South Gate Can’t Be Overlooked Any Longer

South Gate High School finished the football season as the City Section’s only undefeated team by beating Westchester last Friday night for the City 3-A Division title, 13-9.

It was South Gate’s first appearance in a City playoff final since its championship team of 1955.

South Gate won 14 games this season, becoming the first City team ever to win that many in a single season. The Rams, however, won even more than football games for their school and community.

“The football team has pulled everyone together,” said Dick Farber, South Gate athletic director. “The student body really rallied behind the team and supported them throughout the season.”

The student body showed its support during the season with weekly pep rallies and as the number of victories grew, the rallies became more and more the place to be.

Howard Lappin, assistant athletic principal who has worked at South Gate for 6 years, also noticed the positive changes brought on by the team.

“Everyone is thrilled over the team,” he said. “We even had graduates who played here 30 years ago returning to support the team in the playoffs.”

The team has also affected a South Gate community that has changed since the school’s last football championship 33 years ago.

“Over the last 20 years, the community has changed from predominantly white to Hispanic,” Farber said. “What this team has done is is brought everyone a little closer together.”

To honor the team, the South Gate Chamber of Commerce asked the team to be in this year’s Christmas parade.

Said Lappin: “The band and drill team have performed in the parade before, but this is the first time for the football team.”

Re-establishing a winning football program at South Gate has not been easy for Coach Gary Cordray, who took over the program after leaving L.A. Washington High in 1982.

South Gate, for instance, uses a year-round school system. During the season, therefore, every player is, at some point, on his 8-week vacation period, since South Gate sends every student on a 2-month vacation twice a year.

Said Lappin: “This (winning season) is very important to our athletic program because it proves that you can have a successful program under this year-round structure.”

Another disadvantage for South Gate, which is over-populated with more than 3,000 students, is that permits are not given to students who live outside the school district. Many other prospective students--some of them athletes--are bused out of the district because South Gate only accepts those who have spent their entire 8th grade school year in a junior high school in South Gate.

Even so, Cordray has turned a losing program around without much recognition outside the South Gate community.

South Gate’s championship game against Westchester, for instance, was played at El Camino College in Torrance, rather than at the Coliseum.

“What everyone dreams of is to play in the City championship game at the Coliseum, not at El Camino,” Cordray said.

The Rams have even been overlooked in the postseason awards category. At The Times’ prep football awards ceremony Sunday, not one Ram player or coach was named.

“Now that we have won it all, I just want the community to get its respect from the local media and City officials,” Cordray said.

“We have been winning all season long without any media attention. In fact we were dropped in some polls because we did not score enough points. (South Gate dropped from sixth to ninth in The Times poll after a mid-season win.) We just should have been given more respect.”

The Rams had nine players named to the All-Southeastern Conference team this year, including offensive linemen Marco Diaz, Jose Romo and Pat Pendleton; tight end Robert Furcell; running back Ivan Wilson; defensive linemen Luis Corrales and Eddie Manzanares; linebacker Jerry Lopez and defensive back Carlos Martinez.

With Wilson, who rushed for 1,979 yards this season, Diaz and Martinez returning, things continue to look bright for Cordray and the Rams.

Here is a look at The Times’ final top football teams in the City and Southern Section:

City--1. Carson; 2. Dorsey; 3. Banning; 4. South Gate; 5. San Fernando; 6. Franklin; 7. Westchester; 8. Granada Hills Kennedy; 9. Monroe; 10. Reseda.

Southern Section--1. Fountain Valley; 2. Bishop Amat; 3. Antelope Valley; 4. Loyola; 5. Servite; 6. Canyon Country Canyon; 7. Paramount; 8. Canyon Springs; 9. Mission Viejo; 10. San Marino; 11. Corona del Mar; 12. Los Alamitos 13. Palmdale; 14. Trabuco Hills; 15. Buena.

Prep Notes

Football Coach Bill Redell of Encino Crespi resigned last week after compiling a 43-16-1 record, highlighted by the Southern Section Big 5 Conference championship in 1986.

Two local basketball teams won recent tournaments in Northern California. The Crenshaw boys’ team defeated Oakland McClymonds for the title in a Fresno tournament, 85-61, and the Inglewood Morningside girls’ team defeated Oakland Fremont in the Orinda Miramonte Tournament, 50-42.