The Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : This Cinderella Story Is Brought to Saugus by Way of Hollywood

Now playing at a theater near you: “Saugus!� the heart-warming story of the high school basketball team that makes the playoffs as a wild-card entry and ends up winning the Southern Section 3-A title.

It stars John Clark as the coach, Rusty Morse as the top player, and features Greg Weber, John Thomas, Darren Newberry, Jeff Dorst and Jackson Clark.

Join the Centurions on their improbable journey as they come back from a third-place finish in the Golden League to beat the top two teams in the division, including No. 1 Rolling Hills by 13 points last Saturday in the title game. It’s the Cinderella story of the basketball season, a sort of Hoosiers West.

“This run in the playoffs has been a miracle and a magical experience for all of us,� John Clark said moments after Saugus’ championship victory at the Sports Arena. “I’m not a highly religious person, but it must have been something along the lines of intervention for us to keep winning all those close games.�

A miracle? Magical? Intervention? This isn’t a basketball team, it’s a Hollywood fantasy.

Actually, it’s both, for the Centurions’ road was paved by Hollywood, by Stallone and Cruise. Clark, the coach, has merely combined them into a successful formula: Watch a movie, win a game.

The results were a box-office smash:

First Round--The team drives from Saugus to Anaheim to play Katella, the second-seeded team. Clark pops “Rocky II� into the VCR, and the Centurions score a stunning upset, 69-68.

Second Round--This time, it’s “Rocky III� and a 67-63 win over Whittier California.

Quarterfinals--Why change a good thing? “Rocky IV� is the Centurions’ pregame get-together. Then they beat Tustin, 59-56.

Semifinals--This is no time to mess around. Saugus’ theme this year has been top guns--the program cover shows the Centurions surrounding an F-14 Tomcat at Point Mugu Naval Air Station--so Clark pulls out the real thing, “Top Gun� starring Tom Cruise. Saugus then pulls off another big win, beating Palos Verdes, 45-41.

The Title Game--Before leaving school for the Sports Arena, the team watches “Victory.� Nice title for an omen.

“We don’t watch the movies so much for the motivation as getting the time, before taking the floor or after a long bus ride, to relax,� Clark said.

“The film thing has been fun, but the way the kids have played is the best of all. We all seem to be peaking at the right time. That has been really exciting.

“For the rest of their lives, they can sit back and think about the playoff run and say, ‘For three weeks there, we were the top guns.’ �

The epilogue begins tonight at College of the Canyons. Saugus (22-9) will meet Oceanside (21-7) in a Division II game in Southern California Regional play, with the movie selection so far unannounced.

Oceanside’s star is Junior Seau, who finished second in the San Diego Section in scoring with 22.4 points a game. He is better known, though, as a USC-bound football player.

Seau made 10 of 11 shots from the floor in the Pirates’ 53-51 win over Oceanside El Camino last Saturday for the San Diego 2-A championship.

Attn. Ripley’s: Believe it or not, Cleveland of Reseda, which reached the City 4-A championship for a second straight year, did not have any players named to the All-Valley League team. Four Cavaliers made second-team: Andre Anderson, Michael Gray, Richard Branham and Adrian King.

Fairfax, not surprisingly, dominated the team with Chris Mills, J.D. Green and Sean Higgins. City scoring champion Kevin Franklin of Woodland Hills Taft also made all-league, as did Sean Davis of Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Marcus Malone of Granada Hills Kennedy.

Prep Notes Coaches’ Corner: With the loss Saturday in the Southern Section 3-A championship game, Cliff Warren of Rolling Hills has a career coaching record of 152-43, 18-5 in the playoffs. He is 47-10 in two seasons with the Titans after being out of basketball since the late 1960s. Gary McKnight of Santa Ana Mater Dei has a 144-7 record in six years. Oxnard Santa Clara’s 70-50 win over Covina Northview in a Southern Section 2-A first-round game was victory No. 550 for Lou Cvijanovich. . . . Mary Klemm of Ventura Buena and Shaunda Greene of Inglewood Morningside have been ranked among the top 20 juniors in girls’ basketball in the nation by Off the Glass magazine. . . . Quarterback Ken Sollom of Canyon Country Canyon, the Coastal Conference co-player of the year who signed with Michigan, has been impressive in workouts with the Canyon baseball team. “He throws 85 m.p.h. with an effective change-up, forkball and slider,� Canyon baseball Coach Wally Hammond said. “I think his future is in baseball.�

Two soccer all-star games will be played March 20 at St. Francis in La Canada. At 6:30 p.m. a team from the 714 area code, coached by Manny Toledo of Brea-Olinda, will meet a team from 213, coached by Orlando Brenes of Bell Gardens. At 8, it’s 818 against 805, with Steve Nugent of Rosemead Bosco Tech and Andy Silva of Simi Valley the respective coaches. . . . Lakewood (4-A), El Segundo (3-A), Tustin (2-A), Norte Vista (1-A), Van Nuys Montclair Prep (Small Schools, large division) and Templeton (Small Schools, small division) are the top-ranked teams for the start of the Southern Section baseball season. Montclair Prep’s coach, Jeff Pressman, has already announced that this will be his final year, although he will remain as athletic director. Walt Steele, the team’s batting coach, will take over. The Mounties won four Small Schools titles in 11 years under Pressman. . . . LeRon Ellis of Mater Dei has been named the Pacific Region basketball player of the year by Gatorade. He is one of the eight finalists for the national MVP award. . . . Doug Michelson, the Newhall Hart basketball coach involved in the altercation with a referee after the Indians’ final regular-season game, has been told that he will not coach the team next season. Michelson said he is considering an appeal. No successor has been named at Hart. . . . Bill Redell of Encino Crespi and Joel Schaeffer of Reseda will coach the West and Rick Scott of Hart and Fred Grimes of North Hollywood the East in the Daily News all-star football game July 17 at Pierce College. Redell won the Big Five Conference title last season, Scott the Northwestern and Schaeffer the City 2-A.