Bishop Montgomery Boasts Its Own Version of the ‘Fridge’ at 340 Pounds

“The Fridge is coming to the South Bay,” warns Bishop Montgomery football Coach Andy Szabatura.

Actually, he’s already arrived. Christian Maumalanga, a 6-4, 340-pound nose guard, has established himself as a defensive mainstay for the Knights through two games this season.

However, Szabatura’s comparison of Maumalanga to the Chicago Bears’ William (Refrigerator) Perry is based on how Bishop Montgomery plans to utilize the bulky junior in future games.

Don’t be surprised if Maumalanga lines up at running back in goal-line situations, a la the Fridge of a few seasons ago. Szabatura said Maumalanga might be used in the backfield Friday night when the visiting Knights play South Torrance in a non-league game.

“We’re going to do something on the goal line,” he said. “We call it our Tank Backfield.”

If Bishop Montgomery gets close to the South end zone, look for the Knights to employ a full-house backfield with Maumalanga at halfback, Lee Geans (6-0, 190) at fullback and Richard Jones (6-2, 190) at tailback.

Szabatura and his staff came up with the scheme after Bishop Montgomery missed a scoring chance in Friday night’s 21-10 win over North Torrance. A drive in the third quarter bogged down inside the North 10-yard line, and a subsequent pass was intercepted and returned 95 yards for a North touchdown.

“We have a young offensive line,” Szabatura said. “With a good-sized backfield, maybe we can generate some punch.”

Maumalanga, who leads Bishop Montgomery with three sacks, is surprisingly quick for his size, according to Szabatura.

“He’s not slow,” the coach said. “He plugs up the middle and he can get past most of the interior linemen he faces.”

Maumalanga demonstrated that late in the North game when he leapfrogged the center. “We saw that on film and just about died laughing,” Szabatura said.

Maumalanga lives in Hawthorne and is of Tongan, not Samoan, descent.

“He’s got a chance to play in college if he keeps his grades up and keeps improving,” Szabatura said.

But, like the Fridge, the coaches would like to see Maumalanga lose some weight.

Another South Bay lineman of Fridge-like proportions is Banning nose guard Carlson Leomiti, a 6-3, 310-pound senior who is considered one of the Pilots’ best defensive players.

“He’s doing a fine job,” said first-year Coach Joe Dominguez. “He’s our most consistent down lineman.”

El Segundo, which plays Garey of Pomona at 7:30 tonight at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, improved to 2-0 last Friday by rallying for an 8-7 victory over West Torrance in a non-league football game.

The outcome was not as impressive as the Eagles’ 41-0 triumph over Mira Costa the first week of the season, but it definitely was better than their previous meeting with West in 1967.

In that game, the Warriors hammered El Segundo, 72-14, according to Eagles assistant coach Craig Cousins.

“It was an absolute massacre,” said Cousins, who was a senior on El Segundo’s 1966 football team that defeated West. “West was loaded that year. I think (running back) Dave Boyd scored about six touchdowns.”

The 1967 game marked the first time that West had beaten El Segundo in football. In the following years, however, West was a perennial power in the South Bay under former Coach Fred Petersen, while El Segundo’s program slowly digressed because of dwindling enrollment.

Now, the tables have turned.

“If we can win,” Cousins said before Friday’s game, “it will give us credibility.”

Miraleste’s football team will compete as a full-fledged member of the Olympic League this season, but the basketball team might have to qualify for the Southern Section playoffs on a free-lance status, according to Athletic Director Tom Graves.

Even though Miraleste will play an Alpha League schedule in basketball, Graves said the other schools do not want Miraleste’s games to count in the league standings unless the CIF guarantees playoff berths to three holdovers from the league. If Miraleste finished among the top three teams, that would mean that four of the league’s seven teams would enter the playoffs.

Graves is skeptical of that occurring.

“I can’t believe (the CIF) would guarantee four teams for the playoffs,” he said.

Graves said it is more likely that Miraleste will have to earn a playoff berth in basketball as a free-lance team, which means the Marauders would have to win a certain percentage of their games to quality. Graves said a .700 record is usually needed.

With that in mind, don’t expect Miraleste Coach Todd Mirsky to schedule any games with Mater Dei or St. Bernard this season.

Hawthorne’s football team was dealt a big blow last Friday when starting tailback Chris Alexander suffered a broken right arm in a 14-0 victory over Morningside. He is out for the season.

“It’s definitely a disadvantage for our offense,” said Coach Goy Casillas, whose team plays on the road Friday night against Saugus (0-1-1). “We just have to overcome the adversity and take up the slack.”

Alexander, a junior, was Hawthorne’s second-fastest player behind quarterback Curtis Conway. He’ll be replaced at tailback by Dean Dunbar, who had been playing fullback because regular fullback Brent Floyd, the team’s most experienced running back, was sidelined with a pulled groin muscle.

Floyd played for the first time this season in the second half against Morningside. His return should bolster the Cougars’ running game.

“When Alexander went down and we put Dunbar at tailback and Floyd at fullback, that’s when we started moving the ball,” Casillas said.

PREP NOTES--The Palos Verdes girls cross-country team just keeps rolling along. The Sea Kings, ranked No. 1 in the CIF 4-A Division, took first place in the Royal High Invitational in Simi Valley on Saturday. Ashley Black led a 1-2-3 finish for Palos Verdes with a winning time of 18:43 . . . For the record: Erik Evans, El Segundo’s fine tailback, stands 5-11, not 5-8 as was reported lastweek . . . South Bay football teams ranked in the CIF sportswriters polls this week are Leuzinger (No. 7 Division II), Serra (No. 5 Division VII) and El Segundo (No. 5 Division VIII) . . . In addition to Palos Verdes in cross country, two other South Bay girls teams are ranked No. 1 in their respective sports. Mira Costa moved into the top spot in the 5-A volleyball poll and Miraleste, the defending CIF champion, is No. 1 in 4-A tennis.