HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW : With Montclair Prep Gone, Race for Title Becomes Wide-Open

Don’t judge the Alpha League by which teams are in it this year.

Judge it by which team isn’t.

Montclair Prep is gone. That means the five remaining teams have something other to play for than second place.

“It was the boys playing the men (when Montclair Prep was in the league),” Village Christian Coach Mike Plaisance said.

“To beat Montclair, you had to play a perfect game and they had to make some mistakes.

“Right now, in terms of parity, we have a league that whoever shows up to play football has a chance to win. There’s not a team that stands head and shoulders above the rest.”

The current members of the Alpha League--Village Christian, L.A. Baptist, Marshall Fundamental, Maranatha and Western Christian--voted last spring to oust Montclair Prep from the league. League officials cited a difference in philosophies between Montclair Prep and the rest of the schools.

“The Alpha League had always been just cannon fodder for us,” Montclair Prep assistant John Hazelton said.

Montclair Prep posted a 5-0 league mark in 1990 in its march to the Southern Section Division X championship and was perfect in league play last year as well, winning games by an average score of 53-4. The Mounties left little hope for the rest to approach the best.

“There were times when you felt like you were going to have to play a real special game to beat them,” L.A. Baptist Coach Mark Bates said. “They’d typically each year come in with five or 10 new players that weren’t even at school the year before.”

That’s the other reason the Alpha League coaches are glad to be rid of Montclair Prep, which has had well-chronicled battles with the Southern Section over alleged rules violations. The Mounties were banned from playoff competition last school year in all sports after an agreement between the school and the Southern Section in which Montclair Prep admitted to recruiting violations in the football program.

Although Montclair Prep is eligible for the playoffs, the Mounties will compete as a free-lance team in all sports this school year. If Montclair Prep posts a winning record in football during the regular season, the Southern Section can place the Mounties in any divisional playoff bracket.

“I think they’re where they belong,” Bates said. “They didn’t belong in the league. If they were cheating, they should have been out and if they weren’t (they should have been out because) they definitely had a different philosophy of where athletics fit into the school.

“If (the violations were) happening, then I don’t want to play them.”

This year, he won’t. L.A. Baptist is the only Alpha League team that doesn’t play Montclair Prep. The Mounties were on the Knights’ schedule, but after Montclair Prep was kicked out of the league, L.A. Baptist dropped the Mounties from its schedule.

Other teams don’t look so harshly on Montclair Prep.

“I always welcome the challenge to play Montclair Prep,” Plaisance said. “I used them as a measuring stick to measure our performance. I always felt a challenge to get my program where theirs was, but maybe by different means.”

Village Christian and L.A. Baptist are the co-favorites to fill the void left by the Mounties. L.A. Baptist has more size and speed, but Village Christian has a better defense.

Village Christian has a more experienced quarterback--returning starter David Treanor. But all-league wide receiver Jim Romero, who caught eight touchdown passes last year, returns for L.A. Baptist.

The teams will meet at L.A. Baptist on Nov. 7.

“That game may be the league championship,” Plaisance said.

Last season, it might have decided only who would finish second.

ALPHA LEAGUE

FINAL 1991 STANDINGS PROJECTED FINISH Montclair Prep* 8-1, 5-0 L.A. Baptist L.A. Baptist 6-5, 3-2 Village Christian Village Christian 6-6-1, 3-2 Western Christian Maranatha 5-6, 3-2 Marshall Fundamental Marshall Fundamental 1-8, 1-4 Maranatha Western Christian 2-8, 0-5

* Denotes school now competing on a free-lance basis.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Player School Pos. Ht Wt Class Mike Agnor Village Christian LB 5-11 205 Jr. Tarik Blair Village Christian FB-WR 5-11 185 Sr. Tristan Grell Village Christian LB 5-11 180 Sr. Stuart Hamill Western Christian TE-LB 6-1 210 Sr. Martin Hart Maranatha TE-DB 6-1 175 Sr. Matt Hernandez L.A. Baptist RB 6-0 170 Jr. Zack Hernandez L.A. Baptist QB 5-11 160 Jr. Craig Lord L.A Baptist LB 6-0 210 Jr. Trenton Mooney L.A. Baptist LB 6-1 215 Sr. Jim Romero L.A. Baptist WR 5-11 165 Jr.