irvine.

Other players expected to sign are Golden Valley (Santa Clarita) player Scott Barlow with Fresno State, Valencia's Quincy Quintero with Pepperdine and Shane Zeile with UCLA; and West Ranch (Valencia) player Ryan Keller with San Diego.

Martin Henderson is a reporter for Patch.com. He began covering Southland preps in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times, and has written for several papers including the Orange County Register and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. He offers up motorsports opinions at racescribe.wordpress.com. You can reach him at southlandpreps@yahoo.com.