Coach Takes a Tumble, but North Torrance Has Yet to Fall

There are a number of theories explaining the success of North Torrance’s football team this season.

Some believe the Saxons’ 9-0 record is the result of a dynamic offense that has produced big plays and an average of 33 points a game.

Others say North relies on an aggressive defense that has held opponents to nine points or less in five games, including two shutouts.

Then there is the bump-on-the-head theory, that somehow Coach Joe Austin became a more astute teacher of the game after falling down a flight of stairs a few weeks before the season.

“I hit my head, and when I woke up I was a genius,” Austin said.

Austin can laugh about it now, but there was nothing funny about his fall outside a pizza parlor in Frazier Park, where he owns a cabin. He was hospitalized for a week with a head injury that caused some bleeding in the brain, forcing him to miss the first week of practice.

“I was wearing go-aheads (rubber sandals),” he said. “I caught a toe, and down I went. I was out for a while. I don’t remember a lot about it.”

Some might have interpreted the fall as an ominous sign. But three months later, Austin is enjoying the most successful season of his 20-year career as a prep football coach, and by far the most successful of his three seasons at North.

The Saxons, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division IX media poll, have been the South Bay’s only unbeaten team for several weeks.

At this point, Austin knows the question on everyone’s mind. Can North go all the way?

“It would be nice to keep this thing going,” he said. “The players are capable of doing it.”

One of the teams standing in the Saxons’ way is South Torrance, a rival school that Austin has more than a casual acquaintance with. He was a standout athlete at South and coached the Spartan football team for 17 seasons from 1972-88, compiling a 108-62-3 record and winning three league titles.

North and South, both 4-0 in league play, will meet Friday night at North for the Pioneer League title.

“Awful, isn’t it?” Austin said of the impending showdown. “It scares me. They beat us the last two years. They’re real physical up front. Defensively, they might be the best team we’ve faced. They’re similar to Peninsula, but not quite as big.

“I haven’t been able to beat them yet, but we have a chance.”

A chance? Obviously, Austin hasn’t let success go to his head.

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North’s 9-0 start is reminiscent of the 1982 West Torrance team that went 14-0 and won the Southern Section Coastal Conference title.

“I’ve thought about that, but I don’t think anybody gave (West) a game,” Austin said. “Nobody even came close.”

Austin should know. His South team was one of West’s victims that season, losing to the Warriors, 45-0, when the teams competed in the Bay League.

North hasn’t been as dominant as the 1982 West team, but there are similarities. West also had an experienced coach, Fred Petersen, and a fine group of skill-position players that included quarterback Steve Center, wide receivers Loren Richey and Sean Berry and running backs John Combis and Jeff Studer.

North’s balanced attack features quarterback Frank Ramirez, the area’s second-leading passer with 1,811 yards and 21 touchdowns; wide receiver Dean Halverson, the area’s leading receiver with 45 catches for 739 yards and seven TDs; and a talented group of running backs led by tailbacks Dano Casillas and Lacy Watkins, who also plays receiver, and fullback Chi Lam.

“We can hurt you in a lot of different ways,” Austin said.

Said South Coach Don Morrow: “The scary thing is that they do so many things well on offense. They can throw all the passes and they can run the ball right at you. It’s a nasty combination.”

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The North-South game has been referred to as the Civil War for obvious reasons, one of them being that players from both teams know each other.

Josh Waybright, a two-way starter at offensive lineman and linebacker for South, expects another emotionally charged game Friday night. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior played on the last two South teams that beat North.

“It’s sort of a rivalry between us, Frankie (Ramirez), Dano (Casillas), Chi Lam, all those guys,” Waybright said. “We all love each other, but we all hate each other. It’s just going to be a hell of a game.”

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Hawthorne tailback Corey McCoy is expected to sit out Friday night’s Bay League game against Leuzinger because of a sprained ankle, but Leuzinger Coach Steve Carnes remains skeptical of the injury report.

“Let’s put it this way,” Carnes said. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Carnes said even without McCoy, who has rushed for 1,335 yards and scored an area-leading 23 touchdowns, Hawthorne can move the football.

“With (McCoy), they’re a great football team,” Carnes said. “Without him, they’re a little bit different team, but they still have so many weapons.”

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Here is a rundown of the playoff possibilities in the area’s three Southern Section football leagues heading into the last week of the regular season. The top three teams in each league are guaranteed playoff spots, and fourth-place teams with overall records of .500 or better will be considered for at-large berths.

BAY LEAGUE--Hawthorne (3-0) has clinched at least a tie for the title and a spot in the Division III playoffs. No other team has secured a playoff berth. The possibilities:

* If Leuzinger (2-1) upsets Hawthorne and Peninsula (2-1) beats Inglewood (1-2), causing a three-way tie for the title, lots will be drawn to determine the order of the league’s three playoff entries. Placement is important because a No. 1 entry is assured of a home game in the first round, a No. 2 entry has a 50-50 chance of a home game, and a No. 3 entry opens on the road, most likely against a league champion.

* If Hawthorne beats Leuzinger and Inglewood upsets Peninsula, causing a three-way tie for second, the two remaining playoff spots will be determined by point differential against the league champion, Hawthorne. For example, Inglewood lost to Hawthorne, 21-19, and would be in better position than Peninsula, which lost to the Cougars, 35-22.

* If Leuzinger and Inglewood win, Leuzinger would share the title with Hawthorne and enter the playoffs as the league’s No. 1 entry because it beat the Cougars. Inglewood would gain the No. 3 spot because it beat Peninsula. Peninsula, though, could gain an at-large berth because of its 7-2 overall record.

* The least complicated scenario: Hawthorne and Peninsula win to finish first and second, respectively, leaving Leuzinger third.

OCEAN LEAGUE--Morningside (3-1) has clinched at least a tie for the title and a spot in the Division VII playoffs. Culver City (2-1) also has clinched a playoff berth. The winner of Friday’s game between Culver City and Beverly Hills (2-1) will share the title with Morningside. If Beverly Hills wins, it goes to the playoffs as the league’s No. 1 entry because it beat Morningside. If Culver City wins, it would go as the No. 2 entry because it lost to the Monarchs. Mira Costa (1-2) will gain the No. 3 entry only if it beats Redondo (0-3) and Culver City beats Beverly Hills.

PIONEER LEAGUE--North Torrance (4-0) and South Torrance (4-0) meet Friday for the title. West Torrance (2-2) and Torrance (2-2) meet for third and the league’s last guaranteed spot in the Division IX playoffs. West (6-3 overall) has a chance of gaining an at-large bid if it loses.

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A miscalculation will keep Chadwick’s football team from participating in the Southern Section Eight-Man football playoffs.

Chadwick (4-5), which was scheduled to open the Large Division playoffs Friday against top-seeded Faith Baptist, was replaced by Campbell Hall after it was discovered that the Dolphins inaccurately totaled their power-rating points, the method used for determining Eight-Man playoff berths.

Bill Clark, Southern Section administrator in charge of football, said Chadwick reported 19 power-rating points but actually had only 17. The error occurred when Chadwick incorrectly listed its first opponent, Borrego Springs of the San Diego Section, as a large school (four-year enrollment of at least 133).

“The San Diego (Section) directory listed Borrego Springs as having an enrollment of 185, but that’s in grades seven through 12,” Clark said. “In grades nine through 12, they only have 120.”

Because Borrego Springs is classified as a small school, Chadwick received two points instead of four for a 27-0 victory, dropping the Dolphins behind Campbell Hall, which has 19 points, for the last spot in the eight-team playoff field.

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San Pedro, which has already clinched the Southern League football title, was seeded second for the City Section 3-A playoffs at a coaches’ meeting Tuesday night. The Pirates (7-1-1) open the playoffs Nov. 20 against the winner of Friday’s game between Grant and Monroe.

Bell (8-1), the Central League champion, was seeded No. 1.

The 4-A pairings were also scheduled to be decided Tuesday, but because several league races remain undecided, the meeting was postponed to Sunday afternoon.

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Pioneer League champion Torrance (16-0) has been seeded first in the Southern Section Division III girls’ volleyball playoffs and will play host to Don Lugo of Chino (10-6) in a first-round match at 7 tonight.

Torrance Coach John Radcliffe said he doesn’t know much about the other teams in the division. Don Lugo advanced with a 4-15, 15-8, 15-12, 15-6 victory over Santiago in a wild-card match Tuesday.

“We haven’t played any of them,” Radcliffe said. “They don’t get in any of the tournaments we’re in, so consequently we don’t see them.”

Radcliffe said the Tartars are somewhat familiar with fourth-seeded Canyon of Canyon Country (11-3), whom they defeated last season in the playoffs before losing to eventual division champion La Habra in the semifinals.

“But I don’t know how many girls they have back,” Radcliffe said.

In a Division I playoff opener tonight, Ocean League champion Mira Costa (18-2) will play host to Marlborough (10-6). If the Mustangs win, they most likely will play top-seeded Corona del Mar (14-0) in Tuesday’s second round.

St. Mary’s Academy of Inglewood (20-0), the Camino Real League champion, was seeded No. 4 in the Division IV playoffs and will play host to La Canada in a first-round match tonight.

Notes

Pat Roy, an assistant the past four years, is the new boys’ basketball coach at Inglewood High. Roy, a former Inglewood player and 1984 graduate, replaces Art Bias, who resigned. Roy played for Bias at Inglewood. . . . Tailback Eric Whitfield, the leading rusher for Gateway Christian in Harbor City with 966 yards and 17 TDs, will miss the team’s Eight-Man Small Division playoff opener Friday against Ambassador Christian after suffering a broken collarbone in practice Monday.

Ocean League champion Mira Costa (21-5) will open the Southern Section Division III water polo playoffs at 3:15 p.m. today against Laguna Beach at Mira Costa. In other games, Ocean runner-up Peninsula (21-5) plays host to Downey and third-place El Segundo (12-6) plays at Cerritos. . . . Janet Lee and Amanda Basica of Peninsula will represent the Ocean League on Nov. 21 in the Southern Section tennis qualifying round after winning semifinal matches Tuesday at the league singles championships.

Defending State Division III champion Morningside, led by two-time Times’ South Bay player of the year Stais Boseman, tops a 16-team field in the Pacific Shores basketball tournament starting Nov. 30 at Mira Costa and Redondo. The first-round matchups: Mira Costa vs. North Torrance, St. Bernard vs. Banning, San Pedro vs. Inglewood, Leuzinger vs. Lakewood, Redondo vs. West Torrance, South Torrance vs. Peninsula, Serra vs. Carson, Hawthorne vs. Morningside.

South Bay’s Football Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters Rank, School, League: Record 1 Hawthorne (Bay): 8-1 2 North Torrance (Pioneer): 9-0 3 San Pedro (Southern): 7-1-1 4 Banning (Pacific): 6-3 5 Peninsula (Bay): 7-2 6 Carson (Pacific): 5-3-1 7 Serra (Camino Real): 6-2-1 8 South Torrance (Pioneer): 6-3 9 West Torrance (Pioneer): 6-3 10 Leuzinger (Bay): 5-4