Today we are continuing our preseason football coverage with a detailed review of the 1995 season. It's the eleventh part in a series taking a look back at the past quarter century of prep football in the Golden State, beginning with the 1985 season. Football coaches can CLICK HERE to print out a questionnaire to make sure your program is included in our series of team previews for the 2009 season and considered for our preseason state rankings package. Please fax completed questionnaire to (209) 463-1219 or email info to mark@studentsports.com.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor

California Schools With the Most D1 Signers (1995-1996)

St. Mary's (Stockton) (8) - Ashanti Davison (5-10, 170, DB) to San Diego St.; Blake Eagal (6-1, 220, LB) to Utah St.; Fernando Garcia (6-0, 185, WR-DB) to Sacramento St.; Brandon Santos (6-3, 315, OL) to Sacramento St.; Scott Towne (6-0, 170, QB) to Sacramento St.; Richard Van Over (6-2, 195, LB) to Sacramento St.; Carlos Williams (5-10, 205, DB) to Sacramento St.; Tommy Williams (5-9, 190, DB) to Sacramento St.
Dorsey (Los Angeles) (5) - Che' Britton (6-1, 250, DL) to Arizona St.; Na'il Diggs (6-4, 220, DE) to Ohio St.; Lakaki Malaki (6-1, 220, DL) to Hawaii; Saleem Noah (6-1, 245, DL) to San Jose St.; Dennis Northcutt (5-10, 160, RB) to Arizona.
Los Alamitos (5) - Rashawn Davis (6-4, 290, DL) to Cal; Kevin Feterik (6-1, 185, QB) to BYU; Stan Guyness (6-3, 175, WR) to USC; Tony Hartley (6-1, 185, WR) to Oregon; Chris Wood (6-4, 240, OL) to Weber St.
Poly (Long Beach) (5) - Bruce Carter (6-3, 200, LB) to Fresno St.; Joe Harris (5-11, 170, DB) to San Diego St.; Cedric Jones (5-11, 170, DB) to Northern Arizona; Akka-Ar Moses (5-11, 230, FB) to Fresno St.; Eric Patterson (6-1, 200, WR) to Kansas.
Skyline (Oakland) (5) - LaCorey Collins (6-4, 210, WR) to Oregon; Jason Cooper (5-10, 185, RB-DB) to Oregon; Donald Dicko (5-11, 180, DB) to Utah St.; J'Sharlon Jones (5-10, 165, DB) to Colorado St.; Marvel Smith (6-5, 275,OL) to Arizona St.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) (4) - Kevin Braga (5-10, 175, DB) to Montana; Reed Diehl (6-5, 255, OL) to Cal; David Gibson (6-2, 210, DB) to USC; Brad Williams (6-6, 255, DL) to Notre Dame.

1995 Season Notes & Highlights: For the first time since we've kept track of recruiting statistics in 1985, a team from Northern California had the most or tied for the most signers in the state. The Rams of St. Mary's had a whopping eight signers, including six to I-AA Sacramento State. The Rams' total was the state's highest since the 1988 season, when state team of the year Carson produced 10 signers and rival Banning of Wilmington produced nine.      

St. Mary's opened up the season ranked No. 12 in the state and emerged as the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Div. I favorties after finishing the regular season 9-1. The only regular season game they lost came against state power De La Salle of Concord by a 35-25 margin. The fact they were leading the Spartans, 13-7, and were rated as high as No. 7 in the state made only made what happend to them in the post-season more crushing to Rams' fans. In a first-round contest against Golden Valley of Merced, a new school with its first senior class, the Rams' defense couldn't stop Golden Valley's rushing attack and St. Mary's was stunned, 42-31.   

It makes sense that John Beam's club at Skyline tied with three SoCal powers for second most signers in the state. Afterall, the OAL power has produced at least four D1 signers per year since 1991-92 and a whopping 42 Skyline players have received scholarships since the 1983-1984 school year.

Skyline, which opened the season ranked No. 20 in the state, finished 10-2 as LaCorey Collins, who some feel was the state's best overall talent, intercepted a pass and scored the winning touchdown in the Silver Bowl victory over Fremont of Oakland.

As expected after it lost to Mater Dei of Santa Ana in a memorable CIF Southern Section Div. I semifinal contest in 1994, Los Alamitos opened the season ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 1 in the country by USA Today, but No. 3 by the National Prep Poll, precursor to the ESPN RISE FAB 50.  

Defending state team of the year De La Salle of Concord opened the season ranked No. 2 ahead of No. 3 Fontana, No. 4 Antelope Valley and No. 5 Long Beach Poly. Heading into the season, the conventional thinking was the Spartans were more likely to lose during the regular season than Los Al, as De La Salle faced Rancho Buena Vista, St. Mary's of Stockton, Logan of Union City plus league rival Pittsburg. It was the Griffins, however, that lost a league contest as they were stunned by Esperanza of Anaheim, 21-17. All-state DL Sean Jarne led a defensive charge that included 11 sacks of state quarterback of the year Kevin Feterik.

Los Alamitos bounced back to defeat Mater Dei in the CIFSS Div. I quarterfinals, 23-14, before falling to Loyola of Los Angeles in the semifinals 37-34. Loyola had upset Fontana, which rose to No. 2 in the state after Los Al lost to Esperanza, in the quarterfinals. In the other CIFSS Div. I semifinal, Long Beach Poly, which defeated Antelope Valley during the regular season, rose to No. 2 after FoHi's loss and a wild 24-21 quarterfinal win over Capistrano Valley, took on La Puente of Bishop Amat.

Poly, in its first season with Jerry Jaso as the solo head coach, was in contention for state team of the year honors heading into the game with Amat. Trailing 28-27 after a 12-yard run by FB Akka-ar Moses with less than a minute and a half remaining, Jaso went for a two-point conversion, but Amat defensive end Trey Sorensen batted away a Morris Smith pass to preserve the victory. The Lacers went on to win the CIFSS Div. I title, although the team wasn't considered as talented as its '94 unit.      

Another talented team that joined Skyline, Los Al, and Long Beach Poly with five D1 signers was Dorsey of Los Angeles. The Dons went 13-1 and won the L.A. City Section 4A title over San Pedro (10-8) behind its hard-nosed defense, led by all-state LB Na'il Diggs, and an effective wing-T ground attack. The offense was led by Dennis Northcutt, jr. Antonio Chapman and Raymont Skaggs, a talented player who may go the junior college route. The Dons' only loss came against Torrey Pines of San Diego, as it took a 274-yard, 2-touchdown performance from Marty Graham to help edge the Dons, 37-35.  

All these results meant the clear state team of the year was De La Salle. Many local sportswriters predicted Pittsburg's big and talented athletes would be too much for De La Salle to handle, but the Spartans won a hard-hitting contest, 28-7, before a standing-room only crowd of 12,000.

Rashad Floyd had a big game, with two touchdown receptions, a thrown touchdown and an interception on defense. All-state RB Leon Callen also played well in the biggest San Francisco Bay Area regular season contest in recent memory, finishing with 211 yards on 22 carries against a team that came into the game ranked No. 5 in the state, but No. 12 in the nation by USA Today.
    
De La Salle later broke the state prep football win streak record set in 1977 by Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa with a 41-8 victory over previously undefeated Logan. Callen had another big game with 179 yards on 24 carries while the Spartans' defense allowed only one-half first down. In a Monday night NCS 3A title game before nearly 10,000 fans, De La Salle defeated Pittsburg again, this time by a 35-14 margin to run its state-record winning streak to 52 games.

Any discussion about who deserves to be No. 1 in the state besides De La Salle would end rather quickly. Berkeley, which plays in the same league as De La Salle and Pitt, traveled down to SoCal to face eventual CIFSS Div. I champ Bishop Amat, losing only 17-7 and gaining more total yards than the Lancers. During the regular season, Berkeley trialed Pitt, 49-0, at the end of the third quarter and De La Salle was leading its second round playoff game 49-7 before calling off the dogs.

With its ongoing streaks and the program's talent level, it's now time to rank De La Salle No. 1 in the state until it loses -- whether it's during the 1996 season or whenever it may be.    
 
A Look Back at the 1995 Season
(All Selections Made by Cal-Hi Sports)

State Team of the Year: Concord De La Salle 13-0

Preseason No. 1 Team: Los Alamitos 11-2 (No. 8 final rating)

Number of Undefeated Teams: 14 (46 in the regular season)

Highest Score (11-man only): Novato 85, Larkspur Redwood 0

Eight-Man Team of the Year: Los Angeles Brentwood 12-0

State Coach of the Year: Larry Welsh (Atascadero) 14-0

CalHiSports.com Mr. Football State Player of the Year: Chris Claiborne (North, Riverside) LB-RB

Junior Player of the Year: Chris Czernek (Newbury Park) QB

Sophomore Player of the Year: Mike Jones (Laguna Hills) RB

Medium Schools Player of the Year: Josh Parry (Sonora) LB

Small Schools Player of the Year: Jamar Day (Rosamond) RB

State Quarterback of the Year: Kevin Feterik (Los Alamitos)

State Running Back of the Year: Jermaine Lewis (Antelope Valley, Lancaster)

State Offensive End of the Year: LaCorey Collins (Skyline, Oakland)

State Lineman of the Year: Brad Williams (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)

State Linebacker of the Year: Claiborne

State Defensive Back of the Year: Ralph Brown (Bishop Amat, La Puente)

Individual Scoring Leader: Deonce Whitaker (Rancho Cucamonga) 250 pts. (41 TDs, 14 gms.) Jr.

Individual Rushing Leader: Day -- 2,638 yds. (13 gms.)

Individual Passing Leader: Czernek -- 4,360 yds. (14 gms.) Jr.

Individual Touchdown Pass Leader: Czernek -- 45 TDs (14 gms.) Jr.
   
Individual Receiving Yardage Leader: Tony Hartley (Los Alamitos) 1,690 yds. (85 rec., 13 gms.)

CalHiSports.com Nickname of the Year: Anselmo "Rosco" Zamano (Fontana) LB

Previous Seasons:

Season in Review (1994)
Season in Review (1993)
Season in Review (1992)
Season in Review (1991)
Season in Review (1990)
Season in Review (1989)
Season in Review (1988)
Season in Review (1987)
Season in Review (1986)
Season in Review (1985)

Note: The above list of reported signers includes players that signed with Div. I-A or Div. I-AA programs; does not include Div. II, Div. III or NAIA. For additions, comments or corrections, send email to ronnie@studentsports.com. To view our various state player of the year lists going back to the late 1800s, our all-time state rankings going back to 1975 and our various all-state teams (first team, second team, medium schools, small schools, underclass, sophomore) going back to 1980, consider ordering the seventh edition of the CalHiSports.com State Record Book & Almanac. For ordering info, call (800) 660-1334 Ext. 4431. If you love the content on our site, you'll love the book, so order your copy today.