SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section: Northwest Valley
Conference Preview--(January 13, 1998)

As league play begins it's once again time to focus on some of the teams and players who will be getting the job done this year. The Northwest Valley Conference is a City Section Conference which is actually divided into two different leagues: The North Valley League, which features all 3-A Division Schools, and includes San Fernando, Birmingham, El Camino Real and Granada Hills, and the 4-A Division, which is called the West Valley League, and features Taft, Cleveland, Chatsworth, and Kennedy. If you check our City Section schedules, you'll see that the first part of the season, all the teams in the conference play each other. This the City Section, in it's inifinite wisdom, they call "Conference Play". Then, starting on January 28, they switch to "League" play, in which only the 3A teams play other 3A teams, and 4A only plays 4A. Go figure. Does it really make any difference? We don't know, but here are the standings so far:

If you think last year's records and standings mean anything this year, here they are:

1996-97 Standings: West Valley League (4-A): Cleveland 7-3 in league, 20-7 overall; Kennedy 7-3, 14-9; Taft
4-6, 13-11; Chatsworth 1-9, 8-13; North Valley League (3-A): Birmingham 8-2, 19-8; San Fernando 6-4, 14-13; Granada Hills 5-5, 13-11; El Camino Real 2-8, 7-15.

Frankly, we think that was then, and this is now. So let's look at the individuals and the teams this year. First, 3A Division:

San Fernando: At the top of the 3A Division is San Fernando. Mick Cady has been the coach since 1994. The Tigers had struggled in Northwest Valley Conference play for years and failed to improve in Cady's first two seasons. San Fernando was 0-10 and 2-8 in conference play before finishing 6-4 last season. This season, it's a whole different story, and the Tigers are favored to win the 3A City Championship. They are the number one ranked City Section Team according to both the Daily News and the Times (for those who really believe in such things) behind Southern Section powers Simi Valley and Chaminade, and they are sandwiched between other perennial Southern Section power Harvard-Westlake. The Tigers lost to No. 1 Simi Valley in the final of the Hart tournament two weeks ago, but put on an impressive show. As the Times noted in today's edition, quoting Cady: "A lot of people are probably still having trouble believing this is San Fernando doing this well. But I expected this after our summer." San Fernando has more quality players than any team in its conference. Senior center Tyrone Purnell has dominated at times, and is among the leaders in stats, scoring 11.1 paoints per game (total 166 points in 15 games, placing him 14th in the region), and he's the leading rebounder among all players averaging 11.3 (total 169). Junior guard Devin Montgomery, a transfer from Ribet Academy, has been as good as advertised, averaging 17.1 points and 4.2 assists a game, and leads the Tigers in scoring; he's also 7th in scoring in the region over-all, and is the 7th leading assist man, with 4.2 per game (63 in 15 games). Senior wing Luis DeLaRosa is a three-year starter, and senior wing Mike Page--the team's most improved player--has become a three-point shooting threat. Forward Reggie Kinlaw and guard Bryson Atkins, both starters last season, are key reserves.

Birmingham: San Fernando might also have trouble winning a league title if Birmingham (9-4) is as tough as it was last season. The Braves had the best record in the conference and return three starters. Fahim Hassankhail is a three-year starter at point guard, and has been one of the best point guards in the conference for the past three years. This year he leads city teams from the region in assists 8.2 per game, and is among the top scorers with 8.7 per game (with a total 113 points in 13 games). Emmanuel Evans is an effective forward, a three-year starter, with a 15-foot shooting range, and he's also the fifth leading scorer in the region, averaging 18.8 per game, with a total of 245 points in 13 games. He is only bettered by swingman Stanley Fletcher, who is the fourth leading scorer in the region, who is averaging just a shade better, 19.8 points per game, totalling 238 but in one less game than Evans (12). Fletcher put on a scoring show in a victory over Grant in the final of the Birmingham tournament, even though he was outscored by Gilbert Arenas, and this could be an impressive team.

El Camino Real: This is a team which has struggled, and has compiled a losing record so far (5-6). Justin Saad-Anthony leads the team in scoring, but is not among the top scoring leaders in City Section in the region. In fact, ECR doesn't have an single player who is among the top stat leaders in any category this season.

Granada Hills : GH is currently 6-8, and features Leon Pimky, a three year starter, and also features Scott Neumann, one of the areas leading scorers, who's averaging 14.9 per game, with 179 points total in 12 games. (Notice the stats are trailing the records a bit. . . that's the LA Times for you.). Granada also features Stacey Witherill, who is among the top 20 leading scorers, averaging 11.5 per game. Witherill is also one of the leading rebounders, actually 7th in the region in City Section averaging 8.2 per game. And Granada also has one of the top assist leaders in Anfelm Brwon who is quietly collecting 3.9 per game and is tied with DeJon Lee of North Hollywood for 8th. Brown is also fourth in steals in the region, grabbing 3.0 per game. Oh yeah, Witherill is also ranked third in blocked shots averaging 1.9 per game, ahead of Gil Arenas, who is ranked fourth.

4A: The West Valley League teams, should be improved after poor showings last year.

Taft: This team, which is now 7-3 returns starters Amir Bar-Netzer and Brandyn Fisher along with Harold Shevlin, who started for the Toreadors as a sophomore before transferring to Chatsworth. Shevlin returned to Taft last summer and is second on the team in scoring. Amir Bar-Netzer, a 6'-5" center, has anchored Taft's front line for the past three seasons. While this team figures to be the favorite 4A team in the conference, they don't rank at all in any of the published individual stat categories (scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, or blocked shots). Not a single player among the top. You can see why the 3A teams are garnering more of the publicity, because they've all got one or two players who are flashier, more exciting to watch. But as a team Taft is coming together. It's doubtful they can duplicate their success in City Section football on the court, but they'll play a very balanced, disciplined game trying.

Cleveland: Cleveland was the last conference team to reach the City Section 4-A semifinals, losing to Dorsey in 1994. The Tigers will be challenged from the start. San Fernando hosts Cleveland in a conference opener Wednesday. In the semifinals of the Hart tournament, Cleveland played San Fernando close before losing, 76-70. After the game, Cleveland Coach Andre Chevalier got into a shouting match with a San Fernando assistant over rough play, setting up an anticipated rematch. Both teams are simmering after not playing in two weeks. After tying for the West Valley League title in Chevalier's first season as coach, Cleveland figured to rebuild after losing five starters. But junior guard Kent Dennis, a transfer from Bell-Jeff, has added consistent scoring for the Cavaliers (10-5), averaging 20.6 points per game. Forwards Simmagin and Brian Smith, who are brothers, provide rebounding, and Kenny Mason is an experienced point guard.

Chatsworth: Now this team has a couple of stat leaders. Chatsworth has compiled a 9-5 record, and Richard Harrison is one reason why: He's averaging 10.2 points per game on 112 total points in only 11 games. Harrison is also the second leading rebounder in the region in City Section, just behind Tyrone Purnell of San Fernando, and in 11 games, he's grabbed 118 boards, and is averaging 10.7 per game. Montae McFarland is also averaging 5.7 assists per game, which currently ranks him third in the region behind only Fahim Hassankhail of Birmingham and Gil Arenas of Grant. McFarland is also third in steals in the region, grabbing 3.6 per game. Chatsworth was the the top team in the conference three years ago, and is vastly improved after hitting rock-bottom last season, when they won only one conference game. The Chancellors have played a demanding schedule. Chatsworth senior guard Montae McFarland averages 18.0 points per game, and is currently ranked sixth among all scorers in the region.

Kennedy: Only Kennedy (7-6), which lost five starters, is worse than it was last season. First-year Coach Tim Guy is building for the future with sophomore Montel Duhon and junior Nana Gbenonyo. Like El Camino Real, Kennedy has no leaders in any individual stats for the region, at least as far as the published cut off as established by the LA Times.

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So who's going to win it all this year? We'd have to bet on San Fernando in 3A, and probably either Cleveland or Taft in 4A. But then we don't seriously believe there's any way that either of these 4A teams has a snowball of a chance against teams like Westchester or Crenshaw. But we'll find out. Stay tuned.

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