DIGEST : City Football Playoff Format Might Change

Hal Harkness, commissioner of the City Section, said that he will recommend a change in the format of the 4-A Division football playoffs next year whereby teams will be seeded by strength regardless of league standings.

The proposal must be approved by the Interscholastic Athletics Committee, but Harkness is confident that it will pass when he presents it sometime next spring.

For the past two seasons, the top three teams in four 4-A Division leagues qualified for the playoffs, and the league champions were granted first-round byes. That format doesn’t necessarily reward the division’s top teams, according to Harkness, who pointed to this year’s first-round match-up between San Fernando and Crenshaw.

Neither team won a league title but would have been seeded among the top five under the new plan, according to Harkness. Carson, Granada Hills and Dorsey would have been the top three seeded teams, followed by San Fernando and Crenshaw, he said.

Tim Stallworth, a senior wide receiver from Washington State, has been selected to play for the West squad in the 65th East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 21 at Stanford.

Stallworth, a former Montclair Prep standout, was a second-team selection to the All-Pacific Conference 10 team despite missing three games and parts of two others after sustaining cartilage damage and undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. The No. 3 receiver for the Cougars, he had 30 catches for 548 yards and five touchdowns.

Bridgette Ealy of Cal State Northridge, a two-year starter and an All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. selection as a sophomore, will redshirt the 1989-90 basketball season because of an injured right hamstring muscle.

Although Ealy has played in four of the first eight games, she is eligible to redshirt. Ealy averaged 12.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists last season.

Russell Myers, the Royal High forward who averaged 19 points last season and 27 points in two games this season, has contracted mononucleosis, according to Coach Joe Malkinson, and will be out for at least two weeks.

Carl Friedemann, a senior defensive lineman, was selected most valuable player on the Cal Lutheran football team in a vote of players. Friedemann had seven sacks, two fumble recoveries and 57 total tackles.

Craig Ashley, who set a school freshman rushing record with 481 yards, was selected top running back. Offensive tackle David Bean was the top lineman and kicker Greg Maw was given the scholar-athlete award.